The Best (And Worst) News From the Publishing Business
By Densie Webb | February 4, 2023 |
While we all want to stay on top of what’s current about craft, be alerted to the latest conferences, and connect with fellow writers on social media, staying informed about the business side of writing and publishing is some (or many) might say, a necessary evil. To save you from spending hours scrolling through websites to find insights into the business side of writing, we’ve curated a list of recent posts for you to dig into or peruse at your leisure. We hope you’ll find value in these and share the links with anyone else who might want to keep up with the latest.
Well, 2023 has started off with a publishing bang. Lots of news, everything from AI’s increasing presence to suggested prison time for our literary guardians who refused to remove banned books—our librarians.
AI
Artificial Intelligence and the growing questions and concerns surrounding it, continue to make headlines. A decade of research is generating a more powerful and more mature breed of A.I. A link to the best AI writing software. A writer lets her AI “assistant” write her bio with some pretty funny results, and editor and author, Tiffany Yates Martin, muses about what AI may mean for authors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/technology/generative-ai-chatgpt-investments.html
https://www.thepassivevoice.com/25-best-ai-writing-software-for-2023-best-picks/
Audiobooks
AI enters audiobook territory as Apple unveils AI narrated audiobooks. Will the rising demand for audiobooks create opportunity for authors or will new auto-narrated audiobook creation simply expand the offering of text-to-speech technology. And a boom in Spanish language audiobooks.
https://medium.com/@elisechidleyauthor/audiobooks-the-future-of-publishing-d604c499be05
https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/01/sonic-boom-spanish-language-audiobooks-are-soaring/
Book Banning and Book Shaming
At least one state wants prison time for librarians who refuse to remove banned books, and a New York Times opinion piece takes a look back at the fallout from “American Dirt.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/opinion/american-dirt-book-publishing.html
Book Conferences
Check out some of the book Conferences, Fairs and Festivals slated for the first half of 2023.
Bookstores
In a surprising turnaround, Barnes & Noble plans to open 30 more stores.
Environmental Concerns
French publisher, Hachette Livre intends to use 100-percent renewable energy by 2026, by reducing overproduction, freight, and more. An shining example for publishers in the US?
International Publishers
The first report from the Börsenverein on the German book market’s 2022 performance depicts “a major economic challenge,” and the UK’s Independent Publishers Guild is planning a digital showcase of books in the guild’s collective stands at the London Book Fair in April of this year.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2023/01/germanys-borsenverein-2022-book-sales-down-2-1-percent/
Libraries
Digital lends at libraries at record levels. How often do you borrow ebooks from the library?
Publishing News and Trends
A new report says that publishers are planning to create most of their revenue through subscriptions and memberships. Also, with negotiations stalled, Random House and the union have agreed to employ an independent mediator to help end a strike that has stretched on since early November. And New York Magazine talks about what Penguin Random House’s Failed Bid to Eat S&S Means for Publishing. And Centrello, president and publisher of Random House, retires after 23 years.
Publishing Predictions
A look back at 2022 and a few predictions for audiobooks, digital sales, and self-publishing 2023. And it’s all good. More on the Harper-Collins strike.
https://www.thepassivevoice.com/laurie-mcleans-crystal-ball-publishing-predictions-for-2023/
https://prismreports.org/2023/01/23/harper-collins-worker-author-solidarity/
Sales in 2022
Taking a look back at book sales from 2022 and making some not-so-certain predictions for 2023.
Have you come across any opportunities or news dealing with the business side of publishing? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Densie Webb has spent a long career as a freelance nonfiction writer and editor, specializing in health and nutrition and has published several books and tons of articles on the topic over the years. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Red Adept Publishing released her debut women’s fiction novel titled, “When Robins Appear” in 2020. It is available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback formats. Her second novel, best categorized as romantic/domestic suspense, “Breathing in Reverse” was published in 2023, also with Red Adept Publishing. She is currently working (but not fast enough) on novel #3. She grew up in Louisiana, spent 13 years in New York, and settled in Austin, TX, where it’s summer nine months of the year. She’s an avid walker (not of the dead variety, though she loves anything to do with zombies, vampires, or post-apocalyptic worlds), drinks way too much coffee, and has a small “devil dog” that keep her on her toes. And she is thrilled to be a part of the Writer Unboxed family!
Hello Densie. Thank you for doing the heavy lifting involved in putting together such a compendium. It’s not what people do for themselves, which makes it all the more valuable.
Just spent a happy hour or so reading through some of these great links–thanks, Densie. And thank you for including my AI piece!
Change is constant in publishing and the range of news you cite shows that. However, of all the changes noted today the one that hits me that hardest is the retirement of Gina Centrello.
Gina has been a thoroughgoing professional and steady hand on the wheel for, it seems, as long as I can remember. I am going to miss her, and this moment reminds me that whatever the technological or cultural winds blowing through out industry, in the end publishing is people, and good ones.
We were lucky to have her and lucky to have all of the other really great people who make this industry work.
The AI technology is definitely a huge buzz word in the publishing world. My biggest hang up in using it is the cost. I know the latest one chatgpt is considered free at the moment but even that will eventually charge, I’m sure. We’ll see where it goes, I guess.
Thanks, Densie. Just sighed up for one of the news letters.