Top 10 Biggest Book Stories Of The Year

 

 

1.      Prince Harry’s Spare broke all kinds of records.

It had the best one-day debut of any non-fiction book in the history of the UK, selling 400,000 units across all formats. The tell-all memoir by former royalty sold 1.43 million units on Day One between the UK, US, and Canada, making it best global debut for a non-fiction book in the long-storied history of the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House. After initially selling two million copies quickly, it went back to press. 

2.      The United States Copyright Office refused to grant copyright protection to AI-generated works.

For now, only human-authored content can officially have a copyright protection, but we should realize it is likely that AI-created books, in part or whole, already circulate amongst us. How? Publishers use the technology quietly and stick real human names on books that were constructed by metal and plastic. 

3.      The increasing number of banned library books have become such a problem that the federal government appointed a Book Ban Czar to try to protect against more challenges to what our nation’s libraries stack.

Matt Nosanchuk works under Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Office For Civil Rights, is helping to save books from the clutches of hateful, organized, and ignorant book-killers 

4.      Barnes & Noble opens dozens of new stores for a net gain and announces it has greatly cut down on the costly process of returns.

They average a seven percent return rate after being around 30%.  

5.      Book publishers won most if their copyright infringement lawsuit against Internet Archive, a site that has scanned five million books without permission or compensation.

However, only books available for sale or license in electronic format are covered. Otherwise, the archive can lend books that remain unavailable for sake to license as e-books.  

6.      A study showed that self-published authors gross more money than traditionally published writers.

A 2018 study claimed published authors each took in a little over $6,000 in the US; $8600 in the UK. Those paltry numbers don’t subtract out expensive costs for marketing, advertising, literary agent, legal services, etc, so it is quite possible that most published authors net barely anything from book sales. However, a 2022 survey of self-published authors conducted by The Alliance of Independent Authors, showed such authors make an average annual income of $12,749 — again, sans expenses. 

7.      The biggest publisher to be sold this year was Simon & Schuster.

A private equity firm bought them after the Department of Justice blocked Penguin Random House, the largest publisher, from gobbling them up based on antitrust laws. 

8.      Tik Tok, already locked and loaded to sell millions of books, launched its own book publishing firm, 8th Note Press.

This presents a conflict of interest into the hands of Generation X to figure out.  

9.      E-book sales, based on recent trends, should have surpassed 200,000,000 units this year. 23% of the $26 billion publishing industry in 2020 came from eBook purchases.

In that year, 191 million e-books were sold. 

10.  In 2022, audiobook sales continued to grow, but not by double-digits for the first time in seven years.

As many as one book sale in 11 comes in the form of an audiobook and represents about a two-billion-dollar book industry segment.

 

 

Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.