Hilary Harwell, an agent at KT Literary, has been fired following a Twitter controversy involving a post she made about a query she had received. On June 23, Harwell posted, “Just read a query that was essentially THE ROAD meets DELIVERANCE (#YA) and now I want someone to write this for me please.” She had since deleted her account. Twitter users, including other agents, noted that it’s bad form to receive a query and then publicly request that a different author write the premise. Author Jamie Damato replied, “With respect do you not see how it’s actually kind of insidious […]
Archives for June 2024
People 6/25
Lindsay Sagnette will join Putnam as vice president, editor in chief, on July 15.
Former Scribd Co-Founder Launches AI Licensing Company for Books
Scribd co-founder and former ceo Trip Adler’s new start-up Created By Humans officially announced itself today, after the recent raising of a $5 million seed round led by David Sacks at Craft Ventures and Mike Maples, Jr. at Floodgate. (Other investors include Jason Calacanis at Launch Fund, Sam Lessin and Garry Tan at Slow Ventures, and author Walter Isaacson.) The intention is to create an AI rights licensing platform that “makes it simple for authors/publishers to license the AI Rights of their content to AI companies for use in training models and more” — even though the current status of […]
Spotify Drops Audiobooks From New, Lowest-Priced Tier
In keeping with plans announced in March, Spotify has increased its prices in the US, with the premium tier, which includes 15 hours of audiobooks per month, now costing $11.99. They have also introduced a new Basic plan for $10.99, without any audiobooks. Back in March, they debuted an Audiobook Access Tier for $9.99, which gets listeners 15 hours of books monthly, and music with ads.
New Books Publishing June 25
This week’s fiction releases include new titles by Flynn Berry, Julia Phillips, and Joyce Maynard, while Emily Nussbaum and the hosts of Pod Save America publish nonfiction works. Also publishing this week are Monica Kim’s THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART, Joselyn Takacs’s PEARCE OYSTERS, and Isabel Banta’s HONEY, all excerpted in our Buzz Books 2024: Spring/Summer sampler. 23 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-june-25 10 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-june-25 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for […]
Forthcoming: ‘Something Lost, Something Gained’ By Hillary Clinton
Simon & Schuster will publish a new book by Hillary Clinton on September 17, SOMETHING LOST, SOMETHING GAINED: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE, LOVE, AND LIBERTY. The publisher writes she “shows us how to age with grace and keep moving forward with grit, joy, purpose, and a sense of humor. ” The narrative “moves past her dream of being president, and dives into new activism for women and democracy,” including what they call a “fervent and persuasive warning to all American voters.”