News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff.
Bookish News
- The HarperCollins strike is over! The union has voted to ratify the agreement reached early in the week. (HCP Union’s Instagram & Twitter)
- Roald Dahl books rewritten to remove language deemed offensive (The Guardian)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- What the hard-won HarperCollins union contract means for the future of books (Vox)
- BookTok is Good, Actually: On the Undersung Joys of a Vast and Multifarious Platform (Leigh Stein, Literary Hub) It makes me wonder what I’m missing.
- Audiobook Narrators Fear Apple Used Their Voices to Train AI (Wired)
- Wonderwell Finds Niche in Hybrid Publishing (Publishers Weekly) The article serves as a good introduction to hybrid publishing, a model where the author fronts the costs, while the publisher provides professional editing, cover design, distribution, and even promotion. (What makes it different from a “vanity press” is the ethics of the publisher, and the professionalism of the publishing staff, many of whom come from a background in traditional publishing.)
- Tom Gauld on controversial books and social media – cartoon (The Guardian) Note: I would love to have simply included the cartoon here, but can’t for copyright reasons.
- From meet-cutes to happy endings, romance readers feel the love as sales heat up (NPR)
For Writers & Bloggers
- Want to be a writer? This bleak but buoyant guide says to get used to rejection. (Book review, NPR)
Writing Quote

Wendy
Yay for the end of the strike!! Great news.
Wendy recently posted…Stacking the Shelves #77!
Lark_Bookwyrm
IKR? Thank goodness! I’m sure everyone involved is heaving a sigh of relief.
Anne+-+Books+of+My+Heart
I’m so happy about the end of the strike. I also saw the Roald Dahl thing and I don’t really think I like that.
Anne+-+Books+of+My+Heart recently posted…Return Voyage by Veronica Scott @vscotttheauthor @sophiarose1816
Lark_Bookwyrm
Me too… on both counts. (Although Dahl is problematic in more ways than one.)
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
Hooray for the end of the strike!
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday ~ Favorite Heroines