In this week’s edition: The popularity of #BookTok is transforming how publishers market books; the Women’s Prize for Fiction announces its shortlist; how to write effective sex scenes; why readers should support bookstores trying to unionize; the publishing industry’s take on the leak about overturning Roe v Wade; and seven brave Texans sue Llano County for banning books in the public library.      

A TikTok and Instagram ‘Read-Along’ With HarperCollins and Tandem Collective
Publishing Perspectives
HarperCollins and the UK’s Tandem Collective have turned book marketing on its head with the launch of a social media read-along for a new mystery novel, taking advantage of the enthusiasm of eager young readers in TikTok’s #BookTok community to attract YA readers.

Three Americans Make 2022 U.K. Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist
Publishing Perspectives
The U.K.’s Women’s Prize for Fiction recognizes “outstanding, ambitious, original fiction written in English by women from anywhere in the world” and includes a check for £30,000 (roughly $37,000). This year’s shortlist nominees are: Lisa Allen Agostini’s The Bread the Devil Knead (Trinidad); Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence (U.S.); Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss (New Zealand); Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness (U.S./Canada); Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees (Turkey/U.K.); and Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle (U.S.)

The Supreme Court Nominates Margaret Atwood for a Nobel Prize in Prescience
Washington Post Book Club
Book Club newsletter editor Ron Charles discusses the ramifications of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft decision in Roe v. Wade, as interpreted by several poignant and prescient novels that deal with reproductive rights and the core issues at stake.

Rapid City Area Schools Withheld 350+ New Books and Attempted to Quietly Destroy Them
Book Riot
South Dakota’s Rapid City School District removed five award-winning novels for a new, previously-approved English course for high school seniors. The students never received the books, and the copies were slated to be destroyed until a school board member made the decision public by adding it as a discussion item to a board meeting agenda.

Bookstore Workers Are Forming Unions Over Low Pay and Lack of Benefits
TeenVogue
This highly accessible, cogent overview of the American labor movement outlines just how little publishing workers—from writers and editors to warehouse employees—make and why readers should support unionization efforts.

Praise Osawaru on Writing About the Erotic… Through Weather
LitHub Micro Podcast
In this charming podcast, author Praise Osawaru discusses the challenges and joys of writing compelling erotic sex scenes.