News Today’s Book News Tuesday, 23rd December

[AgentPete]

Today’s Book News Tuesday, 23rd December 2025

Barnes & Noble plans 60 new stores, while Jisc’s deals with major academic publishers promise cost savings and open access; from Chicago to the Philippines, bookstores and education sectors face challenges, and authors respond to scam marketing and scheduling controversies.

Book industry M&A in 2025: key deals and trends​

A Publishers Weekly report on mergers and acquisitions noted that 2025 saw significant deals such as Lakeside Book Company’s purchase of Baker & Taylor Publisher Services after ReaderLink abandoned a bid to buy Baker & Taylor outright. Macmillan bought the self‑help publisher Sounds True, Penguin Random House acquired Cherry Lake Publishing, Wonderbly and Text Publishing, and HarperCollins expanded internationally with deals including Crunchyroll’s manga division. Smaller presses were also active, reflecting a busy year of consolidation in the industry.

Finnish AI firm launches BookID analysis tool​

Finland’s Get Lost launched the BookID tool, which uses an extensive taxonomy to analyse manuscripts for emotion patterns, audience personas and BISAC guidance while respecting author privacy by operating offline. Cofounder James Cramer said the platform aims to empower writers with marketing insights and plans to license the technology to major publishers and self‑publishing platforms.

Barnes & Noble to open 60 stores in 2026​

Publishers Marketplace reported that Barnes & Noble will open 60 new stores across the United States in 2026, building on 67 new stores opened in 2025 and 57 in 2024. Chief executive James Daunt attributed the growth to giving local booksellers control over their stores and noted that some openings replace closed branches.

UK universities clinch ‘big five’ open‑access deals​

Times Higher Education reported that Jisc negotiated new open‑access agreements with Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, Wiley and Sage, hailed as a key milestone for UK universities. The deals remove per‑article fees and provide access to more than 11,000 journals and about one million articles annually, although some institutions may still struggle to sign up.

Philippine educational publishers call for procurement reform​

The New Publishing Standard covered the Philippine Educational Publishers Association’s 75th anniversary, where speakers criticised a new law centralising textbook procurement that has delayed textbook delivery for the 2025–2026 school year. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian called for reforms to let teachers choose books like private schools do, warning that the reforms could undermine both educational and trade publishing in a country already struggling to promote a reading culture.

Chicago children’s bookstore pivots to serve Latinx readers​

Publishers Weekly profiled Los Amigos Books in Chicago, noting that owner Laura Rodríguez‑Romaní faced reduced foot traffic after U.S. immigration agents began operating nearby and increased tariffs on imported books. To survive, she cut weekday hours, opened only on weekends and pivoted into book distribution, focusing on bilingual children’s titles for Latinx readers.

People moves: promotions in the US and UK​

Publishers Marketplace’s People 12/22 column noted several promotions: at Little Bee Books, Jaime Gelman was promoted to editor and Sydney Hackley to junior designer; at Simon & Schuster UK, Holly Harris became managing director of the adult division and Polly Osborn associate managing director. The column also issued a correction clarifying that Riverhead’s title “A Marriage at Sea” by Sophie Elmhirst had been misidentified as “Maurice and Maralyn”.

Binc launches $50k year‑end fundraiser​

Publishers Weekly reported that the Book Industry Charitable Foundation launched an end‑of‑year fundraiser aiming to raise $50,000 to help booksellers and comic shop workers in need. The group noted that the average financial assistance grant has risen to $2,333—an increase of 12 per cent—and said donations during the campaign would be matched by the estate of bookseller Michael Powell.

Scholastic posts higher Q2 profits​

BookBrunch, citing Scholastic’s second‑quarter results, said children’s trade sales and book fair revenues increased, driving an 11 per cent rise in profits, although book club sales fell 14 per cent.

FMcM to lead National Year of Reading publicity​

BookBrunch reported that communications agency FMcM was appointed to handle public relations for the National Year of Reading campaign. Chief executive Fiona McMorrough said the initiative aims to demonstrate that reading is central to culture, creativity and opportunity and to create a lasting impact across the country.

Obama shares his favourite 2025 books​

BookBrunch highlighted former U.S. president Barack Obama’s annual reading list, noting that his favourite books of 2025 included works by Kiran Desai, Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan.

Southbank Centre’s Indie Night line‑up announced​

BookBrunch announced that London’s Southbank Centre will host an Indie Night in February featuring authors Deepa Anappara, Khairani Barokka, Vigdis Hjorth and Tim MacGabhann.

BookBrunch revisits its biggest stories of 2025​

BookBrunch’s roundup of its most‑read stories of 2025 recalled star‑studded interviews and industry scandals that shaped the publishing year.

Transworld bolsters marketing team​

The Bookseller reported that Penguin Random House imprint Transworld appointed two new marketing executives and a marketing analyst while promoting four members of its marketing team.

Allen Lane acquires Harriet Baker’s ‘Intense Life’​

The Bookseller said Allen Lane acquired “Intense Life”, Harriet Baker’s group biography exploring artmaking, motherhood and time through the lives of Penelope Mortimer, Doris Lessing, Maeve Gilmore, Jean Cooke and Beryl Bainbridge.

Authors warned of scam marketing emails​

The Bookseller warned that authors have been receiving a deluge of scam emails from imposters posing as publishing professionals or famous authors offering paid promotions.

Walliams dropped from Waterstones festival line‑up​

The Bookseller reported that Waterstones removed David Walliams from the 2026 Children’s Book Festival line‑up, but the author denied the allegations that led to his exclusion.

Indie bookshops need year‑round support​

In a comment piece, The Bookseller argued that independent bookshops need support year‑round, not just during the Christmas shopping season.

