Trump threatens Penguin Random House (This week in books)

This week books!

In a potential harbinger of what’s to come, Donald Trump threatened the New York Times and Penguin Random House with a demand for $10 billion in damages over articles and books critical of Trump.

The latest exodus from the X formerly known as Twitter continues apace (including German anti-fascist soccer club St. Pauli) and many are noticing that Bluesky seems to have the juice.

I grudgingly returned to Twitter for election news, but I plan to scale back my time there, if I still post there entirely. Please follow me on Bluesky, where I’ll likely be spending the bulk of my (pretty limited these days) social media time.

Congrats to author Samantha Harvey, whose novel Orbital won the Booker Prize.

Publicist Kathleen Schmidt has a great post on what publishing can learn from the presidential election, including this crucial quote: “You can no longer market to the masses. Instead, you must identify your exact audience and decide the best way to reach them.”

Workers are rallying at the flagship Barnes & Noble to press the company to accept a contract by the end of the year.

A new publisher called Under the BQE launched at the Brooklyn Book Fair with a unique model: each year’s list is acquired by the previous year’s authors, so you agree to be both an author and an acquisitions editor. Well okay then! Points for originality, if perhaps underrating the learning curve involved in being a good acquisitions editor.

Many thanks to author Erin Bowman for sharing a super real post about facing multiple projects crashing on the rocky shores of traditional publishing.

And Suzy Vadori has a good post on four things that make your novel boring.

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. Hexed by Emily McIntire
2. Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage
3. The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
4. In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child
5. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Melania by Melania Trump
2. Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey
3. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
4. War by Bob Woodward
5. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

Young adult hardcover:

1. A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
2. Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez
3. If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin
4. Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter
5. Lightlark by Alex Aster

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
2. The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon
3. The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen
4. The Bletchey Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
5. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids

This week on the blog

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

• Writers point the way forward
• Do you write chronologically or bounce around?

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Threads and Bluesky
• Follow my page on Facebook
• Join the Facebook Group
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally, legendary Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura is set for his 40th season at age 57. And he’s not playing in a rec league, he’s in Japanese soccer’s 4th tier on loan from 2nd tier side Yokohama FC. Inspiring stuff.

Have a great weekend!

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