Led by soaring sales in its consumer group, total revenue at Bloomsbury Publishing jumped 30% in the fiscal year ended February 29, 2024, while profits increased 57%, the U.K.-based company reported. Sales were £343 million (about $436 million at current exchanges rates), and earnings hit £49 million-both records for the publisher
Links of the week May 27 2024 (22)
Our new feature links to interesting blogs or articles posted online, which will help keep you up to date with what's going on in the book world:
3 June 2024
Sales in the consumer group jumped 49%, to £249.2 million. Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton made no secret of what was behind the stellar performance: the increasing demand for fantasy fiction, particularly in the romantasy subcategory, and especially works by Sarah J. Maas, who Newton called "a publishing phenomenon." Her most recent release, Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow, was the 16th Maas title published by Bloomsbury. Overall sales of her titles soared by 161% in Bloomsbury's most recent fiscal year..
A new survey by Oxford University Press (OUP) has suggested that more than three quarters (76%) of researchers currently use some form of AI tool in their research, despite only 8% trusting AI companies not to use their research data without permission
The poll of more than 2,000 researchers at different career stages and across different disciplines also found that 25% have concerns about AI reducing the need for critical thinking skills in research and that it could damage the development of these skills for the future. Almost half (46%) said that the institution they work for has no AI policy.
Of the AI tools used, machine translations and chatbots were cited as the most popular, followed by AI-powered search engines or research tools. Currently, according to the research, AI is most used for discovering, editing, and/or summarising existing research.
Many were optimistic, with more than a quarter (28%) saying the technology would "revolutionise how academic research is conducted and disseminated" and 27% "excited about the prospects of AI for academic research". Helping with data analysis and surfacing content were mentioned as ways it could potentially improve research outcomes, with more than a third believing that using AI in their work would save time.
Annual national day of celebration for 'national treasure' Michael Rosen to take place on Tuesday 12 November
The new national day was announced at the Hay Festival. Joining Michale Rosen on stage for a surprise performance of his rap of We're Going on a Bear Hunt, MC Grammar announced the plans to celebrate the author with his own day to the sold-out crowd. According to organisers: 'A national campaign to celebrate Michael for his astonishing impact and body of work is planned for participants in schools, nurseries, libraries, homes and beyond.
June sees me celebrating my 75th birthday. In the words of Marilyn Monroe, it makes a boy think.
First, why celebrate? Relief at having become that old? Fear it might be the last celebration? Showing off?
So what's happened in publishing in that three-quarters of a century? George Orwell's best- and still-selling 1984 was published in June 1949. It feels as relevant and important today as back then, although it's now out of copyright in English.
Secker & Warburg-the book's original publisher now nestled happily or unhappily within the giant Penguin Random House-will lose some of its perennial income to new editions from other publishers. Apart from the book's literary merits, it inspired the title of the first strategy document I wrote for Oxford University Press as described in My Back Pages.
I'll try to list the good, not-so-good, and dreadful bits of publishing seen through my probably dimming eyes. Of course for every good or bad item I mention there's probably a countervailing view. That in itself is an example of why the book trade is still such fun.
For first-time writers, it's harder than ever to break out. That poses an existential crisis for publishing-and disturbing limits on your access to exciting new voices.
On the Road was not Jack Kerouac's first novel, but you'd be forgiven for thinking as much.
Though 1957's On the Road is widely considered to be Kerouac's "debut," the author's first novel, The Town and the City, was in fact published in 1950. By all measures, it flopped. Between that book and the launch of On the Road, Kerouac started working with the literary agent Sterling Lord, who believed he could be the voice of his generation and laid the groundwork for his public reception as such. What, exactly, did Sterling Lord do to prime Kerouac's audience? From 1953 to 1957, he leveraged his own professional connections to place excerpts of On the Road in magazines like The Paris Review and New World Writing, building hype for the young novelist's next book. This is common practice today, but in the fifties, it was a novel solution to the name-recognition problem faced by unknown writers.
Around the world, it's common for fiction writers to moonlight as translators. Even in places where there's a robust network of governmental support for writers, translation work provides, at least in theory, a welcome injection of income. Since it's difficult to make a living writing novels or stories, collecting an extra source of funding is important. What better way to do that than by plying the same medium-language, storytelling-as you do in your art?
