S&S to publish Pence’s memoir (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Publisher McGraw Hill is under fire for charging its freelancers a 2.2% “administrative” fee just to get paid. This is another form of wage theft and it needs to stop. Freelance isn’t free.

Simon & Schuster will publish former Vice President Mike Pence’s memoir, which will “address the many pivotal moments of the administration, from the time he was selected to run as Vice President through Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021.”

In other books and politics news, even as New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration was reportedly obscuring COVID deaths in nursing homes, they were shopping a book proposal about his handling of the COVID crisis that ended up netting more than $4 million. Yeesh.

Author David Gaughran posted an exhaustive guide on how to self-publish a book! Tons and tons of tons of great advice in this post, highly recommend.

And over at Jane Friedman’s blog, Barbara Linn Probst has a post on what authors need to know about hybrid publishing, including some good questions to answer about hybrid publishers as you’re researching them.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman
2. The Red Book by James Patterson and David Ellis
3. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson
2. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
3. The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone
4. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
5. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Young adult hardcover:

1. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
2. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
3. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
4. Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare
5. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
2. The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
3. Wow in the World by Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz
4. Becoming: Adapted for Young Readers by Michelle Obama
5. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How to write adult characters in children’s books
• Don’t make your comps too broad (query critique)

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally, there’s a terrific new anthology out featuring the late First Nations singer/songwriter Willie Dunn. Highly, highly recommend.

Have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my online classes (NEW!), my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.

And if you like this post: subscribe to my newsletter!

Photo: Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Follow me on Instagram!