The Small Press Distribution (SPD) website experienced a denial-of-service attack on Friday, disabling the site, ordering system, and email communications. No customer data or private information was compromised, the company said, and the website was back up and running on Sunday evening. Executive director Kent Watson stated, “This attack comes at a very busy time as SPD continues to pick, pack, and ship books for hundreds of presses. Senseless acts like this harm independent publishers, booksellers, and readers.”
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Entangled Is Working On A Solution to ‘Iron Flame’ Misprints
Entangled Publishing said in a statement that it’s working to correct misprints in the new Rebecca Yarros novel Iron Flame that published on November 7. Entangled reportedly indicated the book sold more than half a million copies on its release day, and some of the copies had irregularities including damaged pages, missing pages, upside down pages, and more, which readers catalogued on TikTok. In a statement to Variety, the company acknowledged that the misprints “have caused disappointment among those who eagerly awaited this release.” They write, “In keeping with our values of quality and responsibility, we are committed to making […]
Goodreads Launches New Policies to Combat Review Bombing
Goodreads posted an announcement on October 30 introducing its new policies about review authenticity, which aim to combat review bombing. They write: “Earlier this year, we launched the ability to temporarily limit submission of ratings and reviews on a book during times of unusual activity that violate our guidelines, including instances of ‘review bombing.’ This kind of activity is not tolerated on Goodreads and it diminishes the community’s trust in people who participate. We are currently in the process of removing ratings and reviews added during times of previous unusual activity that violate our guidelines.” The announcement also states that […]
Harper Will No Longer Publish Book About Jamal Khashoggi
Harper Collins will no longer publish SAY YOUR WORD, THEN LEAVE: The Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and the Power of the Truth by Karen Attiah, the author shared on social media. Attiah was Khashoggi’s friend and editor at the Washington Post. “After nearly four years of writing the book, meeting every deadline, my (now former) publisher inexplicably stopped the editing process, forcing me to pull the book,” she wrote. The book, which was sold by Anthony Mattero at CAA to Dey Street in 2019, was slated for publication in February 2024 but no longer appears on retailer sites or the […]
Managers to Decide on S&S’s Return to Office Policies
In a memo today, Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp advised staff on the future of in-office work for the company, taking a “departmental approach.” Working from the office had been voluntary for most employees throughout the lengthy sale process. Managers will determine the schedule for their teams, which may be fully in person, 2 to 3 days in the office, or fully remote. In the NYC office in Rockefeller Center, employees who are not coming in at least two days a week by December 1 will forfeit their office space and “share new office space, which will be created […]
Bomb Threat at The King’s English Bookstore in Salt Lake City
The King’s English Bookstore in Salt Lake City, UT was temporarily shut down by a bomb threat on Sunday morning targeting a drag queen story hour. Salt Lake City police heard of a “suspicious circumstance” around 9:30 and, after determining it was a bomb threat, evacuated the store to search for explosives, clearing it to reopen around 11. Tara Lipsyncki has hosted that drag queen story hour for five months. Lipsyncki wrote in an Instagram post, “In the face of hate and threats you have two options, to fight back or to back down. I will always fight and stand […]