This week’s fiction releases include books by Curtis Sittenfeld, CJ Box, and Samantha Shannon, while new nonfiction includes work from Chelsea Handler and Michael Wolff. Also publishing this week are titles by Ada Calhoun; Ingrid Ochoa; Ally Malinenko, Linda Epstein, and Liz Parker; and James Renner, all excerpted in our Buzz Books collections. 35 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-february-25 12 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-february-25 From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. […]
HBG Pauses Warehouse Operations After Hack
Hachette Book Group was the victim of a cyber hack during the weekend of February 14, resulting in a closure of their warehouse. In a statement, a company spokesperson said, “Hachette Book Group became aware of unauthorized activity on our computing systems over Valentine’s Day weekend and out of an abundance of caution we took our systems offline. We closed our warehouse for one day on Tuesday, February 18, and normal shipping has now resumed.” According to an email from the company to booksellers, orders sent on February 17 were not received and tracking information was unavailable. The company’s retailer portal, […]
People 2/25
Spotify Adds More AI Audiobooks, As We Look At Their Payment Terms
Spotify started accepting audiobooks created with AI software from ElevenLabs into its library last week, with the software company pitching the initiative to independent authors (though multiple major publishers are working with ElevenLabs as well). Audiobooks generated this way will be “clearly marked in the metadata on Spotify.” Additionally, the book description will begin by stating: “This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.” (In December, Spotify’s Findaway Voices started distributing AI audiobooks from Google Play to “select retail partners.”) Spotify declined to provide a projection of the number of titles this will add to their library. Owen Smith, vp […]
UK Agency and Printer Victims of Cyber Attacks
UK literary agency The Agency was attacked by ransomware group Rhysida, first reported by security vendor FalconFeeds.io on February 14. The Bookseller reports on an email from books department head Jessica Hare, the attack caused a “significant IT outage.” The group said they would publish stolen data if they aren’t paid. “We are contacting you because your personal data may have been copied and, if the criminals carry through their threat, may be leaked. Whilst our IT specialists and an additional cyber security company are working hard to identify which items of data have been copied, the attack methodology of Rhysida […]