The pressure to publish more and faster was one of the most frustrating things about working in publishing. If I could say ONE thing to the publishing industry about how to make things better, it would be this: do not publish anything you are not going to support well with marketing.

At Daunt Books in Marylebone, London, just named the most popular bookshop in the world www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro... @headofzeus.bsky.social

being an indie bookseller in the helltimes has felt both very stable and very stabilizing, and part of me wishes everyone could be on my side of the counter for a little while, because I think it would help some of you be a little less cynical and doomy right now. so here is my VERY anecdotal data:

I'm not an agent. I know very little about selling books. But I AM a lifelong #reader, and I know a heck of a lot about what makes a good story. 📖 Readers are the end goal and you know them (because you are one). Stop doubting yourself! You can do this writing thing! 😘 #writers #authors #books

All Rights Reserved. It couldn’t be clearer. Book piracy is theft. Training your AI models on stolen books is theft.

Nerds to the rescue. Saving important data from being 'disappeared'. Digital #book burning is ongoing. Once again, archivists and #librarians are the heroes. www.datarescueproject.org/resources/

A publisher saying ‘we’re going to have to borrow author royalties’ to cover costs is really not okay?? Authors are entitled to royalties for their books. Why is this even a conversation? It’s a business CONTRACT. That is not your money. It’s AUTHOR royalties.

Meta used at least 16 of my books, and numerous articles, to help train the AI it will use to make billions. Authors, search your name here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Confuse a british person by saying "brian cox" and watching them try to work out which one from context clues.

Nerds to the rescue. Saving important data from being 'disappeared'. Digital #book burning is ongoing. Once again, archivists and #librarians are the heroes. www.datarescueproject.org/resources/

Are you a fan of thrillers and murder mysteries?🔍🔪📖 From classic whodunits to mind-bending psychological thrillers, these reads will keep you guessing and entertained for hours.😱 #MurderMysteryMadness #Bookworm #PageTurner 🕵️‍♀️🔎📚 www.petercbradbury.com

I think that’s fair 🤭🤣 #SheShed

Anyone who would like to add the DEI international days and months removed from Google calendars, there's one you can add on www.cooleaf.com/blog/workpla...

What an excellent longlist of books for the @womensprize.bsky.social for Fiction 2025 - congratulations to all the writers🥂 We have a page featuring all 16 books plus a code to receive ⭐️15% off⭐️ Please support an indie (we are also a woman-owned indie ) 🧡🦊📙 www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/women-s-priz...

I’m still in the phase of seeing references to “King Charles III” and thinking “Who?”

Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.

If someone does this for my funeral I will haunt them forever and I will NOT be a friendly ghost

The extreme loop between "I am a monster for talking about my art right now" and "People need art to get through these times."

I'm still stunned that some people have no inner voice for their thoughts. What, not even 'Anxiety Monkey?', 'Lord Doubtness, The Underminer?', 'Random cheerleader who shouts 'do it!' Or 'F@(< them all!', not even Morgan Freeman narrator'? 📚 #Writers #ND

Never feel bad about reposting your stuff on here because for the first year of this website we had an entirety of 20 daily posts that we all had to share and reheat like a communal soup

Somebody yelled at me for posting about Ganymede instead of /the state of things/ last night. I know we’re (almost) all on the same page here, but a Bluesky without cute cats, science facts, and dumb jokes would be bad for everyone.

Great to see BookSky now has several sub-genres and you can sandwich the book emoji between two others to combine two groups 🙌 📚💙

CAT IN TESCO, THERE IS A CAT IN TESCO, THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

The beautiful cover of my new novel THE ART OF A LIE 💚🍍🍦 Abir Mukherjee @radiomukhers.bsky.social: 'A breathtaking, tension-filled, kaleidoscopic whirl . . . This book has it all. Masterful' PREORDER here: www.panmacmillan.com/authors/laur... More info below & more exciting news to follow soon...

Not a writer but if you want a good first sentence listen to the podcast "death by a thousand cuts" he really focuses on helping writers with that opening.

