The Most Popular Book Genre in Every State. In Florida, It’s Romance.

Visual Capitalist: Cloudwards, a software and security comparison service website, tracked Google Trends data between March 15th 2024–25 to determine what book genre residents in each state searched for the most.

Romance is the most searched book genre in the country, the top choice in 22 states, including Florida.

Poetry ties with Fiction for second place, the preference in 9 states each.

Wondering how reading habits and preferences differ depending on location?

Naturally, search data is primarily an indicator of curiosity and may not correlate with purchasing intent.

Chesson Updates Free Guide to Traditional Publishing

Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur: Getting a book deal isn’t just about writing a good book. It’s about knowing how to play the game — and how the rules have shifted. The good news? The basics haven’t changed:

Publishers still prefer to work through literary agents

A clear genre and powerful hook are still your best assets

A professional query letter matters just as much as ever.

But several things have changed:

Competition is even tighter (especially in popular genres)

Hybrid publishing models have blurred the lines — and made research even more important

Self-publishing is now seen as a legitimate first option — not just a fallback.

If you’re thinking about going the traditional route (or even if you’re weighing your options), it’s worth knowing what’s new — and what still works.

Agents are looking for books like this….or are they? Book Riot.

Books on literary agents’ Manuscript Wish Lists: real or fake? (A quiz.) Lit Hub.

This Startup Romantasy Publisher Has Book Industry Swooning

Fast Company: “What makes a book a bestseller?” asks Entangled Publishing founder and CEO Liz Pelletier. “You couldn’t read the pages fast enough; you sat up until the wee hours to finish it. That is a bestseller that will go viral.” Amid stagnant overall U.S. book sales, one genre has thrived: romantasy.

4 Top Women Crime Writers on How They Build in Social Issues

Mark Mathes: How do some of the top women crime writers build social issues into their crime stories? Four women authors share their tips and techniques at the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival. My notes, quotes and paraphrases from the session March 29, 2025 here.

The Importance of Setting in Crime Fiction

Mark Mathes: Four novelists who happen to be women discussed how critical setting is in fiction, especially crime fiction. Novelist Christine Carbo: The main entry point of the story is the setting. The setting is not interesting unless it is part of a character. Setting isn’t really a character. Dynamic characters change. In my mind a setting doesn’t change. Setting isn’t really important unless it’s dynamic with a character. In my first novel, the setting haunts the character.” They spoke at the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Fest, where I volunteered.

More here.

Prepare Your One-Sheet to Make Independent Publishing Go Smoother

Mark Mathes: As you prepare to publish, it’s helpful to have a single document with all or most of the info you’ll need for Amazon, Apple, IngramSpark and other online storefronts. Here are some of what you’ll need. It’s a cut and paste process, and most storefront distributors want the same info, so it’s helpful to have this in one file. Checklist here.

Indie Book Pricing Suggestions. Amazon First 90 Days, Then Go Wide.

Mark Mathes: Where do you start with pricing your independent book? Read on for many factors to consider. Start by considering the different royalty rates from the distributors, beginning with Amazon. More tips here.

How to Find Public Domain Books and Re-Create Them

Dave Chesson, Kindlepreneur: How to publish public domain books and why you should. Kindlepreneur. Creating and selling a public domain book can be really enticing. After all, a public domain is a book that no longer has a copyright, and so the idea is to take that book, spruce it up and start selling. And I can see allure of this. Go through and find great public domains. But the cold hard truth of it all is that doing public domains is actually quite hard. It requires more than you think. There is a lot of red tape surrounding them, and there are a lot of pitfalls. Do the wrong thing, and you can lose your Amazon account.

University Press of Florida Newsletter. Join Author Briefing Oct. 17

UF Press: Welcome to the Fall 2024 issue of the University Press of Florida and UF Press newsletter. For this issue, we wanted to introduce some of the people who make our publishing program possible: our team of acquisitions editors. Sign up to attend their fall publishing panel on October 17 and read on to learn about the books they each acquire. In this newsletter we will also review our present work and impact by sharing highlights from our 2023‒2024 publishing year. We hope you will come away with an understanding of the publishing areas the Press plans to grow next as well as how you can connect with us and the work we do. Please enjoy reading it.

Are you an author thinking about publishing a book with a university press? Are you a subject-matter expert who has been asked to provide a peer review for a scholarly book publisher? We invite you to join us for a panel focusing on peer review to learn more about this important process and what to expect as you participate in it. Register for Zoom session Oct. 17, 4 pm.

In this panel, acquisitions editors at the University Press of Florida will discuss the peer review process for both general interest and scholarly books from the perspective of the author and the peer reviewer. Looking at the questions that are typically asked during peer review, the editors describe the type of feedback they hope to receive from reviewers. Prospective authors will learn what the peer review process looks like, including how editors select peer reviewers, the timeline for peer review, and what they can expect from the reviews. Acquiring editors will explain how they approach these peer reviews and use them to offer guidance to authors in developing their manuscripts. Emphasizing the critical role of peer review in scholarly publishing, the editors will discuss the ethics and best practices of peer review as well as current challenges.

Adult Fiction Titles Boom, Thanks to a Boost from BookTok

The weekend of August 10-11 was a big win for one Hollywood power couple, as Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, and Blake Lively’s big screen adaptation of romance-drama novel It Ends With Us achieved a $50 million debut. Perhaps the only person with more to celebrate than the Reynolds-Lively household, though, is the author of the book that inspired the latter movie: Colleen Hoover. While the 44-year-old Texan first self-published back in 2012, her books have exploded in popularity since 2020. According to Circana BookScan via Vox, Hoover’s titles have now sold almost 30 million in-print copies; in 2022, she held 6 of the top 10 spots in the NYT paperback fiction list, outselling the Bible that year; and It Ends With Us has been a NYT bestseller for over 132 weeks, currently standing at No.1 for combined print & e-book fiction despite being published 8 years ago.

Indeed, Hoover’s meteoric rise has coincided with the BookTok boom. During the pandemic, a global community of readers and authors converged on video sharing app TikTok to discuss their favorite titles, offer recommendations, and post reactions to viral novels, giving rise to major author success stories like Hoover, Sarah J Maas, and Taylor Jenkins Reid, among others.

Cut to present, and the #BookTok hashtag has garnered over 35.6 million posts, and counted more than 200 billion total views on the app at the end of last year. Zoom out, and you can even see a broader jump in the popularity of young adult fiction (+50%) and adult fiction (+42%) titles—BookTok’s bread and butter—relative to pre-pandemic 2018, per Circana research on the US book industry; meanwhile, nonfiction titles have seen a slight slump over the same period. More at Sherwood.news

Compass Rose Publishing looks to harness the power of indie booksellers. Publishers Weekly.

Generate Greater Book Profits in 4 Easy Steps

Brian Jud: As an independent author looking to make money, learn how to close your growth gap in four basic steps. BookBaby.

A new literary start-up wants reading to be sexier. Lit Hub.

Pursuing a rogue route to publishing: Women Writers, Women's Books. Books By Women.

Cheat Sheet Shows Publishing Challenges and Solutions

Books Go Social: The quick resource to help you get more from your writing journey, with either fiction or nonfiction or both. Developed by a book marketing expert with multiple traditional and indie books, who has also helped thousands of authors publish and make real money from their writing. This 9-page PDF cheat sheet shows challenges—what you need to work on—and suggested solutions—ideas for how you can address the challenges. Tips here.

How to save your online writing from disappearing forever. The Verge.

What makes a book a bestseller? It’s tricky. The Conversation.

Public.Work: A smoothly searchable archive of 100,000+ “copyright-free” images. Open Culture.

Apple Books has always trailed Kindle, but one acquisition would transform it. 9 to 5 Mac.

The Best Book Cover Designs of 2023.

Jason Kottke: The book cover is one of my all-time favorite design objects and a big part of the reason I love going to bookstores is to visually feast on new covers. I don’t keep an explicit list of my favorites from those trips, but there are definitely those that stick in my mind, covers that I’ll instantly recognize from across the room on subsequent trips. Kottke.

StoryGraph is the Goodreads alternative worth switching to. Polygon.

How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace? Reviews. Book reviews not only boost your search engine ranking, but they also raise customer confidence in your books. So, how do you go about getting them? Let’s spell out what you should do — as well as what you shouldn’t do — to get book reviews on Amazon. Tips from BookBaby.

A surprising genre of romance novels is gaining popularity. NPR.

A majority of Canadians now get their books for free. Publishers Weekly.

Authors Equity announces first 10 author signings. Publishers Weekly.

Writer and music journalist Danielle Chelosky on the reality of publishing your first book. The Creative Independent.

How Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler founded a travel publishing empire. Lit Hub.

Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers' court win. Ars Technica.

Why authors are releasing books on Wattpad over Amazon. Film Courage 

The Get Off: Excerpt and cover reveal. CrimeReads.

The paradox of the contemporary Southern writer. Lit Hub.

The Backlist: Joe R. Lansdale on a forgotten Southern classic. CrimeReads.

R.L. Stine reflects on the Goosebumps craze he created in the '90s. People.

Inside the rise and fall of one of the world's most powerful writing groups. The Conversation.

A leaked document gives glimpse of Amazon’s bookselling might. Book Riot.

Want a book deal? 6 of publishing’s most influential literary agents share tips for aspiring fiction writers. Stylist.

50 ways to get published: how to make your writing stand out to an editor. Writer's Digest.

Can you tell a pro from an amateur writer by just reading the first page? No Film School.

Quiz: Can you identify these opening lines of classic mystery and crime novels? CrimeReads.

Please (don’t) ask me about my newly published book. The Boston Globe.

Most freelance book reviewers earn less than minimum wage. Lit Hub.

Infographic: The next characters to enter the public domain. Visual Capitalist.

Ian Morris on what it takes to be a successful children's book illustrator. Creative Bloom.

BookNet Canada reading: Stats and staff picks 2023. BookNet Canada.

Literature in a time of book publishing conglomeration. The Bulwark.

Cozy mystery subgenres: making the perfect blend. CrimeReads.

Era of Romance: Exploring the unprecedented boom in the popularity of romance novels. Wealth of Geeks.

How to corral your nightmares for use in your next novel. CrimeReads.

How to write fiction about true crime. CrimeReads.

One piece of advice from 36 nonfiction authors in 2023. Writer's Digest.

Memories aren’t enough: why sometimes only fiction can solve the mysteries of life. Lit Hub.

The importance of the plot twist. CrimeReads.

Stop making excuses: why there’s always time to follow your writing dreams. Lit Hub.

Opinion: The Elvis of the literary scene is L.A.'s own Raymond Chandler. Los Angeles Times.

All Seasons Press Sues Author Mark Meadows for Lying — Or For Telling the Truth?

In a filing that deftly blends unintended comedy with performance art, publisher All Seasons Press sued author Mark Meadows in a Sarasota, Florida state court on Friday, alleging breach of contract in his publishing agreement. They seek payment of approximately $3 million in expenses, potential lost profits, and “reputational harm.” The publisher says that they are acting based on unconfirmed press reports that Meadows testified before a grand jury in exchange for immunity “that neither he nor President Trump actually believed…claims” that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. Publishers Marketplace.

