News Today’s Book News Monday, 1st December

[AgentPete]

Today’s Book News Monday, 1st December 2025 (London date)

Publishers Weekly’s salary survey highlights rising diversity, growing scepticism toward AI and improving pay. PW also reports on workshops debating AI in editing, Hub City Press’s mission to elevate southern voices, and Modern Library’s revival of Torborg Nedreaas.

The 2025 PW Salary & Jobs Report​

Publishers Weekly’s annual survey found the industry’s workforce growing more diverse, with fewer respondents identifying as white and more early‑career professionals from other groups. Pay rose to a median of $80,000 and job satisfaction stayed high, but 63% of companies use AI and most respondents believe it will be bad for publishing.

The Publishing Workshops Taking a Red Pen to AI​

This report explores how publishing programs and workshops are adapting to generative AI. Educators at institutions such as New York University are adding certificates and courses on AI, while others emphasise human‑centred editing. Many freelance editors feel pressure to use AI but experts argue that relationship‑building and empathy remain vital skills.

How Modern Library Published ‘Nothing Grows by Moonlight’ by Torborg Nedreaas​

An annotated guide explains how Modern Library’s Torchbearers series brought Torborg Nedreaas’s 1947 novel to English‑language readers. Editor Rachel Rokicki discovered the book during research in Bergen and secured rights; translator Bibbi Lee and editors emphasised its themes of class, gender and sexuality, and designers created a moonlit cover to convey its mood.

Irish Book Awards 2025 winners announced​

The Irish Book Awards crowned Roisín O’Donnell’s novel Nesting as Novel of the Year. Other winners included Cecelia Ahern, Elaine Feeney and Joseph O’Connor in various categories, while Chapters Bookstore in Dublin was named best shop.

Conduit reveals first book​

New men’s publisher Conduit Books announced that its debut title will be Malc’s Boy, a novel by award‑winning writer Shaun Wilson. The book is scheduled to be released next April.

Mosquito pilot's memoir for Abacus​

Abacus acquired Bloody Dangerous: Fifty Missions Over Germany, the memoir of 104‑year‑old Second World War Mosquito pilot Colin Bell. The rights deal was signed by Richard Beswick, and the book recounts Bell’s wartime missions.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Thank you for sharing this with us. I'm not really familiar with these new increased costs in the UK. Can yu explain?

[td] Business rates reform a ‘disaster’ for indie bookshops as BA fears ‘deluge of increased costs’ ​

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The Booksellers Association has expressed ‘real concern’ about the business rates reform outlined in this week’s Autumn Budget, warning it could catalyse ‘a deluge of increased costs’ for already hamstrung bookshops.​

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