Authors! Submitting your story to an open call? As someone reading through 400+ submissions for an anthology, some tips: Opening paragraph/sentence: I can tell within the first few sentences if a story is a 'no.' 'Maybes' turn to 'no's' by the end of the first paragraph. Brutal, but it's true.

YES THIS HAPPENED. Also in a general sense if ASL interpreters are working one of my events and there is time, I try to give them access to any prepared materials and generally go over things that I suspect will present an issue for them. The idea they're not needed or useful is shitty ableist BS.

It's weird how some people get mad about pizza toppings on pizzas they aren't eating.

These people are your enemies

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re doomscrolling right now for no reason and you’re ignoring a good book you’ve been reading, you can just stop doomscrolling and read the book instead. I’m sure gonna.

🎭 THE NIGHT CIRCUS x HOUSE OF LEAVES 🎭 A tailor joins a phantasmagorical theater beyond his wildest dreams, only for things to take a turn for the worse (and the weird) when someone starts to sabotage the interdimensional portal in the stage. #A #F and soon to be #OS 🎉 #BluePit

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER X ANTLERS Kayla Dantes, an adopted Louisiana heiress, sets out West to track down her mother's killer, an outlaw called The Jackal. When she arrives in Prosperity, she finds the townsfolk may be the real evil. Until the wind blows. #BluePit 📖 #W #A #F #D #Western #WriteSky

The Last Of Us x 1984 x Firefly An alcoholic ex-soldier, haunted by his role in empowering a deadly regime, gets a shot at redemption by protecting a mute girl from turning into the galaxy's greatest weapon—one of the gods who killed his son. #BluePit #Q #A #SF

"You know, I'm actually glad I missed it. Everyone says the end of the world was, overall, kind of a shit show." THE TRUTH THE DEAD KNOW Zan Anderson by @hebkid-art.bsky.social

This pup is so good at wagging his tail that he broke the space-time continuum. 12/10 honest mistake

We have just joined. Took a while, but very pleased to be away from X. Hope all is good out there. Neil & Damian

A gentle reminder that new year resolutions don’t have to be about positive changes. You can commit to be more petty, seek revenge, and disrespect your enemies.

#BluePitHype Tip 1: Finding Photos for Moodboards Finding good free stock images is hard, especially with AI images flooding Google. Unsplash.com & Pexels.com both do not accept AI images and have large free libraries Pixibay.com does have AI images but you can exclude them in search #WriteSky

Seriously, though. Shit like this makes it VERY hard to write sci-fi satire.

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution: Stand with the readers, not the book banners. Choose knowledge, stories, and freedom of thought.

omg a student somehow accidentally wrote an email addressed to a faculty-wide NYU listserv and my inbox is now a master class on who understands the difference between a listserv and an email chain

Sending love out to every author who learned that their publisher’s marketing plan for their new book was to have an intern visit a remote woodland in winter, dig a hole in the frozen earth, and whisper their book’s title once, ‘neath the crescent moon.

The reason shelf talkers work is because they are written by human booksellers who have read and enjoyed books, which is why readers (and writers) appreciate them and find them useful. They didn't just appear magically on shelves, and replacing them with AI slop instantly turns them into garbage

Challenge time! You’ve got too many unread books? Let me help you! It’s time for the 2025 BookTempter’s TBR Challenge - are you ready? www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2024/12...

[friend reading over my Netflix script] FRIEND: ugh those executives. They want people who are barely watching to still be able to follow along, so they've forced you to make your characters talk so unnaturally and state their motivations without subtext ME: [sweating] yes. It was the executives.

The AI industry’s seizure of other people’s property, declaring it to be worthless, then pricing it at a premium once “processed” through them, has a historical precedent, and it’s not a good look. Yup. It’s good old colonialism. open.substack.com/pub/joelmorr...

UK WRITERS: You need to fill in this consulation. Govt is very clearly looking to an opt-out model of rights licensing that puts all the burden on creators instead of profiteers. It's long and boring but this is important. www.gov.uk/government/c...

So, this Christmas, I am hoping to be suitably whelmed.