All Seasons Demands $350,000 Advance Returned, $600,000 Expenses

Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff during Donald Trump's administration, was sued on Friday by the publisher of his 2021 book. According to the publisher, All Seasons Press, Meadows violated an agreement regarding false statements by including untrue claims in his book about the 2020 presidential election. The publisher is asking to be paid back the $350,000 advance they gave to Meadows, as well as $600,000 in additional compensatory damages for expense and $1 million in reputational damages. Newsweek. "As a result, public interest in the book, the truth of which was increasingly in doubt, precipitously declined, and ASP [All Seasons Press] sold only 60,000 of the first 200,000 printing of the book," the company wrote in the suit.

What Traditional Authors Should Know about Royalties

BookBaby: Book royalties can be confusing — especially for new authors — but it’s an important aspect of the publishing process and one an aspiring author should understand when considering the differences between self-publishing and traditional publishing through one of the Big 5 publishers. More tips.

How to Understand Book Royalties

Let’s talk about book royalties. Despite the regal-sounding name, book royalties have absolutely nothing to do with kings, queens, or the aristocracy. You can think of royalties as the lifeblood of the publisher-author relationship, writes Max Miravite. Royalties nourish both parties, helping them to thrive and enabling them to create and distribute even more books to readers all over the world. Without royalties, most writers would have little incentive to write, while publishers would have nothing to publish in turn. The publishing industry as we know it would cease to exist.

The book market is picking up as Universal buys Run For Your Life short story package; Britney Spears memoir & journo student’s takedown of Stanford President also spark bids. Deadline.com.

What are the book-owning and book-reading habits of Americans? Two new reports shed insight. Book Riot.

The business of mining literary estates is booming. The Economist.

Fiction as a business—with a Catholic subtext. America Magazine.

Is the software tome. your secret to finally finishing your novel? Book Riot.

How has Big Publishing changed American fiction? The New Yorker.

How Simon & Schuster’s sale to KKR could affect the publisher. Book Riot.

Reading in the conglomerate era: or, do small presses even exist? LA Review of Books.

Tampa Bay startup disrupts publishing industry. St. Pete Catalyst.

Jackson Howard is editing the future in art books. Harper's Bazaar.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: Business book summaries are big business. Publishers Weekly.

On the tyranny of slush piles at publishing houses. The Millions.

How publishing works: From Caxton to Kindle. Acast.com.

Hilary Leichter on the partnership between reader and writer. Lit Hub.

How today’s top authors find the right balance for the “literary thriller.” CrimeReads.

ALA, AAP Reaffirm Landmark Freedom to Read Statement on 70th anniversary. Publisher's Weekly.

Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bought it. Washington Post.

Is All the Light We Cannot See based on a true story? Collider.

Essence Authors talk romance, genre, and representation at New Orleans conference. Verite News.

TikTok, influenced by the Chinese government, sells a lot of books. now, its owner wants to publish them, too. New York Times.

US Copyright Office says no protection for any AI generated content. DIY Photography.

IBPA Checklist Helps Indie Authors Publish Professionally

The IBPA checklist gives both authors and industry professionals an at-a-glance gauge of the professional presentation of any book. It must be acknowledged that book development is a creative process and that quality can be subjective. This list does not address editorial content except to recommend that any book be professionally edited (developmentally edited, copyedited, and proofread). To meet professional standards, any book should be grammatically accurate and free of spelling and typographical errors.

This checklist is broken into two sections: (1) Content and (2) Production. Download or print here.

BookBaby’s 6-Month Plan from Manuscript to Marketplace

From BookBaby: Can you get your unfinished manuscript to market

in six months? You can if you follow this plan! You’re halfway through your manuscript—that’s excellent. Now it’s time to buckle down, wrap it up, and get your book to market. There’s a lot to do, but with dedication and a commitment to the process, you can finish, edit, publish, launch, and promote your book in the next 180 days. No kidding! You will need to put your time and energy into the project, and you’ll have to swap out your “writer” hat to embrace your inner “publisher” and “book marketer,” but you don’t have to do it alone. Six-month publishing plan here. PDF.

New Author’s Handbook from Blue Pen

We often work with new authors at Blue Pen. And ensuring authors have access to accurate, easy-to-understand information has been a priority for me since day one. I’ve put together a 20-page ebook with details about editing, self-publishing, and querying agents, writes Victoria Griffin of Blue Pen. The handbook answers common questions and lays out a road map for different publishing paths. 

Book publishers are trying to destroy public ebook access in order to increase profits. Current Affairs.

How to get your book published: A weekend boot camp for authors hosted by The Guardian  newspaper. | The Guardian Membership.

Google is about to turn the online publishing industry upside down. Forbes.

Free Book Launch Checklist from Book Marketing Tools

Before you take this critical book launch step, make sure you have all your bases covered with a free copy of the Book Marketing Tools comprehensive book launch success checklist. This 198-point guide will help you navigate the crazy world of book launches from beginning to end while ensuring your book gains the reach and exposure it deserves. Free guide from Book Marketing Tools.

Survey finds self-published authors making gains. Publisher's Weekly.

Library of Congress Changes Copyright Registration

The Library of Congress recently announced changes to its copyright registration deposit requirements. Notably, they have made permanent an accommodation created during the pandemic that allows people to upload digital copies of the material they would like to deposit, in advance of sending hard copies, for faster approval. Publishers Marketplace

Book Summary Publishing has finally found a solution for busy readers. Find out how? Digital Journal

Sweet story edible book day contest will feature desserts. New Orleans Times-Picayune

Medium’s gold rush is over—so what? Kristina God

After getting turned down by multiple publishers, this author self-published her book and sold more than 500,000 copies. Here's how she did it. Entrepreneur

Things (some) readers find annoying about books and the book world. BookRiot

7 great reasons to publish your book in audio format. The Cleveland American

7 extra features that can make your fiction ebook better. MakeUseOf.com

A judge sided with publishers in a lawsuit over the Internet Archive's online library. NPR

Book publishers with surging profits struggle to prove Internet Archive hurt sales. Ars Technica

Bookshop.org will sell electronic books. Good Reader

How to become a storytelling entrepreneur (or “authorpreneur”). Entrepreneur

Column: Barnes & Noble saved itself by putting books first. Imagine that. Commentary from the Los Angeles Times.

How Barnes & Noble transformed its brand from corporate bully to lovable neighborhood bookstore. Fast Company.

IngramSpark Offers Free Book Building Tool

You have an amazing story to tell, and the design of your book should reflect that! Create beautiful covers and interior designs for both print books and ebooks with IngramSpark’s FREE Book-Building Tool.

Book Cover Design: Choose from pre-designed front covers, spines, and back covers, or submit your own custom images to create a cover that will grab readers’ attention.

Book Layout Design: Choose from pre-designed interior layouts, engaging title pages, chapter openers, and more.

Print Books and Ebooks: Designs in the Book-Building Tool are publishing-ready for both print book and ebook formats. IngramSpark's Book-Building Tool free.

How to Generate More Revenue from Your Non-Fiction Title

Borrowing ideas from other industries can create new book revenue ideas for your nonfiction title, and your fiction titles, as well. Ideas from BookBaby that including speaking, workshops, reprints, product extensions, licensing and more.

Small Press Distribution launches GoFundMe to support new operating model. Publisher's Weekly.

A slippery slope. Book distribution. Book Life.

Kirkus at 90: A timeline of literary milestones. Kirkus Reviews.

Markus Dohle’s failed bid to eat Simon & Schuster. New York magazine.

Buzzfeed: The world of book publishing is a mystery to many, so we did our best to show you behind-the-scenes

The New Yorker: What to expect when you’re expecting to publish your first book.

How are books made? The Conversation shows how.

Orillia author aims to change way ebooks are purchased.

What Books about Publishing Get Right. And Get Wrong.

“Write what you know,” goes the old saying. Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that there aren’t more books about publishing. Because there’s nothing authors know better than the often-fickle world of publishing – the rewrites, the pressure to sell, the ying-yang of the artistic vs. the commercial experience. But when writers do write about publishing, how much do they get right, writes Toni Fitzgerald in The Writer. Where’s the line between information and entertainment? Can a writer without publishing experience trust what they read in a novel about the industry? We spoke with four authors who’ve written recent books set in publishing to get their answers. 

Underpaid and overworked: a look at salaries and benefits in publishing. A Bookriot report.

Can you help us find out how much self-published authors really earn?

Take ALLi’s survey of self-published authors: 20 questions in under 5 minutes!

Here.

Want to be a writer? This bleak but buoyant guide says to get used to rejection. NPR.

How to Create a Book Copyright Page, from Kindlepreneur

Having a solid copyright page is the first step towards protection. The problem is, most of us can’t afford a lawyer to create them. So, we usually put something basic, hoping it will suffice, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur.

Well, in this week’s article, I updated one of my most popular articles, and added 6 free copyright templates for you to use to build ironclad copyright pages:

Basic copyright page

Fiction copyright page

Nonfiction copyright page

Public domain copyright page

Memoir copyright page

Low content copyright page.

How to Write a Dedication Page

There are two types of readers: those who skip over the “front matter” of a book, and those who read every single word (even the copyright information and publication date), writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur.  Okay, maybe that's a little black-and-white. Chances are, you've read one or two dedication pages in your time as a reader. Maybe you've even had a book dedicated to you (we should all be so lucky). No matter the type of reader you are, if you're writing a book, you may want to know how to write a dedication page.

10 Things They Didn’t Tell You About the Publishing Game

There’s more to authoring than conquering the blank page. Dozens of unique quirks of industry factor into the experience of a creative. If you’re an aspiring writer with traditional publishing in mind, pay attention, writes Kilby Blades in BookLife.com. Here’s what to expect from author life: The industry moves slowly. Very slowly. The publishing machine is overloaded. More manuscripts are submitted than agents and editors can comfortably review.

What are Apple’s audiobook rules, anyway? Audiobook roundup from The Verge.

How to sell short fiction as an indie author — Self-Publishing Advice Center from the Alliance of Independent Authors tips here.

Dave Chesson: Tips on Titles. Should You Use a Pen Name?

Dave Chesson, Kindlepreneur: There are some shenanigans that have been happening in our industry that need to be pointed out and guarded against.

When it comes to US trademarks and books, the law is clear: You CANNOT trademark the title of a book…except when you can. It turns out that you can trademark the name of a series, or anything you intend to brand beyond just the book. On the whole, this is a bit understandable. However, there are times where this is problematic and ridiculous.

For example, when an author does this and starts attacking other books with that word or phrase in their title or anything associated with it after the fact, some in the industry have started calling this trademark bullying. Many people remember #CockyGate, and this just happened recently to a good friend of mine, and seems to rear its ugly head every once in a while. And I’d like to commend some of the author organizations and individuals who have fought against this. So, is there a way we can prevent it? Well sadly, if we want to be more protective and not run into this sort of thing (or at least try to mitigate it as much as possible), we need to add a step to our book titling process, and even our pen name selection, that helps to identify whether there is an existing trademark for that word or phrase.

Because of this, I have updated my two articles to include this step in the process:

How to title a book

Selecting a pen name.

Kids want to know: 'Will It Be Okay?' — this book answers that question. NPR commentary.

The antidote to everything: Kenneth C. Davis on the balm of short novels. Lit Hub commentary.

What is speculative fiction? Commentary from Writers.com.

The ultimate guide to 35 popular book genres. From Reader's Digest.

Full meta jacket: 10 nonfiction books about the stories behind books. Roundup from Bookriot.com.

In praise of the worker-owned company (or: what to do about Simon and Schuster, the #3 publisher.) Lit Hub commentary.

What happens when publishing houses merge? Commentary from Bookriot.

