The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) updated a policy that will make publicly funded research available immediately available to the public for free. The guidance says that federal agencies must implement the policy, “including ending the optional 12-month embargo,” by the end of 2025. Currently, journals are able to hold articles behind a paywall for a year. “This policy will likely yield significant benefits on a number of key priorities for the American people, from environmental justice to cancer breakthroughs, and from game-changing clean energy technologies to protecting civil liberties in an automated world,” the announcement […]
James Tait Black Prizes
The £10,000 James Tait Black Prizes were announced at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Amit Chaudhuri’s Finding the Raga: An Improvisation on Indian Music won the biography prize and Keith Ridgway’s A Shock won the fiction prize.
Judge Recommends Dismissing Bookseller Antitrust Suit
Federal Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo has filed a 59-page report, recommending dismissal of the fairly absurd lawsuit filed by class-action specialists Hagens Berman and Sperling & Slater on behalf of a single plaintiff bookseller charging that Amazon and the Big 5 publishers had colluded to grant Amazon better terms and control wholesale book prices. In March 2021, Illinois bookseller Bookends & Beginnings filed suit charging “defendants’ anticompetitive conduct has depressed book sales in the U.S. market.” Last fall, the publishers and Amazon motioned for the case to be dismissed. Judge Figueredo’s analysis, just made public with some modest redactions, urges […]
Audio: More Diversion Podcasts, Pluto Audio
Diversion Audio announced four forthcoming podcasts, comprising their first offerings in talk and fiction formats. “War Queens” in the fall features actor Nathalie Emmanuel; “The Royals of Malibu” launches on Valentine’s Day 2023, based on the romance series The Royals by Erin Watt. UK Publisher Pluto Books has launched Pluto Audio. Six titles are currently available for purchase on their website, and 12 more are planned for 2022.
New Books Publishing August 23
Karin Slaughter, William Kent Krueger, and Emma Donoghue lead this week’s fiction releases, while nonfiction includes new work from Frances Mayes and Beto O’Rourke. Also out this week are books by Ella King, Latoya Watkins, and Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, all excerpted in our Buzz Books 2022: Spring/Summer collection. 18 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-august-23 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Fiction_Publishing_August_/224112 11 nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-august-23 https://shop.aer.io/publishers_lunch/cl/New_Nonfiction_Publishing_August_/224113 We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming three months through this reference page. But if you want to make sure your key titles are on our radar, now you […]
Walmart Launches Book Club
Walmart has launched the Walmart Book Club, which will feature five titles for adults annually–one for each season and one Pick of the Year. “Our team of book merchants will select titles based on reading trends, relevancy and industry market data–helping to identify exciting titles Walmart customers are sure to love,” the company said in a release. The books will have a Walmart Book Club sticker on the cover. The inaugural title is Ali Hazelwood‘s Love on the Brain, which publishes today.