Industry News

Megan DiMaria is Novel Rocket’s industry news columnist. An author and speaker, she enjoys cheering on writers and loves to encourage others as they journey through life’s demands and delights. Megan is the author of two women’s fiction novels, Searching for Spice and Out of Her Hands. 

Happy New Year! Welcome to the January edition of Novel Rocket’s industry news. I hope 2015 is a shiny, happy, productive year for you!

• Novel Rocket announced the 2014 Grand Prize Winner of the LAUNCH PAD Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile: Sally Bradley for her Contemporary Fiction entry, Kept. For more info . . . 
• The Bestselling Books of 2014. 
• Is Mark Zuckerberg the new Oprah of the book world? His New Year’s resolution is to read more, and he’s created a new Facebook page to discuss the books.  For more info . . . 
• Bookstores optimistic for the New Year. For more info . . . 
• Authors are unhappy with Amazon’s new subscription service. For more info . . . 
• E-book subscription service, Scribd, secured $22 million in financing led by Khosla Ventures. For more info . . . 
• Impressive. Anita Eerdmans becomes the third president and publisher of Eerdmans Publishing in its 103 year history. For more info . . . 
• Yes, books are “transformational.” E-readers and new partnerships with Worldreader are credited for a boost in literacy rates. For more info . . . 
• And now, some truly drool-worthy writing spaces.
• Barnes & Noble buys back Nook stake from Pearson. For more info . . . 
• An interesting aside—Scrooge saved Christmas. Thanks, Charles Dickens. For more info . . . 
• Five publishing companies that don’t require you to submit via an agent. For more info . . . 
• Here’s my first PSA of the year for you. Experiencing a bit of insomnia? It could be your e-reader. For more info . . . 
• Macmillian reaches agreement over book pricing with Amazon. For more info . . .  
• Well, this is interesting. Teens prefer paper books to e-books. For more info . . 
• Like lists? Here's Write to Done's Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2015.
• James Patterson continues his #SaveOurBooks campaign, donating $$$ to independent bookstores. For more info . . . 
• E-book sales down, a bit. For more info . . . 
• In case you were wondering, culture is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. For more info . . . 
• According to The Library Journal, there are new/more crossover opportunities for Christian fiction. For more info . . . 
• You know the Christian Writers Guild has closed, well, here's the rest of the story. For more info . . . 
• The drama continues in Apple’s appeal of the 2013 e-book price-fixing judgment. Now they’ve been called a monopolist. For more info . .. 
• Looks like Google will win the Authors Guild vs. Google case. For more info . . . 
• Sorry to hear this—bookstore sales down in October. For moreinfo . . . 
• Bookish.com’s “Best Book Covers of 2014.” 
• Nazarene Publishing House is NOT closing. Instead they’ve decided to restructure. For more info . . . 
• So, if you write an autobiography or a memoir, it’s best if you’re not a celebrity. For more info . . . 
• Curious about what the most downloaded titles in the Apple iBooks Store of 2014 were? For more info . . . 
• Hachette is turning Twitter into a retail platform. For more info . . . 
• Barnes & Noble cuts ties with Microsoft. For more info . . . 
• Check this out, Squirl, a start-up company, provides a “real-life portal into a different world,” to discover books based on physical location. For more info . . .  
• E Ink and Kobo team up to extend more e-book access. For more info . . . 
• Goodreads Best Books of 2014 have been announced. 
• The NY Times named its 100 Notable Books of 2014. 
• Penguin Random House unveiled the Penguin Hotline to help folks find that perfect book. For more info . . . 

Have a great month, friends!