firstwriter.com's database of book publishers includes details of 2,050 English language publishers that don't charge authors any fees for publishing their books. The database is continually updated: there have been 46 listings added or updated in the last month. With over a dozen different ways to narrow your search you can find the right publisher for your book, fast.
News
W H Smith has unveiled its Books of the Year, with the retailer recognising two children's books for the first time.
In recognition of the "diverse choice across children’s publishing and the importance it plays in supporting literacy and engagement in young readers", W H Smith has chosen both bestselling rhyming read-aloud picture book Oi Puppies! (Hodder Children's Books) by Kes Gray and Jim Field, and the inclusive Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention (Simon & Schuster Children's UK) by Pip Jones and Sara Ogilvie as its Children's Books of the Year.
Beth O'Leary's debut novel The Flatshare (Quercus), which has sold 15,362 copies through TCM, has been named Fiction Book of the Year. W H Smith said the "brilliant rom-com" story of Tiffy and Leon who share a flat but have never met is "one of the most uplifting debuts of 2019".
The publishing industry has gone through several transformations since the internet arrived with the introduction of e-readers, digital and audio books and the growth of book sales online. While this has crippled some companies who did not move with all the innovation, Borders Books for one, it has opened up new opportunities for the rising segment of self-publishing.
An annual report form the Association of American Publishers indicated that the U.S. book publishing industry generated an estimated $26.23 billion in net revenue for 2017, representing 2.72 billion books. While this revenue is fairly flat, year over year, self publishing is rapidly rising with e-books, print on demand and audiobooks bringing in billions of U.S. dollars in revenue each year. According to the latest report from ProQuest affiliate Bowker, self-publishing grew at a rate of more than 28% in 2017. The total number of self-published titles grew from 786,935 to 1,009,188, surpassing the million mark for the first time.
BookLife, Publishers Weekly's website and monthly supplement dedicated to self-publishing, has launched BookLife Reviews, a paid reviews service open exclusively to self-published authors.
BookLife Reviews will be written by Publishers Weekly reviewers, but remain distinct from Publishers Weekly reviews. The service is designed to help self-published authors reach readers by providing them with credible and reliable assessments of their work from reviewers with expertise in their genres and styles.
E-book revenues continue to decrease for many American publishers. According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), which reports on net revenue based on figures from 1,360 publishers, net e-book revenues for trade books were down 7.3% in August compared to August of 2018. (Net revenues in trade were down 3.6% overall.)
While net revenues were $93 million last August, they came in at $86.3 million this year. The format, however, still generates the third-most revenue–though it trails paperback and mass market ($243.1 million) and hardback ($230.7 million) revenues substantially.
Articles
Never judge a book by its cover. So the saying goes, yet consumers do it all the time. Every publisher and bookseller knows that covers sell books. But do consumers also form expectations from looking at the cover? Well, based on the results of some of the initial reader analytics data at Jellybooks, we think they do.
Not so long ago, writing and publishing your own book was just a pipe dream for many of us.
It wasn’t so much getting the words down on paper which was putting us off.
It was more the expense of either finding an agent and a publisher or paying through the nose to print dozens of copies yourself which might have ended up unsold and gathering dust in the garage.
But that is resoundingly no longer the case. Digital publishing and online booksellers such as Amazon have been an absolute game-changer.
Emmanuel Nataf has a simple mission: “I want more people to share their ideas with the world.”
That’s why three years ago, the Frenchman moved to London and co-founded Reedsy, a curated marketplace for authors to find publishing professionals to help bring their book to life. While Paris may have Station F now, Nataf saw opportunity in the British capital thanks to the concentration of publishers, writers, and investors.
When Simon & Schuster announced in late February that it is canceling Milo Yiannopoulos’s book, Dangerous, many in the publishing industry reacted with a sigh of relief. The six-figure book deal that the right-wing provocateur landed at Threshold Editions, S&S’s conservative imprint, late last year caused a wave of criticism—from various factions of the media, the public, and the house’s own authors. And, though it’s still unclear what ultimately motivated the publisher to yank the book, the fervor that the alt-right bad boy’s deal caused put some on alert. Could other publishers be pressured into canceling books by controversial conservatives? Does the industry have a double standard for authors on the right? Does it matter?
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