Category Archives: Things to Read

Site News, Things to Read

Things to Read – Edition 0005

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I feel like a bear coming up out of a hibernation and I am glad to be back out in the open. I had to check out and log off for the first of the year. For the job, we have offices in Minnesota just outside the cities and in all honesty – I just could not deal with what all was going on. But, I am happy to report that after getting some Signal groups going, participating in a few boots on the ground efforts helping solve a few small real world needs, and catching up with good friends at Winter Institute, I have found my footing again. Community, folks. That’s the part I had forgotten. Chatting with book folks. Chatting with outdoors folks. Reading a few really good books. Those are the pieces I’d started to take for granted and lost sight of.

I’m lucky to have gotten to spend lots of time outdoors across the country the past few weeks, working, hiking, chatting, and reading. Plus, visiting some new indie bookshops (which is always good for the soul). 

I have a ton of blog reading to do and even more Mastodon scrolling, but as much as I enjoyed being unplugged and focusing – I’m looking forward to being active online again.

I hope you all are well and have a good read nearby. And I hope we get to chat soon.

In an effort to get back in the groove, here are three links that I found interesting that you might too:

I really enjoyed scrolling through this Gen X catalog from Type Punch Matrix. If you are of a certain age, you may as well. Just smiles all the way around.

The history of American publishing is a fascinating subject to me and I ran across this post while doing some research which tried to answer the question, “Was a Mobile bookstore closed for selling a copy of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”?

I am interested in how publishing and authors are responding to AI and am anxiously awaiting for solutions (whether from the industry or end consumers simply asserting their preference). I did find this piece by Sarah Hall and this one about a certification start up in the U.K. as good jumping off points for recent conversations with folks I do not see eye to eye with.

On the Web, Things to Read

Things to Read – Edition 0004

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Since the fall of Twitter I have struggled to find a place to share links and online articles that I find interesting. I am really enjoying Mastodon though (and think it’s worth checking out if you haven’t). But now I am finding links there that I’d love to share more broadly. So I am creating small ”link round up” posts on the blog. Hope this ongoing series or posts surface some interesting news & thoughts for you.

It’s been around for more than 200 years, but the current 2026 Farmers’ Almanac will be the last. As someone who loves print I am bummed to hear this and I’m not sure what more they could have done or what all they have tried to stay afloat. I see they’ve even has a premium subscriber tier as well. So they certainly tried things. Also, the Old Farmers’ Almanac is still rolling along and jumped on the news of demise of their competitor touting their “80 percent accurate weather forecasts” which made me smile.

LitHub shared a post by murder mystery and true crime author Sarah Weinman on the importance of public libraries and the “most comprehensive, and most uncomfortable truths” that librarians make available to all.

I still haven’t seen the Broadway Books pilot being shopped around. Have any of you guys? Here is a link to the trailer and it’s been shown at a few festivals, but I can’t find it anywhere. Her is the synopsis: “In aggressively gentrifying Manhattan, a group of over-educated, under-employed bookstore workers struggle to keep their independent bookstore in business using increasingly desperate measures.” I remember the show Black Books which was fun (and very British) which took place in a bookshop as well. I’m hoping that Broadway Books is funny.

On the Web, Things to Read

THINGS TO READ – EDITION 0003

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Since the fall of Twitter I have struggled to find a place to share links and online articles that I find interesting. So I am now creating small ”link round up” posts and sharing here. Hope this ongoing series or posts surface some interesting news & thoughts for you.

Lots of attention was given to TikTok leveraging all the data they have collected in launching a new book imprint called 8th Note Press (which is also now printing books with Zando). It’s interesting that OverDrive (the library ebook lending platform) has also launched an imprint called Heights Press. It’s named after a place in Cleveland and will focus on kids’ titles. You can read OverDrive’s full press release here.

The Book Maven has a podcast called The Book Maven: A Literary Revue that is now six episodes deep. They’re 30 minutes long and touch on various topics and books. I’m still listening, but I’m on the fence on whether I’ll keep up. One I really like at the moment is Jeff O’Neal’s First Edition from BookRiot. He asks good questions and talks to folks spread throughout the publishing world. O’Neal really is best when he’s on his own, allowing him to chase any and every rabbit he wants.

With so many year-end and bestseller lists out there, I wanted to share one that I appreciate and keep up with throughout the year. It’s The Southern Indie Bestseller List, which is updated every Sunday with covers and books from the previous week. The info for this list is collected from independent booksellers from across the South. It’s an interesting look into what’s selling in the region.

On the Web, Things to Read

THINGS TO READ – EDITION 0002

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Since the fall of Twitter I have struggled to find a place to share links and online articles that I find interesting. So I am now creating small ”link round up” posts and sharing here. Hope this ongoing series or posts surface some interesting news & thoughts for you.

Amazon is massive (that’s the kind of insightful breaking news you get here). But it is so stinking big that they have to automate many of their systems. If you did like many people have done and opted for a cheaper ad-supported kindle, be aware that ads for AI generate books are now in the mix. What a weird time to be selling books.

Here one of the most “fact of the matter” interesting take (or takedown?) on #BookTok and all of its influence. It’s worth a read. “BookTok isn’t actually a community driven by fans, writers, influencers, or even publishers. All of those people are merely a smokescreen.”

This last one is not an article but a 20-page report from the National Endowment of the Arts. It is titled Arts Participation Patterns in 2022: Highlights from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts and drops data facts such as, in 2022, only 40 percent of American men read books only 57 percent of women did. Both of these numbers are down from previous years. So now that we know this… why is it so and what do we do about it?