How to start a book club: The Complete Guide from Reader’s Digest.

‘Bitcoin Billionaires’ author Ben Mezrich takes on Amazon Self-Publishing. From Forbes magazine.

What to Do After You’ve Finished Revising Your Manuscript

Whether you’ve completed your first novel-length draft or your twentieth, penning those final words is a rush. You’ve dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to your manuscript, and finally reaching the end of the story can be emotional and amazing. But it can leave you asking a simple question: What now? Learning what to do after writing a book can be an entirely new experience,  writes Blue Pen Books. Drafting doesn’t necessarily prepare you for the next steps in the process. Understanding what to do after you finish writing a book is crucial to the quality of your finished manuscript. A draft only needs to exist, but to create a submission- or publication-ready manuscript, you need to complete a few more steps.

100 common publishing terms, from Writer’s Digest here.

Book-industry activists should be careful what they wish for. The Atlantic commentary.

Legendary Character Free Training Starts Feb. 6

The Start Strong Challenge may have just finished... but we're keeping up the momentum for February with a Legendary next step, according to an AutoCrit writer. Register now and join AutoCrit starting Tuesday, February 6, for the Legendary Character Journey Challenge! Between February 6 and February 27, we'll be embarking on a structured journey, set with a treasure trove of resources, to guide you through crafting your own unique hero and an epic path for them to tread. Throughout this FREE challenge, we'll be hosting weekly live streams packed with tips and tasks, all leading up to the closing prize giveaway.

April Florida Writing Workshop on Finding an Agent in Tampa, Orlando

After many previous successful Florida events, Writing Day Workshops is excited to announce The 2024 Florida Writing Workshops— two separate full-day “How to Get Published” writing events in Florida — Tampa (April 12, 2024) and Orlando (April 13, 2024). These writing events are a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. 

Folio Literary Management Warns of Impersonators

A publishing scam has recently come to light involving fraudulent emails purporting to be from Folio Literary Management. Authors have received emails claiming to be from Erin Niumata, Senior Vice President at Folio, seeking personal information under the guise of clarifying representation details. The emails use a deceptive address very similar to the legitimate Folio domain. A writer who is represented by another agent at Folio received one of these emails and promptly reported the suspicious activity. Folio confirmed that this communication is a scam and not from their offices, and alerted the Authors Guild. Folio urges all clients and the wider writing community to exercise caution and report any fraudulent attempts to collect personal information. If you receive any suspicious emails claiming to be from Folio Literary Management, please verify the sender's credentials, and notify your agent or Folio directly. Stay safe and protect your personal information diligently. If you’ve come across or done business with a publishing scam, please email at staff@authorsguild.org so we can assist you and let our members know to avoid it.

Lit agent landscape diversifies some as anxieties over book business grow. Publisher's Weekly.

Galveston, where Gulf Coast stormy noirs abound. CrimeReads.

Waco author self-publishes first book, becomes instant best seller. KWTX.

Marc Jaffe, publisher of paperback hits, is dead at 102. The Boston Globe.

NYT bestselling author Greg Iles writes letter to his readers revealing multiple myeloma diagnosis. The Real Book Spy.

My favourite fictional character: George Smiley is unattractive, overweight, a terrible dresser – and a better spy than James Bond. The Conversation.

James Grippando: 30 years of lightning bolts, percolators, and other sources of inspiration. CrimeReads.

How Truman Capote’s Esquire stories ruined his life. Esquire.

The books by Southern authors that made us laugh out loud. Garden and Gun.

Thirty years of Savannah’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Garden and Gun.

40 years ago, one kids book (Dr. Seuss) dared to explain the worst things in the world. Fatherly.com

The hunt for Jack Ryan’s owner: Heirs to end fight for Tom Clancy’s golden goose. Baltimore Banner.

Great Cartoon. Now What About a Caption?

From Mark Mathes: Great cartoon. Now what about a caption? Comics editors say this all the time, I recall from my previous life as editor of international syndication at Tribune Company  in Chicago. A new take on cartooning: The Dark Underbelly of Cartooning, New Yorker presentation here.

What Authors Can Learn from Cartoonists and Animation Artists

Whether they are hand-drawn, traditionally animated classics like Bambi and Beauty and the Beast, or computer-generated favorites like Toy Story and Shrek, we’ve all enjoyed the work of animation artists, according to Writer's Relief. Independent animators like Don Hertzfeldt have also created beautiful, inspiring work worth checking out. But what does drawing cartoons have to do with writing advice and your next writing project? At Writer’s Relief, we know that writers can learn a lot from the skills animators use to breathe life and energy into their work. Here’s the best writing advice from an unexpected source: animation artists!

What I Learned as a Comics Editor about Dialogue, Action and Characters

Mark Mathes: What can an author learn from the comics and funny papers? I learned plenty about characters, actions, sequential stories and dialogue in nearly five years as comics editor and editor of international syndication at Tribune in Chicago 1994-99. Comic strips and comic books are character-driven and must build their hero and antagonist in a limited space. In a comic strip, cartoonists have three, maybe four panels over six days. Sunday is an expansive opportunity for characters, action and scene.  More tips here.

Best-Selling author Glenn Cooper's Siesta Key home for sale. Sarasota Magazine.

Jesmyn Ward reveals the hidden history that inspired Oprah’s 103rd Book Club pick. Oprah Daily.

Genius creator Ian Fleming wrote each of the James Bond books in less than 2 weeks by using the rule of forced boredom. Inc. magazine.

60 years of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre. CrimeReads.

How Michael Lewis’s Book on Sam Bankman-Fried went off the rails. The New Republic.

David Bell’s Storm Warning: excerpt and cover reveal. CrimeReads.

Novelist Tess Gerritsen’s neighbors are retired spies. So she wrote about it. Orange County Register.

What spy fiction taught me about breaking the rules. CrimeReads.

How rich is your favorite writer? Ranking the 15 highest-paid authors. Parade.

Read Stephen King's Cujo sequel in excerpt from new story collection. EW.

Every book in its right time. The importance of timing for the reader, author and publisher. Commentary from Tor.com

Why do we like horror? Timely commentary from NPR.

Lee Child and Andrew Child on discipline, dread, and writing late at night. Story from CrimeReads.

A Streetcar Named Desire at 75: Blanche, Stanley, and the Tennessee Williams play that still haunts us, reports The Independent, London.

Authors who write outstanding mystery series and stellar standalones. A roundup from CrimeReads.

Man pleads guilty to stealing more than 1,000 manuscripts. The Guardian.

What if the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had succeeded? A graphic novel is uniquely placed to answer.  The Conversation.

Author, storyteller Roy Blount Jr. follows his paper trail. Garden & Gun

--30--

Herbert Gold, novelist who mined his own Jewish upbringing, dies at 99. JPost.

Stephen Rubin, publisher of The Da Vinci Code and other blockbusters, dies at 81. AP.

Ed Young Dies at 91, after 60+ year career as a children’s author and illustrator. Book Riot.

Lucy Morgan, Pulitzer-winning force of Florida journalism, dies at 82. Tampa Bay Times.

Remembering Sarasota's Rich Schineller, friend of the arts and artists. Sarasota magazine.

Martin Amis: An Appreciation. The New York Times Book Review.

A world without Martin Amis. The Atlantic Books.

Martin Amis (RIP) explains why American populism is a con. Open Culture.

Opinion: A cerebral rock star is dead. CNN.

Martin Amis: “The past gets bigger but the future shrinks.” BigIssue.com.

Remembering historical crime novelist Anne Perry. NPR.

Peter Usborne: Private Eye co-founder and publisher dies aged 85. BBC

Novelist Russell Banks, dead at age 82, found the mythical in marginal lives. NPR obituary.

5 essential Russell Banks novels you should read. Los Angeles Times.

Infographic: The next characters to enter the public domain. Visual Capitalist.

Writer and music journalist Danielle Chelosky on the reality of publishing your first book. The Creative Independent.

How Lonely Planet Founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler founded a travel publishing empire. Lit Hub.

Internet Archive forced to remove 500000 books after publishers' court win. Ars Technica.

Why authors are releasing books on Wattpad over Amazon. Film Courage.

A leaked document gives glimpse of Amazon’s bookselling might. Book Riot.

Want a book deal? 6 of publishing’s most influential literary agents share tips for aspiring fiction writers. Stylist.

50 ways to get published: how to make your writing stand out to an editor. Writer's Digest.

Can you tell a pro from an amateur writer by just reading the first page? No Film School.

Please (don’t) ask me about my newly published book. The Boston Globe.

Most freelance book reviewers earn less than minimum wage. Lit Hub.

Top Cover Design Trends in 2022-23

According to NPD BookScan, print book sales rose 8.2% in 2020 over 2019. But, if you’re an author who wants to compete in this growing market, it’s not enough to write a great book. Your book must also have a great, eye-catching cover that can amplify your marketing strategies. Book cover design is more critical than ever. With so many buyers purchasing online, cover design is one of the most direct and consequential selling tools you have. Let’s look at six important book cover design trends for 2021, with examples from Crowdspring book cover designers. Read the full analysis of the top 8 book cover design trends for 2021. More in Publishers Weekly Book Life

The 12 best book covers in May 2023. Lit Hub.

Avoid the Homemade Cover Look

For a self-published book to sell, the cover is key. Regardless of how eloquent or entertaining its text may be, a book will have trouble catching a buyer’s eye or being taken seriously by reviewers if it looks homemade. Thankfully, authors have more ways than ever to give their books polished, good-looking covers. Hire a Professional: The first step for any author looking for a great cover is to get some outside help. While self-publishers tend to be confident and capable do-it-yourselfers, unless they are also highly skilled artists, it’s best to hire someone who does graphic design for a living. More in Publishers Weekly Book Life.

The Cover Is Your Make-or-Break Book Sales Tool

The average online book buyer will spend less than a second scanning a single cover image during the average browsing session. How will your book stand up to this near instant “yes” or “no” buying decision?

Book covers aren’t just important to authors in hopes of gaining sales. They’re important to readers, too! According to Deloitte’s research paper, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2015, “A key value of print books appears to be their cover. Covers have been shown to drive sales; but they also send a message to those around you about what you are reading and what kind of person you are. As has been noted, ‘the act of reading a book in public conveys important information to other readers.'”

A great cover design can also speak to fans of a genre and tell a little (or a lot) about the style of writing and the genre your book fits into.

More tips.

Mistakes Indie Authors Make on Covers

Book designer and author Joel Friedlander, who died in 2021, describes pitfalls self-publishers face when doing their own book formatting, and explains how to avoid these mistakes in the first place. With more and more authors taking the production of their books into their own hands, more and more of those books look... strange. That’s not a good thing for either authors or their readers. More in Publishers Weekly Book Life.

Where Can I Find an Illustrator for My Book?

Illustration brings your story to life in a way that words alone can’t. There are many talented illustrators out there. You just need to know where to look. Besides knowing exactly where to find these amazing people, there are other considerations you need to take into account before diving in. It’s essential to find an art style that compliments your specific story and combing through portfolios takes time. First, you must ask yourself a very important question, writes Arielle Haughee for the Florida Writers Association.

