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It’s a Vicious Cycle
As we near the halfway point of the year, many publishing industry pros are taking stock, assessing performance, and planning the rest of the year. Kathleen Schmidt offers a helpful explainer on the vicious cycle of publishing and what’s really going on in publishers’ mid-year checkins. I especially appreciated Schmidt’s emphasis on the fact that backlist sales underwrite frontlist efforts—something many civilians are surprised to learn, given that the majority of book advertising focuses on new releases—and publishers’ reasons for putting out more books than they know they can support with marketing and publicity. If you’re newer to the industry, a first-time author, or hoping to be published soon, her Substack is a solid resource.
Picking Up Good Vibrations
This list of book-song pairings is the best bookish response I’ve seen to the recent death of The Beach Boys’ legendary songwriter Brian Wilson. I’ll take any opportunity to recommend Barbarian Days, and my hat is off to James Folta for the truly inspired coupling of “God Only Knows,” one of my personal desert island songs, with Gilead, one of my all-time favorite books. I’m tearing up just thinking about that combination. Here’s hoping Martin Scorcese takes note for his upcoming adaptation of the series.
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