For some reason, everyone’s talking about book blurbs again. This article is well reported and says some informative things. esquire.com/entertainment/… | Sophie Vershbow in Esquire #blurbs

Can Simon & Schuster stay afloat and pay its $1 billion debt? There will be a lot of interest to pay on that debt. Writers at The Atlantic think that private equity ownership is bad news for the publisher. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… | Carter Dougherty Andrew Park in The Atlantic

Utah is a hotbed of YA authors. Latter-day Saints are some of the most enthusiastic readers of YA and genre fiction. nytimes.com/2023/09/03/sty… | Abby Aguirre in The New York Times #YA

New podcast: Cover Meeting. Launched by designer Steve Leard, Cover Meeting will feature a conversation with a different book cover designer for each episode, discussing their work and the industry. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cov… | Cover Meeting @steveleard

K-lytics has an analysis of Amazon category changes. Alex Newton at K-lytics has an hour-long video on changes to Amazon’s categories, which will be of interest to self-publishing novelists. Watch for free; no signup necessary. k-lytics.com/amazon-categor… | #Amazon

New resource: Pacific Islanders in Publishing offers resources for breaking into publishing, covering topics including recent Pacific Islander book releases, book influencers, independent publishers, and bookstores. pacificislanderbooks.org | Keala Kendall

It’s becoming more common for popular fan-fiction authors to move into the mainstream. Top publishers are more open to picking up writers for sites like Archive of Our Own—and agents are now scouting such authors. vulture.com/article/fanfic… | Elizabeth Held in Vulture

New agent at Martin Literary Management: Mara Cobb has joined as junior agent and is accepting queries as of Sept. 5. She is looking for adult nonfiction and women’s fiction. martinlit.com/about-mlm | Sharlene Martin Mara Cobb, Literary Agent

Why are Biden books tanking? In part, the administration runs a “tight ship” (not a lot of juicy gossip), plus it’s a no-drama atmosphere. politico.com/newsletters/po… | Catherine Kim in POLITICO

Social media is dead. The key message here is that more people are posting to private and closed groups. Some believe the old ways of posting are forever gone. businessinsider.com/social-media-d… | Sydney Bradley Amanda Perelli in @businessinsider

Spotify to test audiobook program: The Wall Street Journal reports that the pilot program will allow paying subscribers to listen to up to 20 hours of audiobooks a month at no additional cost. wsj.com/business/media… | Anne Steele Jeffrey Trachtenberg in The Wall Street Journal #audiobooks

As a result of the recent ruling against the Internet Archive, the Authors Guild has posted instructions on how to issue a takedown notice against them, if needed. authorsguild.org/news/how-to-te… | The Authors Guild #InternetArchive

From cartoonist Bob Eckstein. bobeckstein.com | ☃️ Bob Eckstein

The New York Public Library wants to help digitize backlist books for which the rights status remains murky. The program would benefit authors, publishers, and library patrons. …hathitrust.universityofcalifornia.edu/support/soluti… | HathiTrust NY Public Library

Former PRH exec discusses how AI will affect publishers: She thinks it will help ease workloads and fight piracy, among other positive effects. She believes novelists have little to fear. thebookseller.com/news/former-pr… | Melina Spanoudi in @TheBookseller

The big US publishers have similar financial reports: higher costs are eating into profits, resulting in layoffs. Only Simon & Schuster—one of Colleen Hoover’s publishers—has seen increased profits and avoided job cuts. publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/in… | Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly

Amazon Ads may soon headline Amazon’s earning reports. Ads now constitute more than 10% of Amazon’s net sales. Ad revenue has grown by 22% year on year. finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-is… | Allie Garfinkle in Yahoo Finance #Amazon

A new tool called Glaze may prevent AI models from ingesting artwork. The tool has been developed by computer scientists at the University of Chicago. edition.cnn.com/2023/08/12/tec… | Catherine Thorbecke in CNN Glaze at UChicago

IngramSpark now requires 40% minimum discount for US titles. That means authors using IngramSpark to distribute their books must discount their books at least by 40% as of Aug. 31 or risk being removed from distribution. ingramspark.com/important-upda…

Shopify now offers integration with Amazon Prime. Shopify merchants can now offer Amazon Prime members benefits like fast and free delivery outside of Amazon. reuters.com/business/retai… | Granth Vanaik in Reuters #Amazon #Shopify