Book Publishing News

Financial Support for Writers

• A guide to economic relief for authors and freelancers, from the Authors Guild. Also, search for funds by state.
• The Carnegie Fund for Authors offers emergency grants for traditionally-published writers
• Poets & Writers maintains a list of financial resources (grants, funds, and more)
• PEN America offers the Writers’ Emergency Fund to all types of writers. You don’t have to be a member to apply.
• Kickstarter has a running list of artist resources
• For UK writers, The Society of Authors has an Authors’ Emergency Fund. Also, there’s a useful roundup of grants and funds at Spread The Word.
• The National Endowment for the Arts will distribute $75 million in relief to arts organizations
• Artist Relief, a US-based initiative organized by national arts grantmakers, will distribute $5,000 grants to artists (including writers)
• The Writers’ Trust of Canada and The Writers’ Union of Canada have launched a relief fund
• Australia’s Copyright Agency offers support grants for artists of all kinds
• Publishers Weekly is keeping a list of special offers and discounts of all kinds to help readers, booksellers, publishers, and authors
• Written Word Media’s email newsletters offer free ad placement to authors

How to Support Bookstores and Authors

• Shop for digital audiobooks at Libro.fm or print books at Bookshop.org
• The independent booksellers of New York City have created a Bookshop storefront with recommendations.
• Scribd is offering free access to ebooks and digital audio for 30 days
• Kindle Unlimited is available for free for two months to new subscribers
• Apple is giving free ebooks and audiobooks to people in the US—just launch the Apple Books app

Resources for Educating and Entertaining Your Kids at Home

• SCBWI offers a digital directory of remote learning resources
• Audible offers a collection of children’s stories for free
• Publishers Weekly maintains a running list of free materials for children during the crisis
• Publishers Lunch also has a similar list of free digital book access for students from a variety of resources
• Scholastic offers free Learn at Home materials
• EPIC! materials are free to students by teacher invitation
• Coronavirus: A Book for Children—with artwork by The Gruffalo’s Axel Scheffler—is available for free
• Magic Tree House Home Adventures will keep young readers engaged through late May
• Rachel Renee Russel’s first Dork Diaries book is now a podcast series
• Two treats for JK Rowling fans: a cast of celebrity narrators will read the first Harry Potter book in a series of free online videos (or audio files on Spotify); and the author’s new fairytale, The Ickabog, unfolds in online installments every weekday through July 10

Take Advantage of Your Library

• OverDrive is helping libraries identify low-cost and no-cost digital materials for circulation to library patrons
• ProQuest has partnered with 100 publishers to support libraries in making ebook holdings available to patrons at no extra charge

Virtual Book Events

• The Big List of Children’s Book Authors Doing Online Read Alouds and Activities
• LitHub’s Virtual Book Channel
• Quarantine Book Club
• A Mighty Blaze: a social media initiative for authors whose tours have been canceled

Other Resources

• The American Booksellers Association has collected coronavirus resources for booksellers
• The American Publishers Association has collected information about publisher response