This week! Books!
Writers Guild of America, representing screen and TV writers, initiated a strike this week for the first time since a 2007 shutdown that lasted 100 days. Despite the boom of streaming service content, inflation-adjusted median pay has declined 23%, and writers also have their eye on competition from artificial intelligence.
In other news, first the wackos came for the books. Now they’re coming for the libraries.
In other “I will judge you” news, Anna Kodé writes about a new trend in interior design: fake books.
Advances and royalties and royalty statements are all pretty confusing stuff, and Laura Portwood-Stacer chatted with agent Kate McKean to go over Laura’s royalty statement. Real numbers! Reserves against returns! Lots of good info.
Even this former Northern Californian must admit that Los Angeles is one of our great literary cities. The Los Angeles Times has a fantastic new feature called The Ultimate LA Bookshelf, which includes the 26 best LA books of all time, Steph Cha on Raymond Chandler, and David Kipen on forgotten books.
Erin Bowman talks about how things have changed for authors in recent publishing history, particularly with exclusive products and special editions.
And Motoko Rich writes about the enduring power of Tale of Genji–considered by many to be the world’s first novel–continues to resonate over a thousand years later.
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:
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- Simply Lies by David Baldacci
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
- The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- The Wager by David Grann
- Outlive by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford
- The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
Young adult hardcover:
- Five Survive by Holly Jackson
- Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
- Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken
- The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
- Lightlark by Alex Aster
Middle grade hardcover:
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Nic Blake and the Remarkables by Angie Thomas
- Odder by Katherine Applegate
- Big Tree by Brian Selznick
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
- Characters need to prioritize coherently
- Try not to switch POVs midstream in a query (query critique)
Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:
And keep up with the discussion in all the places!
And finally, I really enjoyed this touching and inspiring profile of Jeanne Manford, who changed the world by publicly loving her gay son.
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, my guide to writing a novel, and my guide to publishing a book.
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