Getting Down to Business

By Densie Webb  |  November 2, 2024  | 

Densie Webb's column on the Business of Fiction

Moving fact-based books into the fiction section of libraries may be the latest twist on book banning. Taylor Swift has joined the ranks of published authors (though the book is more of a Swifties tour guide). Book sales in all its forms is on the upswing. Is the quality of print-on-demand books less than? Cofounder of Goodreads is offering a new app that curates book options for you. On the opposite end of that spectrum, Gen Z and Millennials evidently love in-person book-store browsing. Romantasy is hotter than ever. James Patterson and crew have taken the leap into Substack. And maybe the biggest news of all, TikTok is making the foray into book publishing. It could be huge, given their gargantuan platform.

 

Audiobooks

Audiobooks for the win—they may strengthen memory in older adults

Book Bans

Texas library places book about colonization in fiction section

Bookstores

Survey finds Gen Z and Millennials are fans of book stores 

Celebrity Books

It was bound to happen—Taylor Swift is an author

Children’s Books

Kids first is Scholastic’s strategy

Books for tweens about elections and voting

Half of children’s books with diverse characters are written by white authors 

Publishing

China’s publishing industry seeks new growth

5-day conference in NYC on all things publishing

The Association of American Publishers sees ‘nearly all categories’ getting an uptick, for July

A detailed look at the goings on at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair

Nielsen BookData Releases Book Sales Data for the first half of 2024

Low-quality print on demand paperback books

The 8th annual Women in Publishing Summit

Inside the political book machine

Publishing People

Nan Graham to step down as publisher of Scribner

Readers

How publishing has left boys behind

Goodreads Cofounder Launches Smashing, a Content Curation App

Romance

Romantasy breaks another record

In defense of romance novels

Are dirty romance novels losing their stigma?

Social Media

James Patterson has joined Substack

TikTok

TikTok dips its toes in the publishing waters

Why Tiktok’s publishing venture is a smart move

Hundreds of thousands are flocking to LibraryTok

Would you be willing to submit your manuscript to TikTok’s bold new publishing venture? Why or why not?

 

 

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4 Comments

  1. Tina Marlene on November 3, 2024 at 3:03 am

    I think Taylor Swift’s book is self-published. Is that correct? Didn’t Madonna write a children’s book in the 1990s?
    Thank you for the news.

    • Densie Webb on November 3, 2024 at 10:21 pm

      Yes, with Taylor Swift Publications, of course!

  2. Barbara Morrison on November 3, 2024 at 9:19 am

    Thank you for this roundup, Densie. As always, it’s an excellent resource for keeping up with what’s going on in the publishing world.

  3. Bob Cohn on November 4, 2024 at 3:44 pm

    Thank you so much ofr making all this information available in one place.

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