News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Book News
- New World Fantasy Award Design Has Been Revealed! (Tor.com) The previous statue depicted H. P. Lovecraft, a problematic choice given his overt racism. The new design features a moon and tree.
- Harlequin Closing Five Lines, Including Kimani Romance. (Book Riot) The closing of Kimani is not good news for diversity in romance. Kimani was Harlequin’s line for African-American and other POC romances.
- Cheap books, high price: Why Amazon’s ‘one click’ sales can cost authors dear (Guardian) and Beware the Changed Amazon Buy Box: When “New” Books Aren’t New (Book Riot) Apparently, third-party sellers can now compete for the “Buy” button on Amazon, which means that if you want to buy from the publisher, you need to check the fine print under that box. This matters if you want to have your purchase count toward the title’s overall sales, which affects whether a series will continue and whether an author can publish future books.
- Dylan Thomas Prize goes to “Australian genius” Fiona McFarlane (Guardian)
Worth Reading
- Are things getting worse for women in publishing? (Guardian) Danuta Kean thinks so.
- Bookselling in the 21st Century: When Your Bookstore Is a Photo Op (Literary Hub) Katie Orphan on the problems of having a beautiful bookstore.
- I Have Too Many Books Collecting Dust (Andi Miller, for BookRiot)
For Writers & Bloggers
- Can you read a series in a Month? Sign Up! Challenge starts June 1st. Hosted by Michelle at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life.
- So you want to be a writer? Essential tips for aspiring novelists (Colum McCann, for The Guardian)
Great Blog Posts
Book & Movie Announcements
- The Star Trek: Discovery full trailer is out! And it looks really good. Plus, there’s a female captain and a female first officer, and they’re both POC. And a more diverse crew generally, as well — including aliens. I think this series is going to be worth subscribing to CBS AllAccess.
Bookish Quote
poster by artist and graphic designer Risa Rodil
That’s it for this week!
Rita @ Paging Through Books
I enjoyed Andi and Lory’s posts. Lory’s post I need to ruminate over to make my own list.
Re Andi’s: As I stare down a major move again, I realize that I can’t have that personal reading room I’ve imagined all my life. I would like to, but it’s not happening. We are downsizing to a smaller home, and books are heavy to move and take up precious truck space that could go to furniture. I rely on my Kindle and my library books, and when I do buy used paperbacks at Friends of Library, I donate them back when done. This is my last major move and maybe I’ll change my mind. But there is no dedicated space for books besides one bookshelf in the bedroom.
I know many will disagree with Andi, but I get her point. I hope to minimalize my life for my own sanity because I’m a packrat. And that even includes print books…
Lark_Bookwyrm
Rita, I completely understand. And even though I’m in a (smallish) house and have bookcases in every room, I still need to downsize my book collection. If it’s not a book I’m likely to ever read again, maybe the universe can store it instead of me — and someone else can enjoy it. (Of course, I did buy a boxfull of books at the recent library sale… oops.)
kimbacaffeinate
It is sad about the Harlequin lines. I only keep hardcover editions of my books and now buy almost all digital and audio.
kimbacaffeinate recently posted…Veiled Menace by Deborah Blake
Lark_Bookwyrm
It sure is. Especially for romances featuring POC characters; Kimani will be a big loss in that regard.
When I buy new books these days, I usually buy digital unless it’s a fantasy author I’ve been collecting for a while, in which case I get hardcovers. Sometime I’ll buy trade paperbacks, but rarely mass market — and both of those I usually buy used, often at the library booksale, just to read rather than keep. I have collected so many physical books over the years; I need to prune down to the ones I really love and read over and over (which is still a lot.) For audiobooks, I usually borrow them from the library, but sometimes I buy the Audible as an add-on to the Kindle, if it’s not too expensive. And for many books, I just borrow from the library.