This week! Books! Sad news this week as Norman Juster, the author of one of the most beloved and influential children’s books of all time, The Phantom Tollbooth, passed away at the age of 91. Smithsonian has a fascinating adaptation of Angus Fletcher’s new book, which breaks down eight important literary innovations and the neuroscience […]
Amazon
Jeff Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon (This week in books)
This week! Books! Upstart online bookseller Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon, ceding the spot to Andy Jessy, who led Amazon Web Services. Bezos will serve as Executive Chairman, and he’s still expected to stay involved in Amazon’s future. More and more of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are in the […]
Matthew Salesses challenges assumptions about writing craft (This week in books)
This week! Books! We had a peaceful and inspiring inauguration day, and 22-year-old Youth Poet Laurette Amanda Gorman was a breakout star with her incredible poem “The Hill We Climb.” Penguin Random House is rushing to publish a hardcover edition the poem, which is already available for pre-sale. Speaking of politics, Ibram X. Kendi published […]
The Mega 1 + Big 3 era arrives (This week in books)
This week! Books! Huge news dropped before Thanksgiving that ViacomCBS has agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House’s Berteslmann. Assuming the deal survives antitrust scrutiny, it would essentially turn the Big 5 into one mega-publisher (whatever Penguin Random House + S&S ends up being called) and three major publishers (HarperCollins, Macmillan, and […]
Supply issues will disrupt the fall season (This week in books)
This week! Books! First up, I don’t usually do this but I really want to make sure you saw my post on head jumping from Monday, which is one of the most important posts I’ve written in a long, long time. Please please read it, take it to heart, and stamp out head jumping wherever […]
Marketing tips for reaching your first readers from David Gaughran
It’s very daunting to launch a book in the current climate, but there are opportunities as well. I reached out to one of my favorite book marketing experts, David Gaughran, to talk about how authors can utilize digital ads to reach their first readers, the importance of Amazon metadata, the importance of your newsletter, and […]
