A wealth of new books arrive today, including 18 fiction and 19 nonfiction titles. In fiction, highlights include a new Jane Smiley and Indie Next pick The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister, as well as one of our 2020 Romance Buzz Book selections, Denise William’s How to Fail at Flirting. Nonfiction releases include Ijeoma Oluo’s Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, a new “Badass” title from Jen Sincero, life advice from Tina Turner, and a book of David Katz’ photographs of Barack Obama. 18 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-december-1 19 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-december-1 New children’s and YA […]
Audible Will Pay Author Royalties for Audiobooks Returned After Seven Days
Responding to strenuous objections from authors and a number of groups that represent writers, Audible will reduce the extent to which their liberal returns and exchange program is conducted at authors’ expense. Starting in January, Audible will only debit authors’ earnings for audiobooks returned within seven days of purchase. Previously, an author who distributed their audiobook via Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) forfeited their earnings any time a customer returned their title within 365 days of purchase. The extent of those returns charges was not transparent to authors until last month. Audible will continue to allow liberal returns and exchanges, […]
New Books Publishing November 24
This week, a slimmer selection of new books includes some big names in fiction, including Ernest Cline, Philippa Gregory, and Nora Roberts. In nonfiction, highlights include Bruce McCall’s memoir and Harold Bloom’s take on Western literature’s most essential novels. 8 new works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-november-24 9 new nonfiction titles https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-november-24 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 can use this form to submit brief details as […]
NAIBA Board Pauses to Acknowledge Covid Exhaustion, Shares Tools for Indies
Despite many positive indicators that publishing has rebounded amidst the pandemic, there is a parallel reality: Many in the bookselling community have continued to struggle, and the challenges have grown as the country faces the potential of more retail limitations or shutdowns during the critical holiday season. The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association sent an emotional email yesterday to members yesterday to acknowledge the struggle. The board voiced the need to “Take a moment to mourn the stores lost this year to Covid-19, from legacy stores to stores that opened with hope in the last few years; to acknowledge the […]
WH Smith Ends the Year with a Loss As UK Deals with Second Lockdown
WH Smith announced preliminary results for the fiscal year ending August 31, with High Street sales of £468 million, 19 percent lower than a year ago, which the company still called “resilient.” High Street stores lost £(10) million for the year, compared to profit of £60 million last year. (Using the new accounting standards for leases, the loss was £(4) million, but earnings comp to the old standard still in place last year.) In the first half of the year, pre-Covid, High Street had profits of £44 million — and then lost £(54) million in the second half. The fiscal […]
Bertelsmann Has Only Small Third Quarter Decline
Bertelsmann issued its characteristically brief third quarter trading report, noting “slight organic revenues growth of 1.6 percent,” with book publishing called out as among the “particularly robust” businesses in their portfolio. Companywide, third quarter sales were approximately €4.15 billion, down somewhat from €4.19 billion a year ago, but a much smaller decline than the 8.9 percent drop in the first six months. For the nine-month period, sales of €12 billion are down €800 million compared a year ago. Said ceo Thomas Rabe, “The economic repercussions of the global Corona pandemic continue to be felt. But we have managed to further […]