Unlike many of their counterparts elsewhere, most American novelists don't translate books. Here in the United States, with its constellation of MFA programs, many teach creative writing. Those who don't teach work full- or part-time jobs, sometimes more than one; unless you're independently wealthy, it's nearly impossible to make art and provide a decent life for yourself and your family. Like freelance writers, independent (non-academic) translators are part of the gig economy-a perilous balancing act between employment and under-employment. For translators whose primary income is derived from translation, it's a constant hustle. Even if you're signed to translate two books, say, you're always thinking about landing a third, because you can't let the well run dry. You want to know you've got a reliable income stream ahead of you. And with many translators increasingly losing jobs to generative AI, the hustle is even more acute today.
The bestselling author discusses his newest book, featuring sports agent turned lawyer, Myron Bolitar.
Sometimes authors mine their own hallowed grounds, looking to the past in search of today's treasures.
In that spirit, #1 New York Times bestselling wordsmith Harlan Coben presents the long-awaited return of one of his most beloved characters in Think Twice (May 14, 2024; Grand Central).
Former sports agent turned lawyer Myron Bolitar-who investigates crimes with his billionaire best friend, Windsor Horne Lockwood III (better known as "Win")-hasn't graced the pages of a book since 2016. With the series currently in development for television, it would seem an opportune moment for his revival. But the truth isn't nearly as calculated as the timing might suggest.
"I just kind of missed Myron," Coben-who usually abides by the notion that premise precedes player-says. "I usually start with an idea ... and then I ask myself: ‘Who tells the story?'"
Independent booksellers continued to expand in 2023, with more than 200 new stores opening | AP News
Three years ago, Erin Decker was a middle school librarian in Kissimmee, Florida, increasingly frustrated by the state's book bans and worried that she couldn't make a difference remaining in her job.
So, she and fellow librarian Tania Galiñanes thought of a way to fight back.
"We just put our heads together and decided a bookstore would help make sure students could get to books that were being pulled from shelves," says Decker, whose White Rose Books & More opened last fall in Kissimmee. The store is named for a resistance group in Nazi Germany and features a section - ringed by yellow "caution" tape - dedicated to such banned works as Maia Kabobe's "Gender Queer," Jonathan Evison's "Lawn Boy" and John Green's "Looking for Alaska."
White Rose Books is part of the ever-expanding and diversifying world of independent bookstores. Even as industry sales were slow in 2023, membership in the American Booksellers Association continued its years-long revival. It now stands at 2,433, more than 200 over the previous year and nearly double since 2016. Around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years, according to the ABA.
Why are some authors and books iconic? Why do other authors and books tank? It's tempting to say that William Shakespeare is uniquely talented, and so is Stephen King. But, of course, there are plenty of amazing writers out there that you haven't heard of them.
For poets, novelists, musicians, actors, and others, talent is not enough. Social influences of one or another kind are crucial. In extreme cases, someone needs to start a kind of mania, or something close to it, and then watch the dominos fall. Successful writers usually depend on some kind of lightning strike. Ecclesiastes gets it right: "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
All this is a bit abstract. For a vivid illustration, consider Oprah Winfrey's Book Club, which initially ran from September 1996 to April 2002. You may recall that in that period, Winfrey was extraordinarily famous, with a TV talk show that was watched by millions of viewers. She was also trusted and admired. During the relevant period, she made forty-eight book recommendations.
Caleb Carr, the scarred and gifted son of founding Beat Lucien Carr who endured a traumatizing childhood and became a bestselling novelist, accomplished military historian and late-life memoirist of his devoted cat, Masha, has died at 68.
"Caleb lived his writing life valiantly, with works of politics, history and sociology, but most astonishingly for this historian, with wildly entertaining works of fiction," Carr's editor, Joshua Kendall, said in a statement.
A native of Manhattan, Caleb Carr was born into literary and cultural history. Lucien Carr, along with Columbia University classmates Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, helped launch the Beat movement, an early and prominent force in the post-World War II era for improvisation and non-conformity - on and off the page. Kerouac, Ginsberg and such fellow Beats as William Burroughs and Herbert Huncke were frequent visitors to the Carr apartment, where Caleb Carr remembered gatherings that were enriching, bewildering and, at times, terrifying.
For decades, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) served as a champion for the mostly female authors of one of the country's most popular - and denigrated - genres of fiction.
