Scribd Public Plans, A New(sletter) Literary Genre, and Jane Austen’s Family Recipes: This Week in Book News

Happy Friday, writers! It is the end of another busy week here at KWL. We’ve been having a blast chatting with authors at Inkers Con and are looking forward to our Q&A at the con next Thursday! Let us know in the comments if you’re attending Inkers Con too!

Let’s take a quick look at what’s been going down in publishing this week.

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Starting with some indie news:

Scribd has plans to go public.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-15/audible-rival-scribd-eyeing-going-public-at-1-billion-valuation?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hub%20Daily:%20July%2020%2C%202021

Kindle Vella has officially launched.

Kindle Vella Launches with Thousands of Stories

Amazon has officially launched Kindle Vella, its new mobile-first, interactive reading tool for serialized stories, which was first announced in April. The company said that the program is starting with “thousands of stories containing tens of thousands of episodes.” Through the new KDP self-publishing service, authors can publish episodes containing between 600 and 5,000 words one at a time.

BookFunnel is now offering custom links.

Announcing Custom Domains | BookFunnel: the blog

July 14, 2021 Authors love BookFunnel’s custom landing pages. Why? Because authors get to own the message and the branding. Your book cover, your tagline, your brand colors, your author logo. BookFunnel gives you the control so that you can build your author brand.

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Rising costs and service disruptions are causing challenges for the book industry supply chain.

High Costs, Services Disruptions Plague Book Biz Supply Chain

Truck driver shortages, widespread port congestion, and skyrocketing container costs are among the biggest challenges facing the book industry supply chain for the rest of the year and into 2022, panelists on a July 6 BISG webinar looking at freight and shipping issues agreed.

We all know there’s a huge boom in literary adaptations right now, but how do these adaptations affect the book industry?

The Rise of Must-Read TV

If you want a preview of next year’s Emmy Awards, just take a walk past your local bookstore. According to data drawn from Publishers Marketplace, the industry’s clearinghouse for news and self-reported book deals, literary adaptations to television have been on a steady climb.

This article, which looks at Amazon’s growing market share in the book selling industry, was making the rounds this week.

View at Medium.com

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Sweetwater, a leading music technology and instrument retailer, is launching a publishing division.

Sweetwater launches publishing division

by: Chris Darby Posted: / Updated: FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A new chapter for Sweetwater has been announced. The Summit City-based music technology and instrument retailer has launched a publishing division.

Newsletter site Substack is going into the podcasting business.

Substack to make first major podcast investment

Substack is funding the launch of a new podcast network called Booksmart Studios, executives tell Axios. It’s the newsletter company’s first major financial investment in podcasting. Why it matters: Substack sees the venture as a way to deepen its commitment to podcast publishing on its platform and as a case study for what’s possible for independent podcast networks.

Speaking of newsletters, their rise in popularity may have created a new literary genre.

The Sound of My Inbox

The financial promise of email newsletters has enticed so many writers to launch so many micropublications that they have, in turn, created a new literary style. It’s the ultimate form for a moment where writers feel pressure to advertise themselves.

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Belarus is moving to dissolve the local branch of PEN.

Belarus Moves to Dissolve Local Branch of PEN

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Sylvia Plath’s tarot cards just sold at auction for $200,000!

Sylvia Plath’s tarot deck just sold for $200,000.

Well, $206,886, to be more exact. That’s $2,652 per card, in case you’re wondering. The Tarot de Marseille deck, gifted to Plath by Ted Hughes on the occasion of her 24th birthday, sold earlier this afternoon at a much-ballyhooed online auction (somewhat creepily titled Your Own Sylvia) conducted by Sotheby’s London.

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Prince Harry is publishing a tell-all memoir.

Prince Harry nabs $20M from Penguin Random House for memoir

Prince Harry is getting at least $20 million upfront to publish his memoirs – with the very same über-publisher that gave Barack and Michelle Obama a $65 million book deal. As Page Six revealed, Harry has been secretly writing a memoir for nearly a year and has now sold it to Penguin Random House.

An authorized prequel to Winnie the Pooh is heading to shelves this fall.

Winnie-the-Pooh goes to Harrods in new authorised AA Milne prequel

The story of how Winnie-the-Pooh went from a Harrods toy shelf to the home of Christopher Robin and the Hundred Acre Wood is set to be told for the first time, in an official prequel to AA Milne’s original stories.

Podcasting pals Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are releasing a book based on their popular pod.

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen releasing book together in Oct. 2021 | CBC Books

There’s a new chapter in the friendship between Barack and the Boss. Renegades: Born in the USA is a bound edition of the popular Renegades podcast featuring conversations on everything from fame to cars to the country itself between former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. Renegades will come out Oct.

Wow your next book club meeting by serving a meal from Jane Austen’s family cookbook.

Eat Like Jane Austen With Recipes From Her Sister-In-Law’s Cookbook

A kind-hearted spinster, passed over in her youth by a potential suitor, spends her life faithfully tending the hearth and home of her dear family and friends. She is content to toil as a housekeeper, unrecognized but for the praise of beloved companions.

Have a great weekend!

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Staff Pick

Tara, Director of KWL (ENG)

“This past year, I’ve finally stopped telling myself that reality tv wasn’t a good use of time and just embraced my love of it by watching The Real Housewives for the first time. I was hooked. This book is really for any fan of housewives but also for any reality tv fan in general. I love the deep dive into how these shows get developed and how this franchise exploded. I recommend the audiobook, as it’s read by the author himself.”