Author: Rebecca Joines Schinsky

Changes to New York Times Bestseller Lists

As part of a larger plan to revamp its coverage of publishing and give more space to coverage beyond bestseller lists, the New York Times has cut several bestseller lists. Weirdly, the exact number of removed lists could not be confirmed, but we do know that the lists for graphic novels/manga, mass market paperbacks, middle grade ebooks, and young adult ebooks will be among the missing. While some publishers lament the new challenges these changes will present as they attempt to communicate a book’s success in-house and in the marketplace, what I’d like to see is an industry finally acknowledge the arbitrary and incomplete nature of these lists and just…decide they don’t really matter.

Roxane Gay Pulls Book from Simon & Schuster in Response to Milo Yiannopoulous Deal

Roxane Gay, whose TED book How to Be Heard (how’s that title for a nice coincidence?) was due to be published in March 2018, has pulled the book from Simon & Schuster in response to the now-widely known $250K book deal with white nationalist Milo Yiannopoulous. In a comment published at BuzzFeed, Gay notes how “egregious it is to give someone like Milo a platform for his blunt, inelegant hate and provocation” and reminds readers that this is not about censorship. She also notes that she recognizes not all S & S authors are in a position to make this decision. Here’s hoping that more of those who can make the sacrifice will follow Gay’s lead.

Related: see this note from Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy, promising that the book will not include hate speech.

The Bronx Set to Have a Bookstore Again

When the Barnes & Noble Co-op City location closed in late 2016, the Bronx — home to 1.4 million people and 10 colleges in just 42.7 square miles — was left without a bookstore. That’s all about to change thanks to Noëlle Santos, who is currently raising funds to open The Lit.Bar, a bookstore-wine bar, in the South Bronx neighborhood. Some Riot readers may remember hearing about Noëlle on the Book Riot Podcast or meeting her at Book Riot Live. If you’re looking for a literary cause to support, take a look at the Indiegogo campaign–she has done her homework!–and consider chipping in. Rock on, Noëlle.

Thanks to The Girl in the Garden by Melanie Wallace for sponsoring This Week in Books.

When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel—who rents them a cabin—senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel’s friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades: a wealthy recluse with a tragic past; a forsaken daughter returning for the first time in years; a lawyer, whose longings he can never reveal; and a kindly World War II veteran who serves as the town’s sage. Surrounded by the personal histories and secrets of others, June finds the way forward for herself and her son amid revelations of the others’ pasts, including loves—and crimes—from years ago.

Pretty wild week in the news of the world, so let’s look at some good stuff, okay?

National Book Foundation Launches Book Rich Environment Initiative

Furthering its efforts to promote literacy and expand access to books, the National Book Foundation has launched the Book Rich Environment Initiative to provide books to underserved communities, colloquially known as “book deserts.” In partnership with the US Department of Education, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Urban Libraries Council, and the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, the NBF has secured more than 250,000 donated books from Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan, among others. Between the BRE Initiative and other programs, the NBF will have given away more than 300,000 books by the end of 2017.

4-Year-Old Power Reader is LoC’s “Librarian for a Day”

Daliyah Marie Arana was reading whole books on her own before her third birthday. Now, at four years old, she has read more than 1,000 books, including some college-level texts. This week, Daliyah and her family traveled from their home in Gainesville, GA to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, where Daliyah spent a day with Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, and was named “Librarian for a Day.” It’s pretty incredible to see Hayden, the first woman and first black person to serve in the position, interact with a young girl who not only might want her job someday but who can now see that it is a real possibility. Representation matters.

2017 Tournament of Books Shortlist & Judges Announced

For the 13th year running, the Rooster prepares to crow! The Morning News has revealed the shortlist and judging panel for the 2017 Tournament of Books. As always, the list is a mix of literary bestsellers, critical darlings, and a few surprises. It’s hard to imagine anything beating Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, but in a tournament where subjectivity and idiosyncrasy reign (to glorious effect), anything can happen. Things really start get interesting when the brackets and book-judge pairings are revealed, so stay tuned.

Thanks to Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis for sponsoring This Week in Books.

What could cause a man to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect.

DeMarco knows—or thinks he knows—that Huston couldn’t have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family’s killer?

Out-of-office notifications are the name of the game this week in publishing. With most offices closed for the holidays, news has been slower than slow. Let’s see what we can find.

Book Sales Get Christmas Week Bump

The holiday season started slowly for books – sales between Thanksgiving and December 18th were down 6% from last year – but last-minute shoppers came through to the tune of a 21% increase in unit sales in the week leading up to Christmas. Leading the bounce were juvenile fiction (perhaps thanks in part to the “something to read” part of the want/need/wear/read gift-giving trend this year?) and adult nonfiction (all hail the dad books!). Surprising absolutely no one, four of the six bestselling kids/YA titles were by J.K. Rowling.

NYPL Reveals Most Checked-Out Books of 2016

With more than 25 million (!) items checked out each year, the New York Public Library’s circulation data make for a fascinating peek into reading habits. Paula Hawkins’s Girl on the Train leads the NYPL’s top 10, which is, notably, dominated by backlist. Only one of the most checked-out books (When Breath Becomes Air) was published in 2016. This is interesting, as it may reflect a difference between what people are buying and what they are actually reading. Bonus: the NYPL staff have included readalike recommendations for each of the most popular titles!

Milo Yiannopoulos Gets $250K Deal from Simon & Schuster

Nothing like the last week of the year for dumping news you hope no one will notice. Simon and Schuster has brokered a $250K book deal with infamous white nationalist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos, because when someone is so offensive that even Twitter bans them, giving them a new platform for their dumpster fire is a super great idea!

Thanks to The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller for sponsoring This Week in Books.

From the author of Norwegian by Night, a novel about two men on a misbegotten quest to save the girl they failed to save decades before.

“The Girl in Green is a Catch-22 for the twenty-first century. You’ll laugh so hard you’ll cry tears of blood.”—Madison Smartt Bell