This week! Books!
First up, many of us have desired Twitter alternatives following a certain awful billionaire’s ill-fated acquisition, and I’m now up and running on Threads at @nathanbransford and Bluesky at @nathanbransford.blsky.social. I’ll be posting links to the blog in those places going forward so please follow me there! I’ll also still post links to Twitter for the time being, but I’m probably not long for Musk’s personal dystopia.
Now then, I saved up a whole lot of links over the past few weeks, so let’s get to it!
I’ve been long frustrated with the toxic reviewing culture and “community” Goodreads has fostered/neglected over the years, and Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris recently delved into the way “review bombing” can tank a book before it’s even published and no one has read it. Lincoln Michel points out that Goodreads has no incentive to change because engagement is good for their bottom line, and I would tend to agree. This has been going on for years and years and they haven’t done anything about it.
TikTok has had a massive impact on the publishing industry, propelling authors like Colleen Hoover to mega-bestsellerdom, and their parent company ByteDance has apparently taken note as they are launching a dedicated book publishing company.
A residential fire recently devastated indie bookstore Yu & Me Books in NYC, please consider donating to the GoFundMe to help them bounce back!
Many of us wouldn’t even be here talking about books if it weren’t for the tremendous impact that LeVar Burton’s “Reading Rainbow” had on our lives. Jonathan Taylor looks back at its precarious first season and its lasting impact on children’s television.
Less than shocking news: Amazon now has an A.I. e-book spam problem.
In writing advice news, agent Kate McKean has some important advice on how to read an author/agency agreement, and Writer Beware has a new scam to watch out for: fake companies using Amazon trademarks.
And finally, RIP to Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, who passed away at 94.
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:
- Too Late by Colleen Hoover
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
- The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- The Wager by David Grann
- Outlive by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- Unbroken Bonds of Battle by Johnny Joey Jones
Young adult hardcover:
- Solitaire by Alice Oseman
- Five Survive by Holly Jackson
- Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
- The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
Middle grade hardcover:
- The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
- Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars by Steven Rinella with Brody Henderson
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
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, after catching up with the TV show “The Bear” this week, I particularly enjoyed my friend Laura Warrell’s awesome article about what seeing a strong, ambitious, young Black woman on TV meant to her.
Have a great weekend!
Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
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Neil Larkins says
Making the connection: How long before the AI generated e-books on Amazon flood the TikTok publishing site?
My guess: Faster than it took me to write this.
Neil Larkins says
This just came to me: Many of those will be TikTok’s own AI books.