Good First Impressions Start with your Book Title, Subtitle

First impressions are incredibly important when marketing a book. If you make a bad impression, or it isn’t obvious what genre your book belongs to, good luck trying to get that book to sell, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. While we usually think of book covers when it comes to marketing the genre/tone across to the reader, there’s one more aspect of your book that also markets the genre/tone: your title. I recommend the following:

· It fits other books in the same genre

· It is discoverable (people are searching for similar words)

· It doesn’t compete with another book of the same title (this is why research is important)

· It has an air of intrigue to it - it makes readers ask a question

· It is relevant and specific.

Lately, I’ve gone through and updated all of my title-related articles on the site to reflect current best-practices and know-how. 

· How to Title a Book: https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-title-a-book-with...

· Best Book Title Generators: https://kindlepreneur.com/free-book-title-generato...

· How to Write a Subtitle that Sells: https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-select-a-subtitle-that-sells/

Publishing Journey? Call It What It Really Is.

We talk about the “Publishing Journey” because it would be too awful to call it what it is, writes Al Pessin in the Florida Writers Association.

Hard Slog. Impossible Mission. Death March.

Do Everything Right, See If the Universe Cares.

Sorry, even if you follow all the querying and pitching advice on all the FWA Blogs and everywhere else, you still face an uphill battle.

The advantages and pitfalls of illustrated romance covers. BookRiot.

Literature in a time of book publishing conglomeration. The Bulwark.

Cozy mystery subgenres: making the perfect blend. CrimeReads.

Era of Romance: Exploring the unprecedented boom in the popularity of romance novels. Wealth of Geeks.

How to corral your nightmares for use in your next novel. CrimeReads.

How to write fiction about true crime. CrimeReads.

One piece of advice from 36 nonfiction authors in 2023. Writer's Digest.

Memories aren’t enough: why sometimes only fiction can solve the mysteries of life. Lit Hub.

The importance of the plot twist. CrimeReads.

Stop making excuses: why there’s always time to follow your writing dreams. Lit Hub.

Celebrity Memoirs: Who’s Naughty? Who’s Nice?

Playing out in bookstores across the U.S. is a star-studded battle to capture hearts, minds, and ultimately wallets as celebrities use their memoirs to bravely “set the record straight,” settle scores, and obtain legitimacy by becoming published authors. (No thanks to the unsung heroes, the ghostwriters.) Commentary on Substack by Paula Froelich. But, in order to win the bestseller war, these A-list authors must reveal all. As Barbra Streisand, whose book My Name is Barbra came out in November, told Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning, “Listen, I didn’t want to write about any of (my exes). But my editor said, ‘You have to leave some blood on the page!’ ” And 2023 brought buckets of blood. Starting off the year was Prince Harry, who finally became of king of something (the book world) with his explosively cringey memoir, Spare—also known as “WAAAH”—in which he sold out his family, aired one-sided petty grievances, and bemoaned the loss of his mother. Again.

That book has sold 1.2 million copies in hardcover, setting a bar no other has yet to meet. (All sales figures come from BookScan, which accounts for hardcover copies sold and doesn’t include audio books or e-book downloads.) Throughout the year we saw a smattering of celebrity memoirs from authors including Pamela Anderson (Love, Pamela: 60,000 copies sold); Paris Hilton (Paris: The Memoir: 53,000 copies); Kristin Chenoweth (I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts: Mini Meditations for Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us: 20,000 sold); Patrick Stewart Making It So: A Memoir: 54,000 copies sold); and Elliot Page (Pageboy: 70,000 copies sold). But are any of 2023’s celebrity tell-alls worth the $28 to $47 price tag? 

To find out, I went through a random assortment, sifting through the good, the bad, and the downright awful. You’re welcome. 

Hero’s Journey: How to Fill the Middle of Your Story with Conflict

If you've ever written a book, you know that writing the middle of your story is tough. There's a reason the saying “muddle through the middle” is common language in a writer's conversation. Your protagonist must face the Hero's Journey Trials and make Allies and Enemies in these moments. Tips from The Write Practice.

10 of the best (and worst) fantasy tropes. Book Riot.

How to avoid overused body language in your writing. Sandra Gerth.

Maintaining Your POV: Mind Your Own Business!

Once upon a time, it was common for books to be written in an omniscient third-person voice. A disembodied and all-seeing narrator told you the story, gentle reader, and he knew what every character was thinking and how they looked as well. Increasingly, though, readers seem to want the in-head experience of close third-person, writes N.L. Holmes for the Florida Writers Association. One character carries them around through the action of the novel, and they see the world and other characters though her eyes. She can report her own inner thoughts and feelings, but not those of others. She can tell you what other people look like, but not (except through some tricky devices) herself. As a reader, I find close third-person to be satisfying on many levels. It often comes across as more intimate than first person, because it seems less guarded. 

Realizing Your Story Is in the Ditch Is Half the Battle

Have you lost control of your story? Has it decided the path you charted (by plotting, pantsing, or whatever) is not the way things are going to go, asks Ann Hawkinson for the Florida Writers Association here. Is it a rebellion of sorts? A mutiny? Before you hoist the white flag of surrender, there are strategies to consider that can bring things back into balance and help you regain the upper hand.

What’s your audience getting out of your story? Audience motivations and goals are critical when defining a story’s unique selling proposition. Storytelling checklist by Ana Andjelic.

Get a Book Publishing Checklist to Track Your Publishing Progress

Getting published can be confusing, and whether you've published a book before or you're an aspiring writer trying to become a published author, it’s helpful to keep track of your progress. This checklist is customized for both traditional publishing and self-publishing, and it will even adjust to the changes for fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. Find out where you are on the path to publication and learn your next steps with this interactive checklist. The Write Path Publishing Checklist.

What to Know About Writing a Table of Contents

Your book’s table of contents should address a reader’s questions and provide a roadmap. Learn how to format and write your table of contents, writes Jasmine Gayle for BookBaby.

How to Write Your Book Description: Tips from BookBub

You’ve done it—you’ve written the book, you’ve commissioned a beautiful cover, and you’re ready to start finding readers and selling copies. But wait! There’s that pesky little detail in the process of publishing your book: providing a book description. Figuring out how to frame your story and catch the eye of a future reader—or, say, a BookBub editor—can be a daunting challenge. But that’s why we’re here! In this post, BookBub Editor Lauren Aldrich shares her best tips on how to write a compelling description for your book so it has a great chance of drawing in readers.

Short stories are making a comeback and this is why you should love them. Planet Woo.

Why cozy mystery’s amateur sleuths are not just busy-bodies. CrimeReads.

The real story behind In Cold Blood: Truman Capote’s true crime masterpiece. History Hit.

The life, death—and afterlife—of literary fiction in the digital age. Esquire.

The rest is history: Andrew Ridker on writing about the recent past. Lit Hub.

Greg Iles almost died writing his latest book: “This might be the last thing I ever do.” Los Angeles Times.

Greg Iles on a lifetime of crime writing. CrimeReads.

Author, Writing Coach Joanna Penn Offers Free eBook

Joanna Penn: There are many different ways of writing books, and many disparate paths you can take through the ever-expanding options for publishing, marketing, and making a living with your writing. The world is changing faster than ever before, and there are lots of people sharing their experiences. The publishing industry is no different, and in this Blueprint, I’ll share my approach in the hope it will help you on your author journey, whichever route you take.

There are four main sections. Get free with your email signup:

Writing and Editing

Publishing

Marketing

Making a Living with Your Writing

Curious About AI? Ask Sarasota Author & Expert Capers Jones

Mark Mathes The world of AI, or artificial intelligence, is changing by the second. To help us make sense of what AI means for authors and publishing, we asked Capers Jones for a few predictions. Capers spoke to SFW last spring on the history of publishing. He should know. He’s published over 18 nonfiction books. “In 2022 my wife started producing a movie called Rally Caps with Judd Hirsch and Amy Smart.  I visited some of the sets and had discussions with the director and film crew on movie production. From watching a movie being filmed it seems to me that Artificial Intelligence could convert a novel into a movie automatically.

As you know I worked for IBM as a software engineer. I'm working on a technical discussion of what would need to be done to convert novels into movies using AI.”

Capers Jones: Future Publishing Firsts: 2025 to 2050

1.     Factual data can be updated in E-Books automatically via Artificial Intelligence

2.     Artificial intelligence can be used to create audio books automatically

3.     Artificial Intelligence can be used to convert books into movies automatically

4.     Artificial Intelligence can be used to convert E-Books into 3D movies automatically

5.     Artificial Intelligence will let viewers interact with 3D movie book characters

6.     Artificial Intelligence will allow multiple humans to participate in 3D movie novels

Capers Jones Honored for Books. Eileen Jones Honored for Film.

At the 2022 annual meeting in October of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) Capers Jones of Sarasota received an award for contributions to the field of software metrics.   Starting in 1968 Capers Jones has written 18 books on software metrics published by IBM, McGraw Hill, Addison Wesley, and Taylor and Francis. He has also published refereed articles in journals such as the IBM Systems Journal, Scientific American Magazine, and Metric Views.  Capers Jones has been keynote speaker at over 50 international software conferences in the United States, Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore. He is available for speaking engagements.

Capers Jones on Ms. Potter Palmer, Sarasota & Cattle Ranching: Bertha Potter was one of the most important early settlers in Sarasota, Florida.  She was also a brilliant business woman and was in the top tier of society in Chicago before she moved to Florida, writes Capers Jones, historian, author, and IT developer. Capers spoke to SFW recently. Bertha Matilde Honore was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 22, 1849. She died on July 25, 1918 in Osprey, Florida.  While growing up she had a reputation as a gifted musician and a brilliant writer. She is cited in this book on Florida inventions because she pioneered a method of protecting Florida cattle from tick -borne diseases.  Interestingly she is also credited with inventing chocolate brownie cookies. Her life before she moved to Florida is fascinating and would probably make a great movie. Her father moved the family from Louisville to Chicago  when she was six in 1855. Her father was quite wealthy and she grew up in Chicago high society.  

Capers Jones is available to speak to local writing groups or those who might be interested in a journey through the history of publishing. Capers was a terrific presenter at Sarasota Fiction Writers recently. He does Zoom engagements and can be contacted at capers.jones3@gmail.com to schedule.

Eileen Jones Merits Viewers’ Choice Award for Movie

At the 2022 Heartland Film Festival in September of 2022 in Indianapolis, a movie produced by Capers Jones' wife Eileen Jones received an viewers’ choice award. The film is entitled Rally Caps and stars Judd Hirsch and Amy Smart. The film is based on a true story about a little-league baseball team where one of the players is deaf and has a cochlear implant. The film has been previewed at eight major league baseball stadiums. The film may also be shown in a film Festival in Boca Raton Florida and possibly others as well. The film should be released early in 2023. They recently attended a related event in Palm Beach.

Can You Ask AI to Write a Book Blurb? Yes, And It Is Hard.

In the first part of this series, we looked at how you can leverage generative AI chats like ChatGPT, Google Bard, or Bing Chat to help you with your ad copy, writes Reedsy’s Ricardo Fayet. But what if we took this one step further, and used AI to write our whole book description for us? That’s what we’ll try today (spoiler alert: it’s not that easy). How to write a synopsis. The importance of context As I mentioned a few weeks ago, generative AI isn’t magic. Nor is it a miracle solution to your copywriting problems. You can’t just ask an AI to write a blurb for your book out of thin air — first, you need to give the AI context about your book.

If you’ve read a bit about generative AI, you’ll know that context is at the center of everything. The reason why current AI models aren’t good with long-form content is because they struggle to maintain context over longer pieces of text.

While you’re at it, root out these overused words in book blurbs. BookRiot.

