The publishing sky is falling again (This week in books)

This week! Books!

Dad Books Are a Dying Breed – Pamela Paul and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal / Are hardback books things of ‘great beauty’ or a dying art? – Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley and David Smith, The BBC – As I like to say, the sky has been falling in publishing every year for the last twenty years. In this week’s alarmist headlines, the WSJ extrapolates from a decline in nonfiction sales over the last few years to declare “dad books” dead. The slide is being accelerated by a 19% decline in politics and current events books (I have some theories…), but industry veterans worry podcasts are eating into sales. Meanwhile, a columnist in the UK declared the end of hardcover books because they’re too expensive, which the BBC then dove into.

Writing & Publishing Awards Have Difficult Decisions to Make Regarding AI – Jane Friedman – In the wake of the Granta A.I. controversy, industry expert Jane Friedman has a common-sense reckoning with the responsibility writing awards have to police A.I. usage, and ends up in a similar place as me. While decision-makers should educate themselves on what A.I.-generated writing typically looks like, good luck “proving” A.I. usage, and perhaps we should instead simply focus on the output, not the process.

Nonfiction Book Publishers Aren’t Remotely Ready for AI – Charlotte Klein, New York Magazine – And speaking of, in the wake of the controversy surrounding Steven Rosenbaum’s The Future of Truth: How AI Reshapes Reality including A.I.-hallucinated quotes, Charlotte Klein argues that when nonfiction publishers don’t even fact-check their books, they’re not remotely prepared for the A.I. wave.

What’s Missing from Belle Burden’s “Strangers” – Jessica Winter, The New Yorker – Did Belle Burden misrepresent the extent of her financial hardship in her divorce memoir? Jessica Winter argues her bestseller Strangers wasn’t transparent about her generational wealth. Social media backlash argued she referenced her privilege, then backlash to the backlash wondered why people instinctually carry water for the rich. And so the discourse turns…

Why Michael Crichton’s Best Novel Failed as a Movie – Ian Mackenzie, Lit Hub – For elder millennials like me, Michael Crichton’s Sphere was the apotheosis of the adult novels we were reading as impressionable teenagers. Ian Mackenzie looks back at the novel and its film adaptation.

The Rise of the Sensitivity Reader – Kyle Paoletta, The Nation – A review of a new book on the rise of sensitivity readers and what it says about the contradictions within a disproportionately rich, white industry assuming moral authority over what gets published, a responsibility that then gets shunted onto sensitivity readers. Though what’s the real harm in ensuring a book doesn’t unintentionally offend groups it’s going to be marketed to?

Why Is TikTok in This Book From 2006? – Angelina Mazza, New York Times – The publishing industry has quietly been revising reprints with updated cultural references for decades, a somewhat bewildering practice that has become newly controversial when someone noticed a reference to TikTok in a reprint of Pretty Little Liars, which was published in 2006. It’s particularly common in middle grade, as publishers argue confusing references might stop young readers in their tracks. What say you?

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 Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker
2. Ironwood by Michael Connelly
3. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
4. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
5. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Liar’s Kingdom by Andrew Weissmann
2. Strangers by Belle Burden
3. Suicidal Empathy by Gad Saad
4. This Is Me by Hayden Panettiere
5. How to Rule the World by Theo Baker

Young adult hardcover:

1. Release Me by Tahereh Mafi
2. The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss
3. Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
4. Us Dark Few by Alexis Patton
5. The Thorn Queen by Sasha Peyton Smith

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
2. Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate
3. KPop Demon Hunters by Jessica Yoon
4. Unsettling Salad! by Aaron Reynolds
5. Growing Home by Beth Ferry

This week on the blog

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

• How to research a literary agent
• Bransforums are closing. What’s next?

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Bluesky and Threads
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally:

Why Is It So Hard to Be Ordinary? – Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker – Anyone writing books and then seeking publishing has probably wondered why simply having fun writing doesn’t feel like enough. Joshua Rothman grapples with the universal pressure to be extraordinary.

Have a great weekend!

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