News

CNN reports that when they requested an interview with Melania Trump surrounding her eponymous book, which publishes October 8 from Skyhorse, the publisher sent back an NDA with a clause that “CNN shall pay a licensing fee of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)” for an interview and the use of photos and excerpts from the book. The news organization notes that they did not sign the agreement, which came after weeks of discussions with the publisher. The contract “laid out strict terms for an interview and use of material from the book” and had signature lines for the agent, […]

Diesel Bookstore in the well-known Brentwood Country Mart in LA faced protests last week over a title they had on display called Understanding Hamas: And Why That Matters, by Helena Cobban and Rami G. Khouri (OR Books). On September 22, a customer complained to a 17-year-old employee about the book, which was out on a table, and the heated confrontation was captured on video and posted to social media. After the video spread online, there was a demonstration the next day, which included several protestors blocking the store’s entrance in “a standoff…that lasted for about 90 minutes.” One hung an […]

The Little Golden Book Biography of Taylor Swift by Wendy Loggia–the second bestselling backlist title for Penguin Random House last quarter–will be rereleased on November 5 with a new cover and 22 more pages of material, Today reports. The new pages will include additional information about Swift’s life and Eras tour, as well as coloring and activity pages. The book has sold over two million copies since publication in May 2023, according to a Random House Children’s press release. Circana Bookscan has recorded print sales of approximately 1.056 million copies. The revision comes as publishing enters its Taylor Swift era. […]

Independent digital publisher TouchPoint Press has shut down, according to a letter from publisher Sheri Williams shared by Writer Beware. They note she had been “under pressure from authors, staff, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office” and the Authors Guild. Williams writes that she has met with Authors Guild attorneys since last November when she was hospitalized for mental health issues, who urged her to close the publisher, “but I was determined to keep going telling myself that hard work would get us back where we need to be.” She writes that she has filed a claim with her business insurance […]

Colleen Hoover’s IT ENDS WITH US has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide in print, audio, and ebook, Atria announced. Since the film adaptation came out in August, it has sold more than 800,000 print units in the US. Atria reports that they have sold more than 32 million copies of Hoover’s books in all formats. IT ENDS WITH US sold approximately 36,000 print copies in its first year of publication, issued in 2016.

OverDrive and Amazon have begun limiting summary titles from their online catalogs, similar to a recent move we reported recently by Barnes & Noble. These titles, which are based on existing popular books, have long frustrated authors and publishers because they are confusing to consumers who think they are purchasing the original work (and bring up legal questions around fair use). According to OverDrive, suppliers have been notified that approximately 30,000 books have been removed from the platform. “OverDrive decided to remove the summary books based on salability of the materials and customer feedback that this is not a category […]