But even as sales of romance novels have boomed in recent years, RWA has struggled, reporting that its membership has declined 80% amid bitter internal battles over racism within publishing, and within the group itself.
On Wednesday, the RWA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing millions of dollars it owes in contracts with conference centers for hotel rooms its shrinking membership can no longer fill. Since 2019, the RWA's membership has decreased from 10,000 people to roughly 2,000, according to court records.
In bankruptcy filings, RWA president Mary Ann Jock attributed the loss of the first 7,000 members to "disputes concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues between some members of a prior RWA board and others in the larger romance writing community", and said the group lost additional members as its annual conferences were cancelled during the pandemic.
The annual "What Kids Are Reading Report" has shown a drop of 4.4% in the number of books being read by children with "reading decline particularly acute in secondary schools".
For the last 16 years, the report has tracked the book-reading habits of the nation's pupils, and this is the first time, outside of the first year of the pandemic, there has been a decline in the number of books read since research began in 2008.
Around 1.2 million pupils between years one and 11 across the UK and Ireland participated in the study run by edtech provider, Renaissance. Overall 26,114,262 books were read by 1,273,795 pupils in the 2022-2023 academic year compared to 27,265,657 by 1,282,647 pupils in the previous academic year, representing a decline of 4.4%.
The downturn in book reading echoes similar findings in declining reading attainment shown in longitudinal research on post-pandemic learning recovery from Renaissance and the Educational Policy Institute (EPI).
A missile strike at a Ukrainian printer Factor-Druk has led to the deaths of seven employees, 22 people being injured, and the halting of all work at "one of the largest industrial printing facilities in eastern Europe".
The bombing in Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv took place last Thursday (23rd May) and now Factor-Druk and its subsidiary publisher Vivat are appealing for support from colleagues across the world.
Tatiana Grinyuk, chief executive officer at Factor-Druk, wrote a letter circulated to UK clients and contacts: "On the morning of 23rd Мау Russian rockets hit the production premises of the Factor-Druk printing соmраnу. Seven еmрlоуееs wеrе killed and 22 people received injuries of varying degrees as а result of the impact. The rocket hit in the middle of the workshop, out of four thousand square meters of production аrеа mоrе than а thousand were destroyed, unique equipment was damaged, mоrе than 50,000 printed books were destroyed, all losses amounting to €4,970,000."
Grinyuk added: "The printing house continued to operate during wartime. Factor-Druk has been producing books fоr more than 30 Ukrainian publishers, which is аbоut а third of the total пumbеr of books in Ukraine."
At the US Book Show the energy was palpable; panels were sharper, more diverse, more geared to practical applications; and speakers were good, with costs, discoverability and AI under discussion.
Imagine UK publishing without the London Book Fair. Since 2020, the US, and New York-which thinks it's at the centre of everything-have had no Book Expo. Starting in 2021, Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/ (PW) stepped up virtually, and last year in hybrid form over several days, to gather at least some of the clan. Those efforts were appreciated, but also criticised. This time around-the event took place on 22nd May 2024-we saw something better.
A thousand registered, and more than 800 attended the fourth iteration of PW's US Book Show, held in conjunction with the Association of American Literary Agents in person at New York University and packed into a single day. The show responded to hunger for an in-person event that would include publishers, editors, and agents who are starting out, as well as those more established. The energy was palpable; panels were sharper, more diverse, more geared to practical applications; and speakers were good, ranging from Simon & Schuster c.e.o. Jonathan Karp to Spotify Audiobooks vice president Owen Smith.
"Every family has a child who was born to remember the family stories, and I was that child."
Be warned that if you ever invite me for a dinner party, I'll be taking notes about your family gossip. Not for any malicious reasons, and I won't drop any names, but because I've always been enthralled with the stories behind the stories-the snippets of behavior so out of the ordinary that it's worth repeating. For decades.
My relatives always rehashed bits of family lore when we were together for celebrations and holidays. I'm not sure if it's because they couldn't fathom why some of our antecedents made the choices they did, or if some of the stories were just too juicy not to share with the next generation.
That interest is shared by so many-pop culture is full of books and tv shows that zero in on how one decision can alter the future of everyone after. And when those stories are about your family, it provides a lot of fodder for a would-be novelist.
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