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Closing Image: June 1, 2016
A recent BookExpo America presentation by Nielsen shows that ebook sales (for those with ISBNs) took off dramatically between 2010 and 2012
BEA’s Big Off-Year: When Spaciousness Is Not a Good Thing
Discussion of BEA’s 2016 move from New York City to Chicago.
The Author Factor at BEA: Trade Writers Up, Indies Down
Independent authors struggle for a meaningful presence at the 2016 BEA.
Profile: J.A. Konrath and Scott Turow
At a BEA panel on authorship, Joe Konrath and Scott Turow commented on reaching one’s audience.
On the Eve of BEA: More Author Heat on “an Orgy of Unproductiveness”
Persistent questions are surfacing about how major trade-show events roll on, year after year, with minimal author involvement.
Closing Image: May 4, 2016
Social Media Today reports, “Digital media usage has increased by 35 percent since 2013, driven entirely by mobile growth.”
AAP Stats Show Continuing Ebook Sales Decline for Traditional Publishers
The latest monthly sales report (December 2015) has been released from the Association of American Publishers
Another Significant Merger: Follett Acquires Baker & Taylor
On the heels of the Perseus acquisition by Ingram, yet another merger in US book distribution has been announced.
Not That We’d Ever Say We Told You So: Authors and Trade Shows
In our last issue, we wrote about the rocky relationship between authors and trade shows, major industry events that revolve around rights sales.
Smashing Words, Crunching Numbers: Coker’s 2016 Survey
Like Otis Chandler at Goodreads, Mark Coker at Smashwords enjoys compiling sales data every year and releasing highlights of his findings.
The Latest Celebrity-Driven Imprints (Plus Some Others)
Here are some of the latest new imprints to keep an eye on, including two celebrity-driven imprints.
Trade Shows and Authors: Another Year of Trying to Get Along
We’re again in the awkward season in which the industry tries to accommodate independent authors at events that were simply not created to include them.
Closing Image: April 6, 2016
The VIDA count for the New Yorker shows that, in 2015, women represented 33.8 percent of bylines in the magazine.
Profile: Nick Bostrom
Nick Bostrom is an Oxford philosophy professor and author who will give the opening keynote address at London Book Fair’s Quantum Conference on April 11.
Closing Image: March 23, 2016
A new Pew Research study shows growing interest in crowdfunded journalism projects. You can find much more detail
Reading Pattern Data: “Should We Tell Our Authors?”
One of the workshops at Digital Book World (DBW) focused on research that Jellybooks’ Andrew Rhomberg is conducting on consumer reading patterns.
How Busy Are Literary Agencies in the Self-Publishing Era? Very Busy
Nelson Literary Agency has an annual tradition we like of revealing statistics on its previous year’s activity.
A Smart but Difficult Path to More Author Profits: Selling Rights
One of the best services provided by ALLi is the explication for writers of business factors once understood only by publishers and agencies.
The Growing Pains of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited
Prior to July 2015, authors were paid a fixed amount for each book borrowed and read; now authors are paid for each page read.
A Successful Independent Publisher Launches a Full-Service Publishing Arm
Diversion announced the creation of Radius Book Group, a full-service publishing solution that will help authors develop their books, then publish and distribute them through Ingram.
BookGarage: The Latest Matchmaking Service for Authors and Freelancers
With the rise of self-publishing has come an increase in services that try to help authors find freelance assistance—while taking a cut of the action.
Hot Sheet Index: March 9, 2016
The number of Barnes & Noble stores decreased from 720 in 2010 to 640 in 2016. Fourteen more stores are expected to close in 2017.
DBW 2016: Potpourri: More Author-Related Highlights from the Conference
Here’s a collection of other interesting things we heard or that were reported by other outlets.
Nook Pulls Out of the UK Market and Stops Selling Apps
The last time we updated you on Barnes & Noble, Nook sales were 32 percent lower than the prior year.
Perseus Gets Sold to Hachette and Ingram, Take Two
After beginning an open sales process in fall 2015, Perseus Books Group has announced a deal with Hachette and Ingram.
DBW 2016: The Persistence of Print in the Children’s Market
If you’re working in children’s books, some of the research offered at DBW via Dubit’s quarterly survey, Dubit Trends, is important for you to note.
DBW 2016: Research and Engage Your Readers Using Digital Media
This year’s DBW featured a popular speaker from outside the industry: Rand Fishkin of Moz.
Profile: RoomHate
RoomHate recently hit number two on the New York Times bestseller list and number one on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.
DBW 2016: Data Data Data: What Do We Know about Print and Ebook Sales Trends?
Michael Cader of Publishers Lunch offered DBW an overview of what we know and how we know it when it comes to print and ebook sales.
On the List: The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos nabbed the last spot on the New York Times bestseller list during the week of May 1, and it’s enjoying high rankings on Amazon as well.
Hot Sheet Index: February 24, 2016
The Hot Sheet Index reviewed the number of Kobo, and Amazon users against the number of ebooks sold on these sites.
Closing Image: February 24, 2016
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (UW-Madison’s School of Education) has tracked diversity in children’s books for twenty-five years.
How Big Is Big? A Quick Look at the Amazonian Workforce
It can be difficult for those of us in the publishing industry to get a handle on Amazon’s tremendous scale.
Profile: Emmanuel Nataf
For our earlier report on Reedsy’s new Book Editor, we spoke with the startup’s twenty-five-year-old CEO, Emmanuel Nataf.
Scribd Ends Unlimited Ebook Subscription Model
Last week, Scribd publicly announced that it was ending its all-you-can-read ebook subscription plan.
Kobo: The Number-Three Ebook Retailer in the World, but an Overvalued One
Recent developments around Canada’s Kobo have brought new definition to its challenges in the industry.