The Association of American Publishers announced August sales data from participating StatShot publishers, reporting trade sales of $716 million in the month, down 9.6 percent from last year. Adult books sold $522 million, down 10 percent. Fiction sold $304 million, down 3 percent, and adult nonfiction fell 17 percent to $218 million. Hardcovers sold $164 (down 4 percent), paperbacks sold $183 million (down 15.5 percent), digital audio sold $79.5 million (down 4 percent), and ebooks sold $75.9 million (down 4 percent). In children’s and YA books, sales fell 9.6 percent to $194 million, with $162 million in fiction sales (down […]
Obituaries: CW Gortner and Tim Cook
Author CW Gortner died on October 25. He wrote 16 historical novels focusing on women including Catherine Medici, Lucrezia Borgia, Marlene Dietrich, and Coco Chanel. His most recent book, The Saint Laurent Muse, was published by William Morrow in March. Bestselling author and historian Tim Cook has died. He wrote more than 20 books on Canadian military history, and his forthcoming book, The Unquiet Western Front, will be published by Allen Lane/Penguin Canada next year.
Consolidated Lawsuit Against OpenAI Will Go Forward
A judge in the Southern District of New York denied OpenAI’s motion to dismiss a consolidated class action suit over ChatGPT. The suit combines lawsuits from authors including Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Sarah Silverman, Kai Bird, and Victor LaValle, as well as the Authors Guild, alleging that ChatGPT’s outputs are similar to the authors’ work and constitute copyright infringement. Judge Sidney H. Stein determined that the plaintiffs’ argument is strong enough to go to trial. In trying to dismiss, OpenAI argued that ChatGPT summarizing books is the same as summarizing news articles, which “the court determined were not substantially similar to […]
Storytel Reports Record Profitability
Swedish audiobook company Storytel reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, with sales up 6 percent to SEK1.013 billion ($106.5 million). Operating profit grew 74 percent to SEK152 million with adjusted EBITDA up 44 percent to SEK232 million. “Record high profitability, solid customer intake, and robust cash flow generation. Our performance reinforces our confidence in achieving our mid-term targets, while we raise our guidance for 2025”, ceo Bodil Eriksson Torp said in a release. In the streaming segment, sales were up 4 percent to SEK884.5 million with gross profit up 3 percent to SEK363.7 million, driven by a […]
New Books Publishing October 28
This week’s fiction releases include new novels by Louise Penny, Mark Z. Danielewski, and V.C. Andrews. New nonfiction includes work from Zadie Smith, Cameron Crowe, Judd Apatow, Jonathan Karl, Shea Serrano, and Jonathan Freedland. 17 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-october-28 14 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-october-28 Also publishing this week are new titles by Catherine Newman and Molly O’Sullivan, both excerpted in our Buzz Books 2025: Fall/Winter anthology. We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out October‘s […]
Forthcoming: Newly-Found Dr. Seuss Picture Book
On June 2, Random House Children’s will publish THE 50 UNITED STATES! by Dr. Seuss. The complete manuscript and cover image, plus “notes on overall art direction,” were found this year in the archives at UC San Diego’s Geisel Library. Tom Brannon completed the illustrations in Dr. Seuss’s style. According to a release, “with Dr. Seuss’s signature rhymes, rhythm, and wordplay, SING THE 50 UNITED STATES! invites readers to learn and name all fifty states together with the iconic Cat in the Hat and two Little Cat helpers.”