Sportswriter John Feinstein, 69, died on March 13, likely of a heart attack, the New York Times reports. Feinstein was the author of more than 40 books about basketball, baseball, tennis, football, golf, and the Olympics, including 1986’s A Season on the Brink. Last year, he published Five Banners: Inside the Duke Dynasty (Duke University Press) and The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today (Grand Central).
Unbound Assets Sold to Its Own Execs in Bankruptcy Deal
UK crowd-funded publisher Unbound, which recently fell short of its fundraising goals and failed to pay authors and freelancers, has gone into bankruptcy administration, the Bookseller reports. A new company run by Unbound’s top executives, called Boundless IP Ltd, has bought Unbound’s IP, publishing contracts, vendor relationships, and other assets in a “pre-packaged sale”. Boundless is a “full-risk traditional publisher” run by Unbound ceo Archna Sharma and co-founded by Unbound co-founder and publisher John Mitchinson, who will act as director. Sharma has brought in new investors to the new company. Boundless says that they will continue the publication of most […]
Meta Wins Bid To Stop Whistleblower Book Promotion
An emergency arbitrator ruled in an interim award on Wednesday that author Sarah Wynn-Williams must cease promotion of her book CARELESS PEOPLE, her whistleblower account of the culture at Facebook. The arbitrator writes that Meta will suffer “immediate and irreparable loss…in the absence of emergency relief,” according to a copy of the filing posted by the company. In a claim brought against Wynn-Williams and publisher Flatiron Books/Macmillan, Meta argued that the book violated a non-disparagement contract the author signed as part of her severance package after being fired from Facebook in 2017. Wynn-Williams is enjoined from making any “disparaging, critical, […]
Wiley Offers AI Guidelines For Writers
Wiley released guidelines for book authors about how to use AI in their work. According to the company, publisher guidance around AI use has been requested by the majority of researchers in a recent study the publisher conducted “and were informed by extensive interviews with authors, editorial staff and AI experts.” “Writers and researchers are already using AI tools, whether publishers like it or not,” Wiley evp & general manager, research & learning Jay Flynn said. “At Wiley, we’d rather embrace this shift than fight it. Our recent study shows these technologies will be everywhere within two years, and we […]
Spotify Audiobooks Solicits Short Audio Content from Independent Authors
Spotify has launched a new website for authors to submit short English-language content for possible audiobook creation and publication by Spotify. Authors are encouraged to submit adult romance, mystery/thriller, or sci-fi/fantasy stories of 10,000 to 20,000 words that are “written specifically for audio.” The program is open to authors who control their own audio rights. Spotify will pay an advance and royalties for any selected book, and manage production. Authors can distribute the book in print or ebook on any platform. “Spotify Audiobooks is thrilled to be opening submissions for short-form content written by independent authors who are as passionate […]