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RWA goes bankrupt (This week in books)

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This week! Books!

The implosion of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) in the wake of a racism controversy several years ago continues, as the organization filed for bankruptcy after membership dropped from 10,000 to 2,000 in the past few years. As recently as 2015, RWA nominated a book for a “Rita” award (their annual prizes) that featured a Jewish woman falling in love with a Nazi concentration camp guard, and was pressured to rescind an award in 2021 for a book with a love interest who took part in the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Keila Shaheen’s self-published, largely TikTok-driven phenomenon The Shadow Work Journal has now sold over a million copies, and she’s agreed to a unique five-book deal with Simon & Schuster that includes a seven figure advance and a 50/50 profit share.

If this news has you exasperated at the whims of our algorithmically and increasingly A.I.-determined culture, I shall direct you to this epic Chuck Wendig rant.

And for a more exhaustive look at the challenges publishers are having breaking out debut titles in a fractured media landscape, Kate Dwyer has a rundown, including this trifecta cited by an editor at a major publisher:

According to an editor at a venerable publishing imprint, debut novelists need three key publicity achievements to “break out”: one, a major book club; two, a boost from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indie Next, and/or Book of the Month; and three, a major profile.

Oh is that all… (Publicist Kathleen Schmidt pushes back on some of these claims.)

For the “if it works it works” files, Lincoln Michel has a roundup of novels with very unusual forms.

And in writing advice news, I really enjoyed this newsletter by Dan Blank where he reflects the destruction of historic buildings and the fleeting nature of creation, and Erin Bowman has some good advice if you’re considering changing genres.

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. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
  2. Mind Games by Nora Roberts
  3. The Women by Kristin Hannah
  4. Funny Story by Emily Henry
  5. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. What This Comedian Said Will Shock You by Bill Maher
  2. The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
  3. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
  4. The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey
  5. Once Upon a Time by Elizabeth Beller

Young adult hardcover:

  1. Powerless by Lauren Roberts
  2. Powerful by Lauren Roberts
  3. The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
  4. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
  5. Nightbane by Alex Aster

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  2. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
  3. The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum by by Lisa Yee, illustrated by Dan Santat
  4. Heroes by Alan Gratz
  5. Odder by Katherine Applegate

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, while NFTs have largely been ushered off the stage of public consciousness, they brought together the disparate worlds of tech, art, and finance in new and disturbing ways. I enjoyed this excerpt from Zachary Small’s forthcoming book on the rise and fall (and rise again?) of crypto.

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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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shayne Huxtable says

    RWA is restructuring their annual conference. They aren’t going bankrupt. In 2018 they contracted a large hotel chain, for 10 years out, to hold their annual conference. The implosion happened around August 2019 and the membership fell off after that. They now need to get out of that 10 year contract. Their annual conference is around 200 members a year whereas it was 2000. The hotel didn’t want to let RWA out of their contract so as a result they have restructured for the annual conference only. I hope this is helpful.

  3. Shayne Huxtable says

    Not the whole organization. I attended the RWA board/townhall last night. RWA’s attorney explained it to us. The organization is ok, they are restructuring only the hotel contract.

    • bokai says

      The article literally says “On Wednesday, the RWA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.”

      Bankruptcy does not mean that the RWA is folding and will no longer exist. What the attorney probably explained to you is what the bankruptcy means, not that it isn’t happening.

  4. Shayne Huxtable says

    Not the entire organization. I attended the RWA board/townhall meeting last night and the attorney said the reorganization was only for the hotel contract. She didn’t say that RWA has declared bankruptcy, she made that really clear. She said RWA is going forward. That’s my understanding of what we were told.