Our roundup of key news affecting authors. In this edition: Fighting pay disparity in publishing, the legal battle of John Bolton’s book continues, and more…

Want to Fix the Racial Disparity in Book Advances? Pay Assistants More
Los Angeles Times
“Employers should be more aggressive about retaining those more diverse entry-level employees so they get a chance to advance into positions of real power, at which point their enthusiastic raves will get attention too.”

Trump Administration Sues to Try to Delay Publication of Bolton’s Book
The New York Times
“Mr. Trump accused Mr. Bolton of violating policies on classified information by moving ahead with the book.”

Bolton Accuses Trump Administration of Seeking to Suppress His Book
Publishers Weekly
“‘If the First Amendment stands for anything, it is that the Government does not have the power to clasp its hand over the mouth of a citizen attempting to speak on a matter of great public import,’ Bolton’s filing states.”

Can #BlackoutBestsellerList Be the reckoning the Publishing Industry Needs?
The Guardian
“The social media campaign could force publishers to focus on black writers by encouraging readers to buy their books.”

Poetry Foundation Responds to Criticism, Pledges Action
Publishers Weekly
“In its open letter responding to the initial letter, the Poetry Foundation staff apologized ‘for our silence in the face of crisis amid the call to dismantle institutional racism’ and pledged ‘ongoing action in response to the call to dismantle white supremacy.’”

NBCC Board, Down to Nine Members, Begins ‘Difficult Internal Work’
Publishers Weekly
“While the NBCC intends to hold its annual awards honoring books published in 2020 next year, the board will ‘put aside all reading and deliberation in order to focus on fulfilling and exceeding the action items in our Anti-Racism Pledge and Action Plan.’”

Bookstores Are Struggling. Is a New E-Commerce Site the Answer?
The New York Times
“The rapid rise of Bookshop.org during the shutdown has been hailed as a boon for independent stores. But some booksellers worry it could become another competitor for online business.”

Print Unit Sales Had Small Gain Last Week
Publishers Weekly
“While the juvenile categories have usually led the week-to-week gains since the pandemic hit, last week it was the adult categories that led the increase, in particular adult nonfiction.”

Hachette Moves to Back Rowling After Staff Raise Concerns
The Bookseller
“‘We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech.’”