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
- Nora Roberts Sues Brazilian Author, Cites ‘Multi-Plagiarism’ (US News & World Report)
- Industry Reacts to B&T Exiting the Retail Wholesale Business. Baker and Taylor (B&T) is one of two book wholesalers in the U.S. The other is Ingram. These two wholesalers are where many independent bookstores buy the new books they sell. (Back when I was a bookseller, they were also where chain bookstores placed special orders; that may no longer be true.) B&T’s retreat from this segment of the book market leaves Ingram without a competitor, which could be a problem for indie bookstores already squeezed by Amazon’s lower prices. (Publishers Weekly)
- 2018 North American Comics Sales Rise to $1.09 Billion (Publishers Weekly)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- A is for Activist: why children’s books are getting political (Lucia Graves, The Guardian)
- ‘What’s Your Favorite Book?’ Is Not a Trick Question “Candidates should tell us what they actually love to read, and there shouldn’t be any wrong answers.” And especially, no shaming of women who read or write romance. (Jennifer Weiner, New York Times) (free to read through May 5)
- Monster or Marvel? A Disabled Life in a Superhero Universe: Amanda Leduc on Captain Marvel and Fantasies of the Perfectable Body (LitHub)
- The Ongoing Obsession with Shakespeare’s True Identity looks at the anti-Stratfordian world (those who think someone other than Shakespeare wrote the plays and sonnets), focusing particularly on the theory that Henry Neville is the actual author. (Stuart Kells, LitHub) Personally, I’m a Stratfordian; I see no reason why Shakespeare could not have written them himself. But it’s always interesting to explore the other arguments.
For Writers & Bloggers
- How to Publish a Perfect Book: Advice for authors considering self-publishing, on how to produce an error-free book. (Brooke Warner, Publishers Weekly)
That’s it for this week!
RO
Wow! If this lawsuit proves to be true, can you imagine how much money Serruya would have to pay? Looks like Nora Roberts is seriously pissed too! You found some other really interesting info too! Hugs…RO
Lark_Bookwyrm
More than she made, probably. A lot of authors are pissed, but as Roberts points out, she’s in a position to do something about it: she has enough money to pay for the lawsuit, while a lot of the other authors probably don’t. It’s pretty clear she’s doing this not just for herself, but for the principle and, in a sense, on behalf of her fellow authors.