The Hay and Edinburgh festivals ended their relationships with Baillie Gifford because participating writers threatened to withdraw unless the firm divested from fossil fuels and any company doing business in Israel. Other book festivals followed suit, and Baillie Gifford "read the room" and withdrew entirely. - The Guardian
Robert Thompson, CEO of HarperCollins parent company News Corp, has repeatedly called Spotify a game changer for the audiobook market; the 14% rise in audiobook sales at the publisher in its most recent financial quarter, which accounted for about half of HC's digital revenue, seemingly proving his point. - Publishers Weekly
Beginning in January 2025, the company will stop stocking books regularly, and will instead sell them only during the holiday shopping period, from September through December. - The New York Times
"The zine — that unruly riff on the glossy magazine, often handmade, always self-published — has long been associated with revolution. DIY dabblers and political thought guerrillas, superfan scenesters and couriers of counterculture have all found a home (therein). … Small presses, indeed, can turn over heavy pages of history. Let’s rifle through them." - Quartz
The layoffs, which the company described as part of a corporate restructuring, come as major publishing companies have been buffeted by sluggish print sales and rising supply chain costs, and have struggled to find new ways to get books in front of customers who have migrated online. - The New York Times
Following the decisions by the Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival, both prompted by withdrawals and boycott threats by participating writers, the Borders Book Festival and Cheltenham Literature Festival have cut ties with the financial firm, Cheltenham at Baillie Gifford's suggestion. - The Guardian
"The former staffers said they offered their resignation due to what they described as a 'heartbreaking' work culture plagued by increasingly low morale over the past year, but they said their four-week notice was rejected and they were locked out of their emails by the afternoon." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The creator of Worldle is vowing to fight back on the grounds that there are many other games with similar titles. “There's a whole industry of LE games,” he told the BBC. “Wordle is about words, Worldle is about the world, Flaggle is about flags," he pointed out. The New York Times disagrees. - BBC
"The most avid audiobook listeners consumed an average of 6.8 titles in 2023, the survey found, marking an increase from 6.3 in 2022. Among a broader survey group, which included those who had ever listened to an audiobook, the average number of audiobooks listened to last year was 4.8." - Publishers Weekly
"Amanda Jones vividly remembers the time she received her first death threat. … Jones lost 50 pounds, took medical leave from work and watched in disbelief as chunks of her hair started to fall out. Knowing something had to change in the spring of 2023, she filed a lawsuit and wrote her book." - The Guardian
That publishing decision is not being met with glee in either the U.S. or Canada. “‘It's hard to simultaneously draw the ire of black people, white people, conservatives, AND liberals… But I think you've just done it,’ rapper and podcaster Zuby replied on X.” - CBC
“I am here on my knees begging the publishing industry not only to publish books for younger teenagers, but to create a new publishing category that encompasses that unrecognized in-between age.” - School Library Journal
Paperback, audiobook, hardcover, or e-book: Which wins as least bad for the environment? Tough call, and a complicated one. Even "certain fonts can be more climate-friendly by using less ink and less paper.” - NPR
"Publications hope that by willingly opening their archives to ChatGPT, they’ll receive attribution, referrals, and general pride of place in the algorithm’s recommendation features. Which may be something of a Faustian bargain, considering that generative AI tools already scrub those archives without asking permission." - LitHub
When a fire gutted the bookstore Yu & Me, which founder Lucy Yu opened in New York’s Chinatown about 21 months into the pandemic - and a spate of anti-Asian violence - Yu had no idea how ridiculously much work was ahead. - The New York Times