History and Society series completes Irish county project​

The Irish Times celebrated the completion of the “History and Society” series chronicling all 32 counties of Ireland; the final volume on County Antrim features essays by 31 writers and concludes a project that began in 1985.

Guardian details Walliams festival controversy​

The Guardian added further details to the Waterstones controversy, reporting that the bookstore chain dropped David Walliams from its festival following allegations of inappropriate behaviour toward junior staff; HarperCollins had already cut ties and said it would not publish new titles by Walliams, who said he was never told of the allegations.

Review: ‘The Land Trap’ examines land economics​

In a review of Mike Bird’s “The Land Trap”, The Guardian discussed the book’s argument that land ownership is at the heart of political economy and has long allowed wealth and status to be passed down; the reviewer noted that Bird’s history arrives as Britain debates rent freezes and property tax policy.

Academic publishing urged to defend DEI​

A guest post in The Scholarly Kitchen warned that the current U.S. political climate threatens diversity, equity and inclusion in academic publishing and called for collaborative, cross‑stakeholder strategies to defend research freedoms, noting that censorship of scholarship has global implications.

Nook Glowlight 4 Ocean Teal previewed​

Good e‑Reader previewed Barnes & Noble’s Nook Glowlight 4 Ocean Teal, describing its 6‑inch E Ink display with adjustable front light, Allwinner B300 processor, physical page‑turn buttons and a new screen protector; the device is expected to offer three weeks of battery life.

 

[Pamela Jo]

URK? Not sure how I feel about this... how much is useful. How much is just following your nose up your own back passage?

Helsinki-based Get Lost has announced the alpha launch of BookID, an AI-powered manuscript analysis tool designed to help authors and publishers position their work in the market with insights that have traditionally been available only to traditional publishers.

The tool analyzes uploaded manuscripts using what Get Lost calls a "purpose-built fiction taxonomy with hundreds of analytically defined sub-genres." BookID generates reports that include "emotional pattern analysis, audience personas, recommendations for market positioning, and BISAC category guidance."

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"Our tool shifts the balance of power back to the writers," said cofounder Steve El-Sharawy. "For me, the most exciting part of using this technology is enabling writers maximum creative freedom."

Get Lost was founded by Cramer, El-Sharawy, Nick Moreno, and Eero Jyske, a team with experience in television, mobile games, data-driven creative production, AI, and audience psychology. Cramer said the company has trained the system on literary fiction across multiple subgenres, from romance to Dan Brown-style thrillers.

The company said all manuscript analysis is handled on its own offline hardware, and manuscripts are not used to train external AI models.

Photo Get Lost
An example of one of Get Lost's "reader personas."


"We work with local models," James Cramer, cofounder of Get Lost, told PW. "We don't work with ChatGPT. We don't work with Claude. Everything is stored on our own hardware."

The company, which is initially working with self-published writers, said marketing remains the number one challenge for independent authors despite self-publishing growing at more than three times the pace of traditional publishing.

In 2023, more than 2.6 million books were self-published, and indie authors captured over 40 percent of global ebook sales, nearly $9 billion, according to Cramer's research.

"Our goal as a team is simply to get more people to discover and read more books they love," Cramer continued. "One of the major hurdles to achieving that goal is an industry-wide data drought. BookID is our first step towards fixing that."

Cramer said the company's longer-term vision includes taking best-practices from mobile gaming development, a field in which Cramer previously worked, and translating those to the publishing industry. These include creating automated marketing campaigns and broader testing of marketing materials, a practice Cramer called "burst campaigns" to identify the best-performing promotional materials before committing to a larger marketing spend.
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[Pamela Jo]

Just seems to me that writers need to have a grip on their audience and readers when they conceive their story. And if everybody is writing to the same "demographic' you basically hae AI generated fiction. The real truth is the right book can generate its own demographic out of disparate ones. 50 shades being an example. If it can suggest where to find your demographic and how to sell to it then it could be actually useful?

 

[AgentPete]

URK? Not sure how I feel about this... how much is useful. How much is just following your nose up your own back passage?

It’s total shit

Based on a fundamentally-flawed understanding of, well, everything to do with writing and reading.

Make no mistake. This is very obviously the next “step” towards total manuscript automation, which has been a wet dream for a small band of deluded idiots in the business for a while now. Feed in the book demographics, length, and genre, and their LLM will produce as many full-length manuscripts to order as required. No awkward agents to deal with, no difficult authors, and the publisher owns the copyright in perpetuity. What’s not to like?

Like all generative AI startups, this, too, is doomed to failure.

 

[LJ Beck]

What an utter load of horseshit. And it reads like it was written by AI… all fluff, no actual reasonable content.

"Our tool shifts the balance of power back to the writers," said cofounder Steve El-Sharawy. "For me, the most exciting part of using this technology is enabling writers maximum creative freedom“

um what?? Wtf are they talking about? It’s just words that have no meaning.

“The company said all manuscript analysis is handled on its own offline hardware, and manuscripts are not used to train external AI models.”

Did you pay for all those manuscripts and get permission to use them for your profiteering buddy? No? What are they bragging about??

"One of the major hurdles to achieving that goal is an industry-wide data drought. BookID is our first step towards fixing that."

First of all… what’s a data drought?? Are they kidding? We’re swimming in data. And how exactly is BookID going to fix that? More data??

Yeah… “before committing to a larger marketing spend”… spend your $ with us!!

Jesus. Who would actually use this service?? And if they’re only focused on marketing then why do they need to analyze the books? Just analyze the marketing and the success rates of those marketing campaigns.

it’s like you say, Pete.. it’s about AI books. Ugh… no agents, no writers… no humans at all… be careful what you wish for!