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. 

Welcome to the July edition of Novel Rocket's industry news. Today marks the 2^nd anniversary of this column. I’m delighted to have brought you publishing industry news and fun tidbits for the past two years.

Well, let’s get to it!

• Interesting: “Christian-fiction readers are the most frequent book buyers and are heavily engaged in Christian stories.” For more info . . . 
• New Hope Publishers is awarded Publisher of the Year by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA). For more info . . .  
• 2015 Christian Retailing’s Best awards awarded. For more info . . . 
• Curious about Harper Lee’s upcoming novel, Go Set a Watchman? You can check out the first chapter this Friday, July 10th. For more info . . . 
• And, anticipation of Harper Lee’s new novel, To Set A Watchman revives interest in To Kill a Mockingbird. For more info . . . 
• According to Nielsen BookScan, sales of print books for the first six months of 2015 were running just about even with the same period in 2014. For more info . . . 
• New literary agent alert: Danielle Burby of HSG Agency. For more info . . .
• The International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) expands beyond retailing. For more info . . . 
• “Amazon set to pay self-published authors as little as $0.006 per page read.”  For more info . . . 
• Ever thought of crowd funding your book? How one author raised $12,000+ in 30 days. 
• What?? Scribd reduces romance titles. For more info . . . 
• Some author promotions don’t turn out quite like planned, such as the 50 Shades of Gray Twitter Q&A. For more details . . . 
• Tess Gerritsen gives up her legal fight against Warner Bros. and New Line, after her lawsuit claiming that  “Gravity” was a ripoff of her novel was dismissed. For more info . . .  And for her thoughts on the matter. . . 
• Francine Rivers is the recipient of the ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award. For more info . . . 
• The 2015 Christy Award winners announced.  
• Author Jas T. Ward  has started a petition to address Amazon's “You know this Author” policy that is “crippling good people from leaving honest and sincere reviews”. For more info. . .  
• Could the Apple e-book price-fixing case finally be over? Apple lost its appeal. For more info . . .  
• AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) announces Golden Scroll Award winners.
• There are new challenges and opportunities for writers of fan fiction. For more info . . . 
• Barnes & Noble posted a profit for the fiscal year. For more info . . . 
• Scribd buys Librify. For more info . . . 
• 'Fortune' explains Amazon's new method of paying authors, saying it makes sense. For more info . . . 
• A US Bankruptcy Court denied the sale of Family Christian Stores. For more info . . . 
• Penguin Publishing Group merges Berkley and New American Library. For more info . . . 
• Inkshares provides independent booksellers their own imprint. For more info . . . 
• Amazon and Penguin Random House reach sales agreement. For more info . . .  
• The Authors Guild addresses issues of higher royalties and contract limits. For more info . . . 
• I’m sharing just because I love this: 51 of the most beautiful sentences in literature. You're welcome. 
• To ease e-reading eyestrain, Oyster introduces Lumin. For more info . . . 
• Congratulations to the 2015 ACFW Genesis Contest finalists. 
• April bookstore sales post a small gain. For more info . . . 
• Good news for people who read paper books! For more info . . .  
• US book publishing industry sales rose in 2014. For more info . . .  
• Harlequin imprint Mira Books launches BookClubbish, a new website devoted to book-and-pop-culture-related content. For more info . . . 
• Ali Smith wins the 2015 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. 
• Indie presses Hawthorne Books and Dzanc Books merged. For more info . . .   
• BookCon 2015’s attendance increased over 80% from last year. For more info . . . 

Have a great month, friends! Write on!