AI is about to turn book publishing upside-down. A Publisher's Weekly roundup.

A glossary of AI jargon: 29 AI terms you should know. Guide from Make Use Of.

This icon makes it easy to spot AI-generated content. Fast Company.

AI writer and AI design tools for marketers. Social Media Examiner.

Ink AI's ebook generator are poised to revolutionize the world of writing. Azorobotics.

I tried the AI novel-writing tool everyone hates, and it's better than I expected. The Verge.

7 responsible ways to use AI as a content writer or editor. Make Use Of tips.

ChatGPT Tidal Wave of AI Books, Some Created in Hours

Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author, though he had dreamed about it. But after learning about the ChatGPT artificial intelligence program, Schickler figured an opportunity had landed in his lap, Reuters reports. "The idea of writing a book finally seemed possible," said Schickler, a salesman in Rochester, New York. "I thought 'I can do this.'"

Using the AI software, which can generate blocks of text from simple prompts, Schickler created a 30-page illustrated children’s e-book in a matter of hours, offering it for sale in January through Amazon.com Inc's self-publishing unit.

ChatGPT is overtly and covertly writing novels and short stories and the industry is freaking out. Techspot commentary.

ChatGPT is quietly co-authoring books on Amazon. Popular Science.

The Kindle Store has a prolific new author: ChatGPT. Engadget.

Publishing expert Bo Sacks: How AI will play a major role in publishing.

CNET found errors in more than half of its AI-generated stories, reports Business Insider.

ChatGPT: Chatbots can help us rediscover the rich history of dialogue. Commentary from The Conversation.

Apple launches AI-powered book narrations. TechCrunch.

Apple introduces AI audiobook narrators, but the literary world is not too pleased. PopSci.com

Death of the narrator? Apple unveils suite of AI-voiced audiobooks. Tech firm quietly launches new audiobook catalogue narrated by AI – but move expected to spark backlash. The Guardian.

A writer used AI to plagiarize me. Now what? The Observer.

This AI cloned my voice using just three minutes of audio. DigitalTrends.com

This newspaper doesn’t exist: How ChatGPT can launch fake news sites in minutes. Poynter

Otter.ai is a gem for transcribing your recorded thoughts into writing. Forbes

Atticus Debuts New Software to Publish Print, Ebooks

Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur: You may have heard us mention Atticus - the popular all-in-one book writing and formatting software trusted by thousands of authors. Well Atticus just launched a gorgeous redesign making it easier than ever to go from manuscript to published book. Take a look.

Atticus Improves Nonfiction eBook Formatting

 ​Atticus has recently released a bunch of new features that are specific to nonfiction, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. They include:

Multiple levels of subheadings: Most formatting tools only have one type of heading, and yet the industry standard is to have several. Atticus now has H2 - H6 headings.

Footnotes/Endnotes: Atticus is now the only affordable and easy-to-use program that provides endnotes and footnotes for authors to use.

Hanging Indents: This is a feature useful for creating bibliographies or other resource lists.Callout boxes: Now with Atticus, you can create callout boxes to highlight specific sections of text.

Michael Connelly’s The Waiting Excerpt and Cover Reveal

Michael Connelly: Renée Ballard has her hands full. The LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit gets a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch. And Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit, Bosch’s daughter, Maddie. Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.

The Waiting will be released in print, eBook, and audiobook on October 15 in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. It will be released on 22 October in the UK. You can pre-order your copy now.

Excerpt here.

The 12 Best Book Covers Published in March

Another month of books, another month of book covers. This month, the weather began to allow for outdoor displays of jackets—both light and literary. My March favorites included dreamy paintings, unsettled animals, otherworldly miniatures, and more than one unsettled animal, writes Jessie Gaynor in Lit Hub. I find this cover equal parts whimsical and creepy, and I can’t look away from it. Would it also work as the cover of a horror novel about a pseudonymous writer trapped inside her own story? Yes! [In The Margins book cover, left.] Honestly, the possibilities are endless (just like those of a blank page)

New Novel by Dave Eggers Has 32 Different Covers

The new novel by Dave Eggers has 32 different book covers, writes Creative Review.Published by McSweeney’s, the book is set in a future that sees humanity under the yoke of surveillance and digital monopoly – a description that feels worryingly current. The Every follows the rebellious Delaney Wells as she tries to take down the world’s biggest company from the inside.

And in a fitting accompaniment to its anti-corporate tone, the hardcover is only available in independent bookstores, which publisher Amanda Uhle describes as a way of reflecting on some of the questions posed within the novel itself.

“Personally, I was also interested in challenging some of the long-held marketing ideas connected to publishing a book,” she tells CR. “There’s a maxim that a reader has to see a cover image at least seven times before making the decision to buy it. It was fun to imagine that we could present dozens of covers instead of just one over and over, and in the process celebrate the work of artists we admire.

No Excuse for Bad Book Covers Anymore on Indie Books

With so many books to choose from, covers are incredibly important to get your book noticed. Especially on visual platforms like BookTok, Bookstagram, or BookTube, people may choose to include your book (or leave it out) based on how that cover looks on camera, writes Danika Ellis in BookRiot. It doesn’t matter how amazing your writing is if no one gets the chance to read it because the cover turned them away. If you’re a self-published author or small press, I beg of you to invest in the bare minimum of graphic design for your cover. Get some people who are willing to give you harsh feedback and have them tell you what they think of it. See if it’s readable as a 1-inch tall thumbnail. Look through other covers of books in your genre and see what the visual shorthand is for your audience.

Should I Publish Traditionally or Independently? Many Paths to Choose

Since 2013, I have been regularly updating this informational chart about the key book publishing paths, writes author and book publishing expert Jane Friedman. It is available as a free PDF download—ideal for photocopying and distributing for workshops and classrooms. One of the biggest questions I hear from authors today: Should I traditionally publish or self-publish? This is an increasingly complicated question to answer because: There are now many varieties of traditional publishing and self-publishing, with evolving models and diverse contracts. You won’t find a universal, agreed-upon definition of what it means to traditionally publish or self-publish. It’s not an either/or proposition; you can do both. Many successful authors, including myself, decide which path is best based on our goals and career level.

Get a Book Publishing Checklist to Track Your Publishing Progress

Getting published can be confusing, and whether you've published a book before or you're an aspiring writer trying to become a published author, it would be nice to be able to keep track of your progress. This checklist is customized for both traditional publishing and self-publishing, and it will even adjust to the changes for fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. Find out where you are on the path to publication and learn your next steps with this interactive checklist. The Write Path Publishing Checklist.

What to Know About Writing a Table of Contents

Your book’s table of contents should address a reader’s questions and provide a roadmap. Learn how to format and write your table of contents, writes Jasmine Gayle for BookBaby.

How to Write Your Book Description: Tips from BookBub

You’ve done it — you’ve written the book, you’ve commissioned a beautiful cover, and you’re ready to start finding readers and selling copies. But wait! There’s that pesky little detail in the process of publishing your book: providing a book description.

Figuring out how to frame your story and catch the eye of a future reader — or, say, a BookBub editor — can be a daunting challenge. But that’s why we’re here! In this post, BookBub Editor Lauren Aldrich shares her best tips on how to write a compelling description for your book so it has a great chance of drawing in readers.

How to Establish Your Own Book Publishing Company or Imprint

From Mark Mathes: Should you have your own imprint or publishing company for your independently published books?

Why not? Traditionally published authors work with a publishing house and often an imprint. Why shouldn’t you?

This is the first step of many that you can take to give your independently published book the professional look. As you publish more books, your imprint improves the appearance and status of each. And, your publishing imprint may be useful as you publish other genres, an anthology, or even other authors.

So, what to name your company? Tips from Mark Mathes here.

As You Complete Revision, Here Are 20+ Elements to Complete Your Book

As you near the second revision of your manuscript, it’s time to refocus on a couple dozen elements of your book from front cover to back matter. Here are 20+ items for you to complete on the publishing journey. Cover, comp titles, copyright, your elevator pitch and more. Compiled by Mark Mathes.

If You Try the Traditional Route, You Must Follow Publisher Rules

We all know you have to have written a great book to get a deal...sure, writes Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. But if you don’t follow publishing house and agent guidelines and process, you’ll never even make it to the editor’s desk. So, to help authors give their book the best chance, I’ve started a set of articles directly relating to some of these all-important process:

So, to help authors give their book the best chance, I’ve started a set of articles directly relating to some of these all-important process:

How to write a query letter.

How to format your manuscript to an editor's specifications.

How to get a book deal in 4 steps. And why you shouldn't bother.

Two Minutes to Impress a Publisher, Editor or Agent

You have maybe two minutes before an agent or junior editor scans your submission cover letter. They’re looking for a reason to say no.

Mark Mathes: Here are some tips for authors from the other side of the editor’s desk. 

I’ve read thousands of pitches for books, puzzles, columns, comic strips, editorial cartoons, news services and more.

As editor of international syndication at Tribune in Chicago, I faced as many as a hundred submissions each week. I tried to send a short, personal rejection letter to as many creators as possible.*

As editor at Pelican Publishing Company, New Orleans, the largest independent regional publisher in the Southeast, the submissions were fewer yet took more time.

These days you may not even get a form letter acknowledging the rejection.

—Know your publishing house/agency. What do they publish? And just as important, what don’t they publish? Why is your book right for them?

—Know the editor or agent. Find the types of authors they work with. Tell them how you’re the best person to write their next book. Can you get an introduction from one of their authors?

—Follow their submission guidelines. They’ll look for easy excuses to reject you.

—Every word counts. You have one page. More tips by Mark Mathes here.

Bare Bones Publishing for Beginning Indie Authors 

In the June #AskALLi Foundational Self-Publishing Podcast, Orna Ross and Sacha Black how to get started modestly, time and money investment, publishing widely and deeply, as well as various formats. Learning from mistakes. The small business side of publishing. The importance of editing and what you can afford. Design and formatting from cover to interior. Proofreading. Distribution. How to start with e-book only. Book marketing: 12-month plan. Own your website domain. Free email list builders. Reader magnets. The AskALLi Foundational Self-Publishing podcast is sponsored by Dartfrog Books, providing indie authors with bookstore placement and promotion opportunities to more than 27,000 book clubs. Podcast here. 42:02 minutes

How Romance Authors Team Up to Publish a Spicy Anthology

We are a group of romance authors—Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, and Adriana Herrera—who joined forces to write a spicy little anthology, which began as a title: Duke I’d Like to F… DILF, but make him historical! In this post, we’ll walk through how we planned and wrote our novellas, then published and marketed the anthology to become a bestselling title. We hope this helps other authors considering teaming up for an anthology of their own. Read more here.

How to Write Your Author Biography. Plus, a BookBub Checklist

Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a well-crafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. You should regularly maintain your bio on places like your BookBub Author Profile so fans and potential readers seeking you out can learn more about you and why they should pick up your latest book, writes Diana Urban for BookBob. Stuck on what to include? While there is no one-size-fits-all formula, here are some examples of author bios we love so you can get some inspiration when crafting your own bio. We’ve also created an Author Biography Checklist with recommendations on what to include, as well as where to keep your author bio up to date online.

