Publishers Lunch Automat
- Curtis Brown UK Schedules Two Weeks of Virtual Rights Pitches for Late March
- Dylan Thomas Prize Announces 2021 Longlist
- Connecticut AG Is "Examining whether Amazon engaged in anticompetitive behavior in the e-book business?" (We know the answer to this one)
- Powell's Closes Early Over "Safety Concerns" As Protestors Object to Carrying Antifa Critic Andy Ngo's New Book Online
- Billie Eilish's Photo Book to Publish From Grand Central on May 11
Publishers Weekly
Publishing Perspectives
- New Initiative Brings African Literature into the IPA-UN SDG Book Club
- Rights Professionals Eye Spring/Summer 2021 Buzz Books from the US
- Frankfurt’ Publishers Training Program Returns to Taipei’s Book Exhibition
- Rights Roundup: Elephants, Mice, Aliens, and Agatha Christie
- Interview: CEO Allen Lau on Wattpad’s $600 Million Merger with Korea’s Naver
Publishers Lunch (paid)
UK’s The Bookseller (paid)
Canada’s Quill & Quire (paid)
- New agency 5 Otter Literary launches in Toronto
- How Canadian publishing is rallying to cut shipping costs by 95 per cent
- Daily Deals: Tessa McWatt novel to Random House Canada; Kamal Al-Solaylee non-fiction to HarperCollins Canada
- FOLD announces Eden Robinson for second virtual festival
- Emerging writers of any age will be eligible for 2021 Bronwen Wallace
Australia’s Books and Publishing (paid)
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.
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
- 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
- Rachel Renee Russel’s first Dork Diaries book is now a podcast series
- A treat for Harry Potter fans: a cast of celebrity narrators will read the first Potter book in a series of free online videos (or audio files on Spotify)
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
Poets & Writers News
- Bhanu Kapil Wins T. S. Eliot Prize, National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists, and More
- Remembering Charles R. Saunders, Witnessing Amanda Gorman, and More
- Believer Book Awards Longlists, Akutagawa and Naoki Prizewinners, and More
- Open Letter Urges Against Publishing Trump Officials, Netflix Announces New Projects with Ibram X. Kendi, and More
- Amanda Gorman Prepares Inauguration Poem, New Chancellors at the Academy of American Poets, and More
Writer Beware
- Spooky Phishing Scam Targets Traditionally-Published Writers
- Attack of the Fake Literary Agencies: West Literary Agency, Stellar Literary Press and Media
- #Audiblegate: How Audible-ACX Returns Policy Penalizes Authors
- Disssecting a Scam: The Literary Scout Impersonator
- Bad Contest Terms: T.A. Barron's Once Upon A Villain Flash Fiction Contest
Janet Reid, Literary Agent
The Passive Voice
Alliance of Independent Authors
- Are Bookstores Worth it for Indie Authors?
- Author Interview with Tim Lewis: #IndieAuthorChat Host Hates to See Writers Ripped Off — Inspirational Indie Authors Podcast
- Nine Characteristics of a Successful Self-Publishing Mindset, With Sacha Black and Orna Ross: Foundational Self-Publishing Podcast
- What Does Brexit Mean for Indie Authors? Self-Publishing News Podcast with Dan Holloway and Howard Lovy
- Self-publishing News: Amazon faces ebook Price Fixing Suit
The New Publishing Standard
- Serbia’s publishers lead the West’s presence at Iran’s First Virtual Tehran International Book Fair
- Naver’s $600 million buy-out of Wattpad should be a wake-up call for western publishers who still don’t “get” online reading
- Draft2Digital drops a distribution outlet as 24Symbols admits to “cash stability issues”, but don’t write off 24Symbols just yet
- Netflix starts 2021 with 204 million subscribers. Publishers look the other way
- Bangladesh Amar Ekushey Boi Mela now set for late February-early March
The Digital Reader
Teleread: Ebooks, Publishing, Libraries, Tech
- Are publishers leaving billions on the table by fixating on well-heeled readers?
