How AI Is Already Changing Book Discoverability
We talked with three experts about how much book publishers or authors should be concerned about AI overtaking conventional search.
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Class action lawsuit against Amazon’s Audible is still moving ahead
A federal judge ruled that Amazon must face a lawsuit that accuses them of monopolizing the retail market for audiobooks.
Radish is closing at the end of this year
Ten years ago there was market enthusiasm and interest in mobile reading, but that market has cooled considerably.
Top 10 bestselling books of 2025 so far
In the lead: The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, with more than 1.7 million copies sold, one of only two nonfiction books on the list.
Book sales update: down 1 percent for the year
Adult fiction sales were up by 1 percent, nonfiction sales fell about 3 percent, and religious books are up by 16 percent.
New nonprofit UK publisher: Extraordinary Books
The publisher will share profits with authors 50-50, but only after costs are recouped.
New AI fiction translation service: GlobeScribe
GlobeScribe is an AI-powered service that translates fiction from English into multiple languages for a flat rate of $100 per language.
Two Court Rulings on AI: Neither Gives Authors What They Want, But There’s Still a Long Road Ahead
While the same issue lies at the heart of both cases and both judges found in favor of AI companies, the rulings are quite different from one another.
Authors ask publishers to stand with them against AI
But blanket prohibitions aren’t going to save the publishing industry, nor are they likely to be adopted by the biggest publishers.
Independent publishers don’t like Barnes & Noble’s new buying practices
While local booksellers have leeway to decide what’s on their shelves, it seems they must choose from titles already stocked in B&N’s DCs.
On the List: Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
Rob Hart is the former publisher for MysteriousPress.com and was the class director at LitReactor.
New agent at Hyponymous Literary
Audrey Clare Farley has joined and is interested in narrative nonfiction, especially memoir, biography, history, and cultural criticism.
New agent at Neighborhood Literary
Tianna Kelly joins as an associate agent, open to romance, romantasy, and speculative fiction.
New agency: Antsu Literary Agency
Wadzanai Mhute has launched a new agency, Antsu, and is seeking both fiction and nonfiction.
Aspiring novelist competition in the UK
The competition is a partnership between Good Housekeeping and the Rachel Mills Literary Agency.
A new imprint from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
North Point Press is returning to life under FSG, which acquired its assets in 1992 but later stopped releasing new books under the imprint.
New comics imprints at Time Bomb
UK comics publisher Time Bomb has launched two new imprints, WestWords and Comic Scene.
New UK publisher: Firefinch
The new independent publisher will begin releasing titles in summer 2026. The effort is led by former executives from Bonnier Books UK.
Links of Interest: July 2, 2025
The latest in traditional publishing, bookselling, culture & politics, fiction reading & literary fiction, and AI.
New agent: Neighborhood Literary
GiannaMarie Dobson currently seeks middle-grade and YA fiction as well as adult science fiction and fantasy.
New imprint: Panamerica
The imprint is under County Highway, whose mission is to publish new writing about America in the form of a 19th-century newspaper.
In Substack We Trust: Navigating the Tension Between Powerful Tools and Platform Dependency
A full transcript of a panel discussion at NonfictioNOW at Notre Dame University about the mixed feelings that writers have about Substack.
Federal judge rules that AI model training is fair use, with one big caveat
The judge finds training LLM models on authors’ books to be “spectacularly” transformative, a key factor for fair (legal) use.
BookCon returns in 2026
BookCon is a reader-facing convention that launched in 2014 as part of BookExpo, then turned into a standalone event that lasted until 2019.
Book sales update: UK market
Fiction sales revenue grew by 18 percent in 2024 (driven by fantasy and romance), and audiobook revenue grew 31 percent.
TikTok and TikTok Shop: How TikTok Drives Book Sales
TikTok—with its built-in Shop—has become an important driver of book sales, with smaller influencers often yielding better conversion.
Libraries make public domain works available for AI training
A Harvard-based institution is working with libraries and museums around the world on making their collections available for training by AI.
Distressing details coming to light about authors’ experiences with 8th Note Press, owned by ByteDance
Now that 8th Note Press is closing, some authors are coming out and telling their stories of working with the publisher.
Chill Subs starts Lit Mag Incubator program
The website directory to find publishing opportunities especially in the literary and nonprofit community has announced a grant program.
Christian publisher launches secular fiction imprint focused on romance
Just as secular publishers are launching Christian-living imprints, Christian publishers are launching their own crossover efforts.
New science fiction publisher: Factorial Books
The founders of an aerospace company have launched Factorial Books, a new digital publishing company based in London.
There’s now a wearable e-reader: Sol
It looks like a chunky pair of sunglasses. The tagline: “Get lost in a good book again.” It connects to your existing Kindle library.
New books podcast from Reese’s Book Club
Bookmarked with Danielle Robay will “bring together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese’s Book Club and beyond.”
New podcast: Future Knowledge
Authors Alliance and Internet Archive have launched a podcast, Future Knowledge.
New distributor: Stable Distribution
Stable Book Group, in partnership with Hachette, has announced the formation of a new distribution company for independent publishers.
How Publishers Have Evolved Their Direct-to-Reader Marketing Effort
From the US Book Show: publishers have struggled with direct-to-consumer marketing in the past, but fortunately that seems to be changing.
Excellent deep-dive into recent publisher bankruptcies
Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware offers excellent insights into what’s happening with the bankruptcies of Albert Whitman & Co and Unbound (now operated as Boundless).
Everand acquires Fable app
The subscription reading app Everand (formerly known as Scribd) has acquired Fable.
On the List: Rancher’s Law by Diana Palmer, with bonus read Dog Days of Summer by Teri Wilson
This edition of Rancher’s Law was a special release to celebrate the publisher’s 75th anniversary. It included two novels: Rancher’s Law by Diana Palmer and a bonus read, Wilson’s Dog Days of Summer.
New imprint: Nation Books
The progressive magazine The Nation is partnering with OR Books to launch Nation Books.
Publishers Market and Promote Midlist Differently Today
A panel at this year’s US Book Show reveals that publishers are starting to embrace niche audiences instead of trying to create blockbusters.
8th Note Press closing?
No source would go on the record, but at least some agents and authors are in the process of securing rights reversions.
“Sindo Hane” has published more than 100 novels since April 2025
This content-farming model has been around for a long time, only now it’s AI powered.