The Self-Publishing Option for Equestrian Authors

Closet equine writers, it’s time to unite and come out of the creative shadows. Independent publishing continues to revolutionize how books are created, published, and read, and a corral of equine writers are blazing new trails,  writes Anna Sochocky in Horse Illustrated. “Works of fiction or even nonfiction have been considered too niche by some of the big mainstream publishers,” says award-winning equine author Carly Kade of Phoenix, Ariz. “As a result, many equine writers have decided to publish independently.” In 2008, the independent publishing landscape realized a significant turning point for two reasons: First, widespread use of social media meant authors incur little or no self-promotion costs. Secondly, e-book marketplaces like Amazon, iBookStore, and Barnes and Noble now allow new and established writers to sell books worldwide. They may even have specialized publishing categories for equine writers, like Amazon’s equestrian fiction subcategory.

Emma Lombard: Published Authors Share Tips, Biggest Blunders

Whether traditionally or self-published, book marketing is every author's number one need-to-know. I asked these fiction and non-fiction authors to share their experiences with traditionally published or independent, writes published author Emma Lombard.

10 Classic Crime Stories Now in the Public Domain, Joining Many Others

As of January 1, 2022, many copyrighted works produced in the year 1926 have entered the public domain in the United States, which means they are totally free and legal for anyone to use, without paying for usage. This is slated to happen on the first of every year (except it didn’t for twenty years starting in 1998, when Congress passed the Copyright Extension Act, lengthening then-active copyrights from 75 years to 95 years, meaning that the earliest date for works to enter the Public Domain was January 1, 2019). But, for the last few New Year’s Days, we’ve rejoiced in the newfound availability of many classic stories, writes CrimeReads here. There are books, songs, films, and countless other items now out-of-copyright. A.A. Milne’s children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh is now out of copyright. But here at CrimeReads, we’ve assembled the most crimey among this year’s available new (old) books, for your accessing pleasure.

IngramSpark Course: Find Your Book’s Audience & Connect with Readers

From IngramSpark: Learn how to find your book’s audience and how to connect with readers. This self-guided free course is your guide to building author connections to promote your book. Information here.

How to Generate More Revenue from Your Non-Fiction Title

Borrowing ideas from other industries can create new book revenue ideas for your nonfiction title, and your fiction titles, as well. Ideas from BookBaby that including speaking, workshops, reprints, product extensions, licensing and more.

Draft2Digital acquires SelfPubBookCovers.com. Publisher's Weekly.

Anatomy of a book cover: the process of book cover design. Book Riot.

How audiobooks are made. NPR.

Small Press Distribution launches GoFundMe to support new operating model. Publisher's Weekly.

A slippery slope. Book distribution. Book Life.

Kirkus at 90: A timeline of literary milestones. Kirkus Reviews.

IBPA Checklist Helps Indie Authors Publish Professionally

The purpose of this IBPA checklist is to give both authors and industry professionals an at-a-glance gauge of the professional presentation of any book.

It must be acknowledged that book development is a creative process and that quality can be subjective. This list does not address editorial content except to recommend that any book be professionally edited (developmentally edited, copyedited, and proofread). To meet professional standards, any book should be grammatically accurate and free of spelling and typographical errors.

This checklist is broken into two sections: (1) Content and (2) Production. Download or print here.

BookBaby’s 6-Month Plan from Manuscript to Marketplace

From BookBaby: Can you get your unfinished manuscript to market

in six months? You can if you follow this plan! You’re halfway through your manuscript—that’s excellent. Now it’s time to buckle down, wrap it up, and get your book to market. There’s a lot to do, but with dedication and a commitment to the process, you can finish, edit, publish, launch, and promote your book in the next 180 days. No kidding! You will need to put your time and energy into the project, and you’ll have to swap out your “writer” hat to embrace your inner “publisher” and “book marketer,” but you don’t have to do

it alone.

Six-month publishing plan here. PDF.

Book publishers are trying to destroy public ebook access in order to increase profits. Current Affairs.

How to get your book published: A weekend bootcamp for authors hosted by The Guardian newspaper. | The Guardian Membership.

The Story of @ and Many Other Keyboard Symbols

The origin of the @, according to Delancy Place.

“Historians and lexicographers have searched for the origin of the @ in medieval manuscripts but no trace of it has been found. Despite this absence of evidence a number of theories as to its creation are put forward which link it to scribal hands. Some propose that the @ was first used by tired scribes who were fed up with the long hours of copying and so invented a number of abbreviations to lighten the load. These weary scribes supposedly shortened the Latin ad (meaning 'at' or 'towards') by curling the tail of the d to wrap it around the a, thereby saving themselves two whole pen strokes. Another hypothesis is that it derives from the French a (also meaning 'at') whereby the accent was incorporated into the glyph, but again this scribal shortcut doesn't really make sense for an already short word. Based on physical evidence, the @ sign seems to have a mercantile origin. The first use of the sign has been ascribed to a letter by Florentine merchant Francesco Lapi in 1536.” From Hyphens and Hashtags: The Stories Behind the Symbols on Our Keyboards by Claire Cock-Starkey.

Tom Hanks on what Nora Ephron told him about writing. Lit Hub.

PW Profiles Fast-Growing Indie Publishers Who Buck Amazon Trends

This is the first time that Microcosm Publishing, of Portland, Ore., has made it onto PW’s list of fast-growing independent publishers, and it has landed with a bang: net revenue spiked 106% in 2021 over 2020 and was up 207% over 2019, writes Publishers Weekly. Founder Joe Biel attributes the company’s success to publishing compelling reads that have been “categorically turned down by other publishers,” like Microcosm’s runaway top-seller, Unf*ck Your Brain, which the company says has sold five million copies in all formats since 2016. One of its bestsellers last year is well-known to indie booksellers: How to Resist Amazon and Why, by Raven Book Store owner Danny Caine, which has sold more than 34,000 copies in all formats since its November 2019 release; a second edition is in the works. “Every one of our bestselling books was a debut by an author with no platform,” Biel notes. “Our role is more about finding what is the taste of the time.”

The Legal Side of Intellectual Property, NFTs, and DAOs with Kathryn Goldman

How can you future-proof your author career by being careful with the publishing clauses you sign? Why are NFTs so interesting for intellectual property? How might DAOs help authors with estate planning? Copyright and trademark attorney Kathryn Goldman talks about these things and more. Podcast and transcript on TheCreativePenn.com. 58:44.

Tara Alemay: Legal Information for Authors

In my conversations with authors, it seems there is a lot of confusion about things like copyright, fair use, chapter quotes (aka epigraphs) and more, writes Tara Alemay of Emerald Lake Books. During this year's Publish with Purpose virtual summit, I brought in Jonathan Kirsch, a publishing, privacy and intellectual property attorney and general counsel for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), to answer the questions we hear most often.

The interview turned out so good that we decided to share it with everyone!

To make things easy, I even included a key to which questions are asked when within the interview, so you can skip ahead to whatever topic you're most interested in.

Every Publishing Strategy Should Start with Amazon and Ingram

There really are only two companies that define the book business today, writes Mike Shatzkin, founder of the Idea Logical Company and publishing expert. In the ebook space, players have proliferated (with giants like Apple and Google and B&N’s Nook and upstarts like Smashwords and the newly organized Legible.com — whose proposition is that ebooks should be readable in a web browser — all serving readerships that only partially overlap).  They are Amazon, a company that everybody in the world knows, and Ingram, a company that everybody in the book business — but few outside it — knows. Amazon and Ingram comprise the global infrastructure of the book business. Amazon has the single biggest share of the online print and ebook (through its Kindle format) markets. And Ingram reaches every other corner of the book world. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that every publisher, book retailer (online or physical), and library in the world transacts with Ingram. All the publishers must get to Amazon one way or another, but the rest of the retail world sees them as existential competition and would prefer not to support them in any way. Ingram is everybody else’s trusted partner.

The New York Times Book Review first appeared on Oct. 10, 1896, but its roots can be traced back to its very first issue of The Times on Sept. 18, 1851.

The story of The New York Times Book Review.

How to Choose Amazon Categories and Keywords

Stuck when choosing categories and keywords on Amazon for ebooks and print books?

Here are two free resources from Dave Chesson, Kindlepreneur:

How to choose the best Amazon categories.

​How to choose the right Kindle keywords. 

Amazon Keyword Tagging: How to Set Your Book Up for Success.

Every book that is sold on Amazon can be “tagged” with specific key words that will improve the search-ability of that product, writes Sherrie Wilkolaski on Opyrus. This does tie into setting up a Listmania! list on Amazon.  Both tools are keyword driven. Listmania! focuses on grouping books together by title…a list of favorites and yes, it is tied to key words.  What I want to focus on today is getting your books properly tagged so that potential readers can find your title during their search for content.

Amazon Changes Rules Again for Book Reviews

Yes, we said more changes to Amazon book reviews. The company is on a roll lately with the changes that are impacting authors and in this episode we unpack some recent changes to book reviews and everything you need to know to navigate the updates and ensure you’re still benefitting from quality engagement with readers. Join book marketer Penny Sansevieri for this lively discussion on the new changes, what we see, and one type of Amazon review that we really dislike! Podcast here.

Amazon is beta testing a new library system for audiobooks and ebooks. Goodreader.

The Wrath of Goodreads. Don’t review a book that you haven’t read.

The Atlantic.

FAQs for Amazon Self-Publishing: From Title and Keywords to Pricing

If you’re an author, it’s probably time you considered the possibility of publishing your work on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), the world’s largest self-publishing platform, according to the Book Designer. Well, you’re in the right place. In this simple guide I’ll explain how to publish a book on Amazon in the fastest and easiest way. You’ll see that in a short period of time, which usually doesn’t exceed 72 hours, your book could be generating its first sales.

Amazon Kindle Price Hikes in Printing Begin June 20

Member Kevin Kuhens shares this Amazon price hike announcement: Since launching KDP print books in 2016, Amazon has enjoyed helping you publish and sell your books around the world. During this time, we've kept our printing fees the same, despite increasing costs of materials and labor over the past six years. On June 20, 2023, we're changing our fees to better align with today's cost to print books. We have not taken this decision lightly, and have reduced printing costs where possible.

Changes to your printing costs effective June 20, 2023, include:

An increase in the fixed cost for all paperback and hardcover books to cover the higher cost of materials, suppliers, and labor.

A new fixed and per-page cost for paperback and hardcover books with large trim sizes to cover the additional costs to print these books. A large trim size is either larger than 6.12 inches (155 mm) in width or 9 inches (229 mm) in height.

A decrease in the per-page cost for certain color-ink print books ordered from some marketplaces. See the full details in the printing cost tables on our Help page.

These changes will affect your royalties for paperback and hardcover books. While not required, you may choose to update your list prices to avoid a change in royalty payments or zero royalties on paperback and hardcover books where your list price drops below the new minimum list price. If you make updates to a print book after June 20, it will need to comply with the new minimum list price in order to publish the updates.

Here are tools to calculate printing cost and royalty scenarios. And evaluate the impact of the new printing costs on your royalty earnings. We've also included information about how to update your list prices should you choose to do so.

IngramSpark Rolls Back Book Setup Fees, Revision Fees, Adds Color

And a wide-reaching announcement from Ingram Spark: We believe that all authors should be able to successfully print, globally distribute and Share Their Story With the World!  In our tenth anniversary year, we’re announcing exciting changes that will make publishing your book with IngramSpark even easier. 19-page price guide PDF here.

No more book setup fees. We will no longer charge book setup fees. It’s that simple. Upload your books for free.

Free revisions on new books. Make a mistake? No problem. Revise your book within 60 days of the book's first production date and you will not be charged a revision fee.

