Hot Sheet Index: January 22, 2020
The Hot Sheet Index reviewed digital book and magazine lending. they saw a 20% increase in 2019 versus 2018.
Premium Content
Closing Image: January 22, 2020
As of December 31, 2019, CIRP estimates that Amazon Prime has 112 million members who account for about 65 percent of Amazon shoppers.
RWA reorganizing after publishers drop the annual conference
After Harlequin, Avon, Entangled, Berkley, Kensington, and Sourcebooks pulled out of RWA’s national conference, RWA executives resigned.
Audible and book publishers settle the Captions dispute
Audible has reached an agreement with the seven publishers that sued in August to block the new Audible Captions feature.
As everyone argues about the novel American Dirt, Oprah makes it a book-club pick
The novel tells the story of Mexican immigrants who cross the American border—but the author identifies as white.
Penguin Random House pulls audiobooks from subscription service Storytel
Penguin Random House has decided that they will not participate in subscription models with unlimited access.
Science fiction magazine pulls controversial transgender short story
The science fiction and fantasy community has been debating the merits of a story, “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter.”
The Selfies have come to the US
Publishers Weekly and BookBrunch have launched the Selfies book awards for self-published authors in the United States.
Are publishers really fretting about Koontz and Cornwell moving to Amazon Publishing?
Both authors have seen declining sales in their late careers.
New literary agency for children’s graphic novels and visual storytelling
Janna Morishima previously worked at Scholastic and was the director of the children’s group at Diamond Book Distributors.
Industry consultant Mike Shatzkin predicts big publishers have a tough decade ahead
Shatzkin discusses how the number of available titles has skyrocketed in recent decades, leading to declining sales for big publishers.
Katherine Wessbecher joins Bradford Literary
She is looking to represent children’s books (picture books through YA), upmarket adult fiction, and narrative nonfiction for all ages.
Pearson’s revenue is down due to decreased US higher education book sales
UK-based Pearson, one of the biggest book publishers in the world, saw print sales drop 30 percent last year.
TechCrunch starts a book club
The tech reporting site with millions of readers says it’s starting an “informal” club featuring both fiction and nonfiction.
Media companies may soon be able to bargain collectively with tech companies
New bipartisan legislation would allow news publishers to bargain collectively with internet platforms over ad rates.
New monthly column at The New York Times Book Review
Meant to help book clubs, Group Text will “focus on the kinds of propulsive, thought-provoking books worthy of discussion”.
Barnes & Noble newsstand director: print magazines are a luxury item
Samir Husni, better known as Mr. Magazine, interviews Krifka Steffey, who is director of newsstand merchandising at Barnes & Noble.
Harlequin starts an LGBTQ romance imprint
Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital-first romance imprint, plans to launch Carina Adores, a line of contemporary and classic queer tales.
HarperCollins launches Quill Tree, an imprint for young readers
Quill Tree will focus on publishing authors with a strong point of view, as well as those who are often underrepresented.
2020 Prediction Roundup
Forecasts range from fair (continuing upward trends for audiobooks) to stormy (the emergence of a challenger to Amazon’s dominance)
Audio Outlook: Where Do Opportunity and Growth Lie for Authors?
Audible is the recognized leader in digital audio sales in US market, but it’s not the only player, especially in international markets.
Hot Sheet Index: January 8, 2020
The Hot Sheet Index looked at the top-selling fiction titles for 2019. Three titles sold more than a million copies.
Closing Image: January 8, 2020
Based on sales reported through NPD BookScan, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was the bestseller of the year.
Dreamspinner Press is undergoing a “financial restructuring”
In fall 2019 authors began requesting reversion of rights, and agents were no longer doing business with the publisher.
Raven Quill: a new literary agency for children’s and YA authors
Jacqui Lipton has founded Raven Quill Literary Agency and will open later this year to submissions via QueryManager.
Your next insightful long read on Amazon
Benedict Evans, known for his commentary on the media and tech industry, has written a long piece discussing Amazon’s market share.
Accord Literary: a new literary agency for African authors
The agency has an open submission call to writers from across the African continent.
The Authors Guild offers an updated statement on California’s AB5
Specifically, the guild analyzes whether the new law could create problems for book authors and book publishing contracts.
Megan Manzano joins D4EO Literary
Manzano seeks middle grade and YA stories but doesn’t want nonfiction, historical fiction, graphic novels, chapter books, or picture books.
Two recent scam alerts from Writer Beware
If you entered a writing contest hosted by Pressfuls, contact them to avoid having your story published or turned into an audio version.
Mango Publishing Acquires Yellow Pear Press
Mango, a Miami-based independent publisher, was named one of Publishers Weekly’s fastest-growing companies of 2019.
A new set of works has entered the public domain
As of Jan. 1, 2020, anyone without permission or licensing can publish, repurpose, or create derivative works from numerous classic books.
Equity firm buys OverDrive; surprise announcement made on Christmas Eve
The largest library distributor of ebooks and digital audio in the US and Canada has just changed hands.
Sonny Mehta, the head of Knopf, died on December 30
It is hard to overstate the influence of Mehta, whose name has become nearly inseparable from the prestigious reputation of Knopf.
NPD Books finally has a Twitter account and occasionally shares stats
We say finally because other companies reporting on book sales, such as BookNet Canada, actively write about trends and share stats.
The state of genre fiction magazines
Author Jason Sanford has interviewed editors, publishers, and staff of nine genre fiction magazines and compiled a free report.
A Look Back at 2019: The Most Notable Stories We Covered
One key theme: long-brewing polarization between major publishing-industry players is approaching critical mass.
CCPA: The Next Privacy Law Hurdle
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect at the first of the year and is meant to protect California residents.
Hot Sheet Index: December 25, 2019
The Hot Sheet Index reviewed the statistics for social media platforms. TikTok has seen over 1.5 billion downloads.
Closing Image: December 25, 2019
While Facebook is ahead of most platforms in terms of time spent per user, its usage peaked in 2017 at 14 hours per month on average.
2019 Retrospectives from across the Publishing Industry
Here’s a selection of what others are saying—and not just about this year, but about the last decade in publishing.
Upcoming changes at Barnes & Noble leave agents and publishers a bit anxious
Bottom line: authors and agents must reset their expectations for any new spring titles.
Shipping delays frustrate independent booksellers, with holiday sales sluggish
Booksellers blame the lack of a blockbuster title (such as last year’s hit, Becoming by Michelle Obama) to drive store traffic.
RWA ethics and diversity controversy erupts on Christmas Eve
This story continues to unfold via social media and other back channels.
James Patterson decides Barnes & Noble booksellers need a “bonus”
Bestselling novelist James Patterson is already well known for paying bonuses to independent booksellers across the US (since 2015).
Penguin Random House, the biggest trade publisher in the world, is now wholly owned by Bertelsmann
UK-based Pearson is selling off its remaining stake in the company.