- Get 1925 lit classics for free: Fitzgerald, Dreiser, Hemingway, Woolf, Kafka, Huxley among authors
- How to read Kindle books, library books, free classics, and more on your TV via the $50 Chromecast
- How the well-connected Panorama Project could help give us a national library endowment
- Most ebook and audiobook users multitask: New study explores the details
Good E-Reader
Idea Logical | Mike Shatzkin
- Thoughts about what Covid and 2020 mean for book publishing
- Introducing ClimateChangeResources.org, organizing and contextualizing the challenge we all face
- The end of the general trade publishing concept
- What James Daunt did and did not say about Barnes & Noble’s future
- Both the supply chain and book marketing are forever changed by Coronavirus
Personanondata | Michael Cairns
The Future of Publishing | Thad McIlroy
American Booksellers Association
American Library Association
Library Journal
- Isabel Wilkerson and Bryan Washington Among the National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists | Book Pulse
- Coming Soon: Adaptation of 'Game of Thrones' Prequel| Book Pulse
- Poet Amanda Gorman Shines at Joe Biden Inauguration | Book Pulse
- Enslaved.org Uses Linked Open Data To Connect Enslavement Records
- Project MUSE Analyzes Attack on Capitol, ValChoice Extends Free Offer for Libraries, Kanopy Survey on Pandemic Video Streaming Trends
School Library Journal
- SLJ's Reviews of the 2021 Youth Media Awards
- "When You Trap a Tiger" Wins Newbery, "We Are Water Protectors" Earns Caldecott at 2021 YMAs
- 2021 Youth Media Awards Winners
- Use Reading Surveys to Celebrate Readers and Kickstart More Reading | Donalyn Miller
- Be Who You Needed When You Were Younger | Opinion
New York Times | Books
NPR | Books
- 'When You Trap A Tiger' And 'We Are Water Protectors' Win Top Children's Book Honors
- 13,140,000 Minutes: It's Been 25 Years Since The First Performance Of 'Rent'
- 'Just As I Am': Cicely Tyson Reflects On Her Long Career
- Learning To Love Bird Photography, Thanks To A 'Competitive Collaboration'
- The Trojan Women — And Many More — Speak Up In 'A Thousand Ships'
The Guardian | Books (US)
- Poem of the week: from Astrophil and Stella by Philip Sidney
- A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies review – a raw account of fatherhood
- Everything Must Change! review – the left's big beasts tackle a post-pandemic future
- Girl A: Abigail Dean on her shocking debut novel that's taking the book world by storm
- Bhanu Kapil wins TS Eliot poetry prize for 'radical' How to Wash a Heart
LitHub
The Guardian | Books (UK)
What’s New in Publishing
- How Forbes is harnessing the “Substackization of media” with a new paid newsletter platform
- Is news worth a lot or a little? Google and Facebook want to have it both ways
- Berlin-based news startup aims to shake-up the pan-European media market
- Budgets fall, but optimism rises: The Q4 2020 IPA Bellwether report
- Google agrees to pay French publishers for news, but threatens to exit Australia if media code becomes law
Editor & Publisher
- Opinion: In Pakistan, a Bizarre Arrest Shows How Media Freedom is Being Squeezed
- News Coverage of Violence in Protests is More Complicated Than It May Seem, New Research Shows
- FBI Failed to Follow Justice Department’s News Media Guidelines When Agents Questioned San Francisco Freelancer
- The Fight for COVID-19 Data, and What the Press Can do with It
- Why the Email Newsletter is 2020’s MVP Format
Folio
- Message to Our Folio: Community
- Face Up: The Best Magazine Covers From the Worst Year
- How Publishers Are Converting a Spring Traffic Surge Into Sustained Growth
- Hearst Magazines President Troy Young Resigns After NYT Report
- When Experience Counts: How Bustle Digital Group Is Future-Proofing Its Business
Mediagazer
- Sources: David Pecker, who retired, is still calling the shots and picking covers at National Enquirer and Globe, amid mass layoffs across A360 Media's titles (Lloyd Grove/The Daily Beast)
- NBC's Peacock signs a deal for exclusive streaming rights for WWE Network content in the US from March; source says the deal runs five years and is worth $1B+ (Joe Flint/Wall Street Journal)
- Apple launches Time to Walk for Apple Watch and Fitness+, offering 25 to 40 minute episodes of original audio from influential people, available today (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)
- Google details its work on a privacy-conscious substitute for cookies, called Federated Learning of Cohorts, with ~95% of conversions/dollar of cookie-based ads (Sara Fischer/Axios)
- NBCUniversal and Twitter announce a multi-year global content partnership to bring live, trending content, like sports highlights, to Twitter (Jessica Bursztynsky/CNBC)