Boundless, the much-criticized successor to failed UK crowdfunding publisher Unbound, is reported to have filed for bankruptcy administration, just months after it was formed. In March, Unbound entered in a pre-packaged bankruptcy, selling its assets — primarily author contracts — to Boundless, a new company led at the time by two of Unbound’s executives. (The payment was later revealed to £25,000 upfront and another £25,000 over time, which was “the only firm offer.”) Authors were quick to complain, since at the time of the sale they were promised that the new company would pay “all monies owed to authors by Unbound,” […]
Authors
Time Magazine Profile: Taylor Jenkins Reid Sold Five New Books For $8 Million Each
Time Magazine features Taylor Jenkins Reid on the cover, tracing her rise on BookTok, in celebrity book clubs, and through film and TV adaptations of her work. Most notably, the piece mentions a new five-book deal that has her returning to Atria, reportedly for $8 million per book (Atria and Reid’s agent Celeste Fine have not yet responded to PL’s requests for confirmation). Reid’s ATMOSPHERE, about the 1980s space shuttle program, will be published on June 3. Time writes, “Reid’s eight novels before Atmosphere, five of which are New York Times best sellers, have sold more than 21 million print, e-book, and audiobook copies in […]
Book By Muzzled Author on Facebook Sells 60,000 Copies
Publisher Flatiron Books says that Sarah Wynn-Williams’ CARELESS PEOPLE sold 60,000 units across all formats in its first week on sale. Circana Bookscan shows tracked hardcover sales of just over 18,500 copies. Last week Meta won an interim award from an emergency arbitrator ordering the author to not make any “disparaging, critical, or otherwise detrimental comments” about Meta, effectively blocking her promotion of the book. But Wynn-Williams failed to appear at the hearing or even send an attorney to answer Meta’s complaint.
Dark Horse Becomes the First Publisher to Drop Neil Gaiman
Dark Horse announced on social media on Friday that it “takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works.” They are the first of Gaiman’s publishers to publicly acknowledge those allegations and cancel or remove work under contract as a result. The publisher said it was, “Confirming that the Anansi Boys comic series and collected volume have been cancelled.” They had published seven of a planned eight installments in the comic book series. The writer of the series Marc Bernardin said on Instagram recently, “Last Wednesday, issue 7 of Anansi Boys hit the stands. […]
The Continuing Rise of Bloom Books
The NYT celebrates the continuing success of Sourcebooks’ Bloom Books imprint. In 2023 Bloom had already grown to sales of more than $100 million less than three years after its founding, and sales for 2024 are up another 58 percent. “In an era when TikTok can catapult authors to success overnight, Bloom has developed a lucrative formula: courting self-published authors who have a built-in fan base, taking over their print distribution, building up their brand and market share and turning them into mainstream best sellers. That model has propelled the careers of novelists who now rank among the genre’s most […]
Authors Guild CEO Says Harper “Struck A Good Deal” for AI Licensing
Authors Guild ceo Mary Rasenberger and her staff have been actively engaged in representing authors’ interests in the battle to take back control of copyrighted work in an AI world, and monetize those rights if they choose. Speaking to PL about Harper’s new deal to license a body of backlist nonfiction works to a large AI company for authors who elect to consent, and with certain contractual guardrails in place, Rasenberger told us: “We really appreciate that Harper has taken the initiative and thought through how to protect works and keep AI from taking away from any existing value of […]