In this week’s issue, a profile of how Barnes & Noble plans to survive the future, an interactive op/ed on why the publishing industry remains so white, Barack Obama on writing books and more…

Barnes & Noble Plots Renewal
The Wall Street Journal
The struggling bookseller has laid off once-powerful managers and overturned relationships with publishers in favor of a more local approach

Donald Trump Stands Up for Legal Right to Retweet a Meme
Hollywood Reporter Esq.
In his last days in office, the president is testing a law recently passed in New York to protect the First Amendment from frivolous litigation.

Print Unit Sales Soared Last Week
Publishers Weekly
Holiday book-buying kicked into high gear last week, with unit sales of print books jumping 44.3% over the week ended November 29, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

Barack Obama On Reading, Writing and Radical Empathy
New York Times
Former President Obama invited authors and historians to the White House and had already published a best-selling memoir. That didn’t make writing his latest book, A Promised Land, any less of a grind.

The Talented Ms. Calloway
Los Angeles Review of Books
On Caroline Calloway, the gig economy, self-publishing and the publishing of one’s self.

Why is Publishing So White?
New York Times
Using the hashtag #PublishingPaidMe, writers have begun to share their advances on Twitter with the goal of exposing racial pay disparities in publishing.

2020 Children’s and Teen Choice Book Award Winners Announced
Publishers Weekly
Every Child a Reader, the charitable arm of the Children’s Book Council, has revealed the winners and honorees of its 13th annual Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards—the only national book awards selected exclusively by young readers.