Industry & Advocacy News
June 12, 2020
Our roundup of key news affecting authors. In this edition: Authors take action on racism and pay disparity, bookstores and libraries look toward reopening, and more…
Workers Across Book Business Take Collective Action Against RacismPublishers Weekly“Participants will donate one day’s pay to one of a number of fundraisers rounded up by the group in a Google spreadsheet and are asked to make the donation a monthly commitment, in addition to taking further action.”
Roxane Gay and Other Authors Reveal Salary Disparities with #PublishingPaidMe HashtagVultureThe movement “aims to hold publishing houses accountable for why black authors typically don’t receive the same advances as their white peers.”
Black U.S. Authors Top New York Times Bestseller List as Protests ContinueThe Guardian“Black American authors, including Michelle Alexander and Ijeoma Oluo, have surged to the top of the latest New York Times’ bestseller list, marking the first time the top 10 entries on the ‘combined print and ebook non-fiction list’ are primarily titles that focus on race issues in the US.”
Libraries Strive to Stay ‘Community Living Rooms’ as They ReopenThe New York Times“These are community hubs where parents bring their toddlers for story time, where people come to use the computer, where book groups meet. Now all of that has to be rethought.”
New York Times Editorial Page Editor James Bennet Resigns After Uproar over Cotton Op-EdThe Washington Post“The announcement comes three days after Bennet acknowledged that he had not read, before publication, a controversial op-ed from Sen. Tom Cotton.”
Poetry Foundation Leaders Resign After Criticism of Their Response to ProtestsNPR“This comes days after an open letter written by 30 poets, and signed by over a thousand more, criticized the foundation’s response to the police killing of George Floyd, calling it ‘worse than the bare minimum.’”
NBCC Board Members Resign over Internal EmailPublishers Lunch“National Book Critics Circle board member Hope Wabuke resigned on Thursday, over remarks made by a longtime board member and former board president in an email thread, discussing objections to an anti-racism statement that was in draft form from an NBCC working committee.”
AAP April Report Shows Lower Trade Shipments and Returns, Only Modest Ebook Sales RisePublishers Lunch“The AAP’s monthly StatShot report for April provides some of the first concrete evidence of the effect of COVID-19 shutdowns on book publishing dollar sales.”
Bolton Plans to Move Forward with Book Despite New White House Warning That It Contains Classified MaterialThe Washington Post“Trump wants to block Bolton’s book, claiming most conversations are classified.”
NYC Booksellers Enter Phase 1 of Reopening CautiouslyShelf Awareness“The city’s indie booksellers are currently exploring their options.”