New print options (Coming July 1). Ultra-premium color option that can help you create bright and vibrant books. Also available, groundwood paper, a lightweight, thicker paper that is mostly paired with mass market and trade content.

Global distribution fee (Coming July 1). Access our global distribution network of over 40,000 retailers, libraries, universities and educators. Books enabled for distribution will be charged a market access fee equivalent to 1% of the local list price at the time of sale.

The Strange State of the Novel in the Age of Amazon

As one of the most profitable companies in the world and as a bookseller, Amazon has amassed a surplus of visibility; less is known about its effects on literary production in terms of aesthetics and sociality, writes Hannah Gold in The Nation. This is precisely what Mark McGurl, in his new book Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon, sets out to discover. “Amazon,” he writes, “is nothing if not a ‘literary’ company,” one that is “making an epic narrative out of the speedy satisfaction of popular want.” To survey the vast expanse of Amazon’s literary domain, McGurl makes frequent excursions into popular genres rarely considered among academics and critics—LitRPG, crowdsourced novels, the Alpha Billionaire Romance, contemporary zombie fiction, and adult-baby-diaper erotica—prompting a reassessment of the literary center and the literary fringe.

The New Republic: Has Amazon Changed Fiction?

Mark McGurl’s new book, Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon, makes the argument not only that books are at the company’s root, but that Amazon itself is a form of literature, an epic narrative of domination that subsumes all of its users as bit characters, writes Kyle Chayka in The New Republic Oct. 4. It is a force that shapes the creation of all published culture, “offering itself as the new platform of literary life,” McGurl writes. The ways in which the company does this are now so omnipresent as to be subconscious, a fact of culture not worth mentioning, like water to fish. By 2019, Amazon’s digital storefront controlled as much as 72 percent of adult new book sales online and half of all new book sales. Amazon’s Kindle is the most popular e-reader in the world, and, by one estimate, its Kindle Direct Publishing contains over six million e-books. Amazon owns both Audible, the largest audiobook service in the United States, and Goodreads, the pernicious book-review social network that has a reputation for negativity. If that weren’t enough, it also operates 16 of its own imprints for physical books, including a literary-styled imprint, Little A.

Like it or not, we live in the Amazon Era of literature, according to McGurl, just as writers of the late eighteenth century worked in the Age of Johnson; those of the early twentieth century found themselves in the Pound Era; and postwar writers entered the Program Era, which McGurl defined in his previous book as the age of MFA-honed fiction.

The New Yorker: Is Amazon Changing the Novel?

In the new literary landscape, readers are customers, writers are service providers, and books are expected to offer instant gratification. Amazon—which, as its founder, Jeff Bezos, likes to point out, is named for the river that is not only the world’s largest but larger than the next five largest rivers combined—controlled almost three-quarters of new-adult-book sales online and almost half of all new-book sales in 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal, writes Parul Sehgal in The New Yorker Oct. 25. It’s also a publisher, with sixteen book imprints. Amazon Crossing is now the most prolific publisher of literary translations in the United States, and Audible, another Amazon property, is the largest purveyor of audiobooks. In “Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon” (Verso), the literary scholar Mark McGurl considers all the ways a new behemoth has transformed not only how we obtain fiction but how we read and write and why. The social-media site Goodreads, purchased by Amazon in 2013, hosts more than a hundred million registered users and, McGurl ventures, may be “the richest repository of the leavings of literary life ever assembled, exceeded only by the mass of granular data sent back to home base from virtually every Kindle device in the world.” But what McGurl considers the “most dramatic intervention into literary history” is yet another Amazon division, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP); it allows writers to bypass traditional gatekeepers and self-publish their work for free, with Amazon taking a significant chunk of any proceeds.

Who Owns Goodreads? Why Amazon Plays It Low Key.

Who owns Goodreads? If you haven’t Googled it yet, the “About” page on Goodreads won’t give you a straight answer, offering only a “Message from our Co-Founder.” You have to click all the way into the “Careers” page to find a direct statement about who actually owns the platform. Halfway down the page, it says: “As an Amazon company…” In other words, Amazon owns Goodreads, writes Clare Barnett on Book Riot.

Amazon charges sellers fees that are high enough to offset losses from Prime, a new report says. The Verge reports here.

Will Bookstores Have Empty Shelves During Holiday Sales? Maybe Not.

The book industry is no stranger to disruptions. Recently, the industry saw a pandemic that hampered sales for many independent retailers and caused publishers to delay releases. This holiday season supply chain issues are presenting a different problem, but book sellers have a plan, reports Mary Cadden in USA Today. Normally, as the holidays approach print book sales rise as people purchase gifts. Unfortunately, current supply chain issues, which for the book industry include shortages in labor, paper and delays in shipping, may impact how many books are available. Recent headlines warning of a book shortage spurred panic that books will be hard to get this year. Do book lovers really need to worry? Will there be empty shelves at book stores? The answer is mostly no, though it will ultimately depend on the book you're looking for.

Frustrated Debut Author Goes on to Found a Book Platform That Aims to Disrupt

When Allison Trowbridge was writing her book, Twenty Two, she found herself incredibly frustrated by the process. As she started talking to other authors, she found she wasn’t alone in that sentiment. This experience is what sparked the seeds of an idea - why was there no social media platform for authors to market their books and forge deeper connections with readers, writes Amy Shoenthal in Forbes.com. That’s exactly what Trowbridge hopes to achieve with her soon-to-be-launched platform, Copper.

How to Use Google’s Keyword Tool to Sell More Books

When promoting our books, getting to the top of the first search engine page is important. Stats show that page 1 gets 95% of all search traffic, that 61% of all traffic go to the top three spots, and that 33%-40% head right to the No. 1 listing. Attaining those coveted spots requires search engine optimization, or the placement of keywords on your website, blog and social media posts promoting the book. So just how do you figure out which keywords are best, then? More from editor Rob Bignell here.

What Independent Authors Should Know about Wattpad

Launched in 2006, Wattpad is a free online publishing platform with over 70 million writers and readers. Authors of every possible genre have been flocking to Wattpad to discover, cultivate, and build a community of their own unique readers by instantly publishing work on this social media site. Most recently, Wattpad has caught the attention of HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Paramount Pictures, and NBC, among others.

Sounds great, right? But is it right for you? Self-Publishing Relief wants you to know the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself if Wattpad is the best way for you to build your fan base. Wattpad can be great for building community and finding readers—but take a look at the pros and cons before you publish on this platform.

Amazon Withholds Books from Libraries Because It Prefers Readers Buy the Books

Amazon is withholding ebook and audiobook versions of works it publishes through its in-house publishing arms from US libraries, according to a new report from The Washington Post, itself owned by Jeff Bezos. In fact, Amazon is the only major publisher that’s doing this, the report states. It’s doing so because the company thinks the terms involved with selling digital versions of books to libraries, which in turn make them available to local residents for free through ebook lending platforms like Libby, are unfavorable.

“It’s not clear to us that current digital library lending models fairly balance the interests of authors and library patrons,” Mikyla Bruder, the global marketing chief at Amazon Publishing, told The Washington Post’s Geoffrey Fowler in an emailed statement. “We see this as an opportunity to invent a new approach to help expand readership and serve library patrons, while at the same time safeguarding author interests, including income and royalties.”

At the heart of the issue is a debate over whether libraries, which often pay far higher than retail price for physical and ebook copies of books, ultimately harm publisher sales by letting people check out copies for free. In the age of mobile apps and widespread Kindle usage, borrowing an ebook is now easier than ever—you need a library card and the Libby app, and you can then place holds and eventually check out ebooks that can be sent directly to your Kindle e-reader or app to access for a limited time. More here on The Verge.

Journalist Investigates Amazon Warehouse Life and Pitfalls of ‘One-Click America’

Ballots are being counted this week in what could be a watershed election in Bessemer, Ala.

The vote will determine whether nearly 6,000 employees of the Amazon warehouse there will be represented by a union, something the company has forcefully resisted in its workplaces across the country.

Journalist Alec MacGillis says the stakes of the vote are "enormous."

"This is really the first time that any union has gotten this far in trying to organize an Amazon warehouse," he says. "And if you step back a little bit, this really could help decide the question of what work is going to look like, what life is going to look like, for the working class in America in years to come."

MacGillis writes about Amazon's growing impact on American life in his new book, Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America. He notes that the pandemic has been very good for the company's bottom line: Amazon's sales jumped 40% last year, and company founder Jeff Bezos, whose net worth is estimated at around $180 billion, is now the richest person on the planet. Read more, listen to Dave Davies on Fresh Air/NPR. 36 minutes.

 4 Things to Know about Book Reviews

Book coach and editor Rob Bignell shares four tips about book reviews:

• Why you want reviews written about your book

• Where to find reviewers for your book 

• Some guidelines for reviewing a book 

• Include note asking readers to post a review

QUICK TAKES

NPR's Book Concierge returns with a new name, a new look and new books here.

A Word, Please: Consistency is key when choosing between editing styles. Newspaper editor June Casagrande on choosing consistency.

Crime Fiction is ridiculous. We might as well have fun with it.

Famed author Jodi Picoult novelizes the pandemic in new book 'Wish You Were Here'

Forbes: Grammarly founders become billionaires by fixing your sloppy writing.

Flights of imagination take wing with picture books, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

For Young Readers: Murdle Jr: Excerpt, Cover Reveal, and Puzzle!

The following is an exclusive excerpt from and cover reveal for Murdle Jr., by G. T. Karber, creator of the wildly popular puzzle series Murdle. In the following excerpt, you can solve along with the junior sleuth as they search for a mysteriously missing lucky pencil. Murdle, Jr. is forthcoming from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in November 2024. CrimeReads.

Dave Chesson Rates Atticus vs. Vellum

Last week we sent out an update about Atticus’ chapter themes capabilities, which is a feature that Vellum recently rolled out as well, writes Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.

And that got a lot of people asking us: just what is the difference between the two? Well, there’s a lot, actually.

For starters, Atticus is cheaper, and it works on Windows where Vellum is exclusive to Mac.

But even with that in mind, the one hangup that people had was that Vellum made it easy to do box sets, and Atticus didn’t. Until now, of course.

With our latest update, Atticus can not only create box sets with ease, but also handles Parts and Scenes, meaning you can group chapters into a part, or have multiple scenes (like Scrivener has) within a chapter.

Are You Looking for an Agent? Some Resources

Good. Virtually no major publisher will look at manuscript material sent directly from the writer; it has to be agented. Even smaller publishing houses, if their prestige is close to that of a major house, won’t accept unagented material, writes published author Barbara Kyle.

That's why your best strategy is to seek an agent.

Don’t feel intimidated by all the noise out there about how “tough” agents are. They’re just people. They have personal tastes, they work hard, and they love good books.

To find an agent for your book, here are some helpful resources:

Agent Query: https://www.agentquery.com/

Query Tracker: https://querytracker.net/

Association of American Literary Agents: https://aalitagents.org/

Publishers Marketplace (subscription required): https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

One last tip. Consider pitching your book face-to-face to participating agents at writers conferences or pitch fests. It’s a great way to make valuable contacts, and perhaps launch an exciting writer-agent partnership that will bring you success. Barbara Kyle is the author of the bestselling Thornleigh Saga historical novels and acclaimed thrillers. Over half a million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Barbara has coached hundreds of writers in her masterclasses and private mentoring and many have become award-winning authors. Page-Turner is her popular how-to book for writers.

