News Today’s Book News Monday, 15th December

[AgentPete]

Today’s Book News Monday, 15th December 2025

In a busy end‑of‑year news cycle, Publishers Weekly reported that ReaderLink will stop distributing mass‑market paperbacks after 2025 as sales collapse, even as its bestseller list shows Dog Man and Wimpy Kid dominating and self‑published hit Theo of Golden rising into the top ten. Amazon is loosening DRM restrictions for some KDP e‑books, and fans mourn novelist Joanna Trollope.

Amazon loosens download rules for DRM‑free KDP e‑books​

From January 2026 Amazon will allow customers who buy Kindle books without digital rights management (DRM) to download files in EPUB or PDF formats and transfer them across devices. The change applies only to titles published after 9 December 2025 and does not cover books with DRM, Kindle Unlimited titles or library‑loaned e‑books. Authors may still choose to add DRM, and some commentators fear the policy could encourage more writers to do so.

ReaderLink’s exit signals the end of mass‑market paperbacks​

Publishers Weekly reports that books distributor ReaderLink will stop shipping mass‑market paperbacks by the end of 2025, effectively ending a format that once sold 131 million units in 2004 but only about 21 million in 2024. Sales have fallen roughly 84% over two decades, and former Penguin Random House executive Stuart Applebaum recalls that inexpensive paperbacks were once the most popular and accessible reading format.

Holiday bestsellers: Dog Man and Wimpy Kid stay on top​

According to Publishers Weekly’s 15 December bestseller list, Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man #14 and Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid #20 remain the top‑selling titles for a second week. Allen Levi’s self‑published fantasy novel Theo of Golden, recently reissued by Atria, climbs to number six after selling around 140,000 print copies.

Brian O’Leary receives Publishers Weekly’s 2025 Melcher Award​

Publishers Weekly has honoured Brian O’Leary, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, with the 2025 Frederic G. Melcher Award for lifetime achievement. He is recognised for a decade of leadership in developing standards, improving metadata, and strengthening supply‑chain efficiency and accessibility across the book industry.

Ingram’s MediaScout connects books with film and TV producers​

Ingram Content Group’s MediaScout database is expanding to link film and television producers with books that have adaptation potential. The service offers advanced search across more than two million titles with up‑to‑date rights information in 52 languages and is designed to facilitate cross‑border storytelling and revive backlist titles.

Novelist Joanna Trollope dies at 82​

British novelist Joanna Trollope, celebrated for chronicling domestic life in books such as A Village Affair and Other People’s Children, has died peacefully at her home aged 82. She wrote more than 30 novels and was widely admired for her insight into everyday relationships and dilemmas.

Commentary questions Google’s “year in search” shift​

On the Scholarly Kitchen blog, David Crotty reflects on Google’s 2025 year‑in‑search video and warns that replacing “learn more” links with AI‑generated summaries could weaken discovery by steering users away from original sources.