All my best,

Barbara Kyle

bkyle@barbarakyle.com

From Mark Mathes: Tips for finding and working with an agent. Florida Writers Association keynote speaker Sarah Penner, from Tampa Bay, shared her story from struggling writer to debut author with two book deals in the last five years. She listed common mistakes writers make when pitching: 

–Pitching agents who don’t handle your genre.

–Not doing your research. What other authors and books does she handle comparable to yours?

–Not following the agent’s submission guidelines exactly.

–Making dishonest claims.

–Stating your indie experience clearly.

–Agents come and go.

–A bad agent is worse than no agent.

–A good agent is your strongest asset.

–Some agents handle editorial guidance and editing. Most do not.

–Agents don’t get paid until you do.

–Organize your agent search in three steps: Finding, Vetting and Querying.

–How many deals does this agency do in a year? What is the deal value range, from low to high?

–Does the agent work with specific editors?

–Which imprints/publishing houses do they try to sell to?

–Ask what is their response time. Check it out from crowdsourced: www.querytracker.com

–Research agents: www.publishersmarketplace.com

–Research what agents are asking for: www.mswishlist.com and www.manuscriptwishlist.com

–Editors at publishing houses come and go. Will you follow them? Will the contract allow this?

–You won’t always like what editors tell you in regular manuscript critiques.

–Publishers have one goal: make money.

–Publishers decide which books get published and how much budget to support them.

–Publishers merge, go bankrupt, cancel contracts.

On the web: sarahpenner.com. She spoke Oct. 28 at Florida Writers Association.

10 Tips to Make the Perfect Pitch Letter

Finished your book? First, congratulate yourself. Writing a book is a marathon, and only those who’ve made it to “The End” understand the determination it requires. Now you want to get it published, and that’s your next challenge. In today’s tough marketplace you get only one chance with each literary agent or acquisition editor at a publishing house to interest them in your story. That one chance is the query, writes Barbara Kyle. It may be the most important piece of writing you’ll ever do.

Folio Literary Management Warns of Impersonators

A publishing scam has recently come to light involving fraudulent emails purporting to be from Folio Literary Management. Authors have received emails claiming to be from Erin Niumata, Senior Vice President at Folio, seeking personal information under the guise of clarifying representation details. The emails use a deceptive address very similar to the legitimate Folio domain. A writer who is represented by another agent at Folio received one of these emails and promptly reported the suspicious activity. Folio confirmed that this communication is a scam and not from their offices, and alerted the Authors Guild. Folio urges all clients and the wider writing community to exercise caution and report any fraudulent attempts to collect personal information. If you receive any suspicious emails claiming to be from Folio Literary Management, please verify the sender's credentials, and notify your agent or Folio directly. Stay safe and protect your personal information diligently. If you’ve come across or done business with a publishing scam, please email at staff@authorsguild.org so we can assist you and let our members know to avoid it.

Lit agent landscape diversifies some as anxieties over book business grow. Publisher's Weekly.

Agent Andy Ross Shares Tips on How to Make It Out of the Slush Pile to a Deal

Literary agent Andy Ross shared tips for authors in commentary by Rod Martinez in the Florida Writers Association. All you can do is write the best you can write. You have to be good to attract and agent. But that still doesn’t guarantee you will find a publisher. Publishers make decisions based on marketing, not just on aesthetics. Think about whether there will be an audience for your book. Make sure it is as good as it can be and send it out. There is a lot of rejection in this business, so learn how to handle it. It can be demoralizing. If your first book doesn’t find an agent or a publisher, move on to the next project.

Enterprise Self-Publishing Is Next Wave Where Organizations Value Own Books

The book business is in the early stages of its third great disruption in the past quarter century, writes author and futurist Mike Shatzkin. The first two both changed the shape of the industry and created winners and losers across the entire value chain: touching every step from how authors got money to how readers got books. Significant institutional players were lost in both prior disruptions, and all the ones who remained had to change their models and practices significantly. The cause of the disruption on both prior occasions and now was the introduction of asymmetric competition. Before 1995, publishing and retailing were the province of entities that did it in a businesslike way, usually for profit but always within an organizational structure dedicated to their publishing or retailing activity.

Draft2Digital Expands Universal Book Links for Paperback and Hardcover Books

When Draft2Digital launched Books2Read and the ability for authors to freely create Universal Book Links (UBLs) for their ebooks, we always meant for it to be truly universal, says a D2D spokesman. We made sure our links are retail platform inclusive and geo-targeted, which automatically routes people to the localized version of their favorite online retail store. Not that long after partnering with Findaway Voices to help authors with audiobook creation and distribution, we added an option for authors to add Audiobook links to their UBLs.

And now we’re pleased to announce that you can add Print Book Links to your UBLs.

Users now have the option of adding three different types of Print links:

Trade Paperback

Hardcover

Large Print

FAQs for authors.

Georgia Court Recalls First 10 Years of Bookstore1 Sarasota

Georgia Court, the owner of Bookstore1 Sarasota, recalls their first 10 years. Georgia recalls how after the store opened she was introduced at a Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce event and people cheered and applauded; they were so happy to have a new bookstore in town. When it came time for Georgia Court, a writing instructor at the University of Cincinnati, to retire in 2009, she knew immediately that she wanted to move to Sarasota. In addition to the weather, she was drawn to the city's arts and cultural offerings, she said. "That included a wonderful bookstore." Sarasota News & Books was a local icon, serving the city for about 35 years, Court said. But it closed shortly after she moved to the area. Story by Patch editor Tiffany Razzano here,

An Appreciation: Legendary Poet, Publisher, Bookseller Ferlinghetti

From Ron Charles, book editor, The Washington Post: No one could accuse Lawrence Ferlinghetti of writing his memoir too early. The legendary poet and publisher released an autobiographical novel called “Little Boy” in 2019, just a few days before he turned 100. It’s an irrepressible celebration of a life intensely lived. 

This week, the world mourns the passing of the man who once wrote, “I am anxiously waiting / for the secret of eternal life to be discovered.” Obituary here.

Whenever I visit family members in San Francisco, I stop by City Lights, the bookstore Ferlinghetti co-founded in 1953. Alas, I never saw him there, but a few days after writing about “Little Boy” in The Post, I received a brief message dictated by the author: “Here’s my gratitude for your so true review!”

The Paris Review: Farewell to Ferlinghetti.

Ferlinghetti’s political activism and his involvement with the landmark publication of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” eventually overshadowed his own early poetry, but give yourself a treat: There’s a compact edition from New Directions titled “Ferlinghetti’s Greatest Poems” that is absolutely wonderful. Subscribe to the free Washington Post weekly Book Club newsletter here.

What Digital Blockchain NFTs Could Mean for Book World & Authors

Blake Butler had given up on publishing Decade. He’d written the novel in 2008, and its complicated structure and dense language rendered it virtually unpublishable by both commercial and avant-garde standards. For years, he set Decade aside, occasionally opening the Word document and scrolling through as fast as he could, remembering all the work he’d done, then closing the window, writes Walker Kaplan in Literary Hub.

Then this February, as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, flooded the Internet, everywhere from Twitter to The New York Times, Butler had an idea: he turned that scrolling action into a GIF, pages flashing before the viewer’s eye, and minted the GIF as a non-fungible token. With cryptocurrency, a buyer could purchase proof of ownership of Decade, represented by the GIF, as well as receive a PDF of the novel upon purchase. Overnight, a stranger bought the NFT for 5 ethereum—a $7,569.50 value at the time, now the equivalent of $12,377.30, much more than Butler had made off several of his published books. Said Butler, the sale was “like a bolt of lightning to his brain.”

The buyer, who goes by the pseudonym null_radix, bought Decade because he was “curious what was inside.” When he read it, Null_radix didn’t understand Decade, but he still has no plans to resell. Now, Decade sits in null_radix’s digital wallet next to a picture of a forest and a pair of digital socks.

It’s hard to make sense of what the NFT creative landscape might mean for otherwise underpaid writers.

Adult Fiction Drives Print Book Sales 2021 vs. 2020

Fiction rode to the rescue again to lift up unit sales of print books 6.4% the last week of June 2021 over the week ended June 27, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Adult fiction sales increased 28.1%, young adult fiction sales jumped 49.6%, and juvenile fiction sales were up 11.2% over last year. The jumps offset continued weakness in adult nonfiction, the industry’s biggest category, where sales fell 8.7%. The big gain in adult fiction unit sales was notable since the increase was achieved without any new releases making a splash. The President’s Daughter by James Patterson and Bill Clinton remained #1 on the category list, selling more than 30,000 copies. Two books released early this spring had good weeks: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, released on May 11, sold over 21,000 copies, good enough for fourth place on the adult fiction list; and Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which came out on June 1, was fifth on the list, selling over 18,000 copies. More in Publishers Weekly.

10 Classic Crime Stories Now in the Public Domain, Joining Many Others

As of January 1st in this year 2022, many copyrighted works produced in the year 1926 have entered the public domain in the United States, which means they are totally free and legal for anyone to use, without paying for usage. This is slated to happen on the first of every year (except it didn’t for twenty years starting in 1998, when Congress passed the Copyright Extension Act, lengthening then-active copyrights from 75 years to 95 years, meaning that the earliest date for works to enter the Public Domain was January 1, 2019). But, for the last few New Year’s Days, we’ve rejoiced in the newfound availability of many classic stories, writes Olivia Rutigliano on CrimeReads. There are books, songs, films, and countless other items now out-of-copyright. A.A. Milne’s children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh is now out of copyright. But here at CrimeReads, we’ve assembled the most crimey among this year’s available new (old) books, for your accessing pleasure.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

What books, movies, IP will enter the public domain in 2023? Report from PublicDomainReview.org

Winnie the Pooh enters public domain — and goes psycho. The Hill.

Happy Public Domain Day 2023!

2023 public domain debuts include last Sherlock Holmes work. An AP roundup.

The top ten works entering the public domain on January 1, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Sherlock Holmes will finally escape copyright this weekend, according to The Verge.

A world famous character is now in the public domain

How the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Helps Self-Published Authors in La.

Are you a self-published author? Do you have a finished novel languishing away all alone in a file on your hard drive? Are you looking for something to do with the story that won National Novel Writing Month this year? With the Indie Author Project and Biblioboard, you can introduce your precious brainchild to the world. The Indie Author Project submits your work to Library Journal for review, where it may be chosen as a Select Read and added to lists all over the country. It will then show up on your library's Biblioboard front page, drawing in all library readers who like e-books and are always looking for the next big thing. More here.

How Romance Authors Team Up to Publish a Spicy Anthology

We are a group of romance authors—Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, and Adriana Herrera—who joined forces to write a spicy little anthology, which began as a title: Duke I’d Like to F… DILF, but make him historical! In this post, we’ll walk through how we planned and wrote our novellas, then published and marketed the anthology to become a bestselling title. We hope this helps other authors considering teaming up for an anthology of their own. Read more here.

The strange history—and even stranger future—of digital deception. Next Big Idea Club.

Review: The Florida novels of Charles Willeford. Reason.

Who owns the phrase ‘rich as f–k’? One book publisher is getting sued over this very question. Ask Penguin Random House. The Messenger.

The case for a credits section in books. The Atlantic.

The 15 best literary adaptations of 2023. Lit Hub.

Top 3 lessons for anyone thinking about publishing a comic book - Stephen L. Stern. Film Courage.

The best crime and suspense anthologies of 2023. CrimeReads.

Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: a 95-year love triangle | Duke University School of Law commentary.