Today's Book News Thursday, 4th December 2025 (London date)
Publishers Weekly reports on holiday titles for interfaith families and children seeking spiritual meaning, new religion book deals, and 2025 audiobook listening trends that show fantasy and romance dominating. The magazine also covers Bloomsbury’s AI partnership. Also notable:, a critique of metric‑driven publishing, an AI tool to reduce anti‑Indigenous bias, a science intelligence platform, and advice for indie authors on testing book covers.
Families with parents of different faiths often struggle to find holiday books that speak to both traditions. A senior editor explained that reading stories from multiple religions can encourage discussion and mutual respect during the festive season More than 20 % of adults now have interfaith parents and almost 40 % of recent marriages are between people of different faiths
Publishers Weekly offers a roundup of children’s books that emphasize the religious meaning of Christmas and Hanukkah. Parents looking for faith‑focused stories can choose from titles that follow the Wise Men’s journey and explore biblical details and miracles One Star, Three Kings and The Wonders of the First Christmas, for example, guide young readers through scriptural narratives and highlight love, family and generosity
A series of faith‑based book deals were announced. Paring Down podcast host Shannon Leyko sold a debut self‑help book titled Don’t Save the Good Stuff to Align Insight, while Bethany House bought a three‑book historical Western romance series by Tara Johnson Harvest House signed bakery owner Macey Merlak to write a sourdough cookbook, a children’s book and a devotional for women
Spotify’s year‑end data reveal that Rebecca Yarros’s fantasy novel Fourth Wing was the most‑listened‑to audiobook of 2025, with her sequel Iron Flame also in the top ten Fantasy and romance dominated listening among premium subscribers, with Sarah J. Maas holding three top spots Julia Whelan was the top narrator, and Spotify noted that steamy romantasy continued to grow, drawing a small but increasing male audience
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has launched Sunnie Reads, a book club run “by and for” Generation Z. Brand vice‑president Mukta Chowdhary said research showed Gen‑Z women crave community and that more than three‑quarters read books regularly The club, sponsored by Coach, will use author spotlights, polls, playlists and mood boards and plans to debut a bimonthly recommendations list called Sunnie Stacks in 2026
Self‑publishing platform Spines is investing its $22.5 million in funding to expand its services. The company now offers AI voice cloning, allowing authors to create full‑length audiobooks using just 33 minutes of recorded speech It has also added translation into seven languages and grown to more than 6,000 authors and 2,000 titles, with authors retaining 70 % of royalties and 100 % in the first year Packages range from a few thousand to more than $15,000, and voice cloning reduces production time
Interlink Publishing has created the Interlink Foundation to support banned and suppressed voices through mentorship, events and funding for translated literature Cofounder Michel Moushabeck said the initiative aims to build an inclusive literary landscape and challenge monopolistic practices He noted that Interlink, a Palestinian American–owned press, has faced increased backlash since October and that publishing has become harder due to corporate consolidation and pay‑to‑play marketing
After Montreal software firm Valsoft bought Above the Treeline, publishers saw dramatic price increases for Edelweiss digital review copies. A sales director said the higher fees come at an already challenging time and force houses to reduce the number of titles they list Kensington Publishing CEO Steve Zacharius noted that the per‑title fee climbed to $90 and the annual fee rose from about $1,400 to $4,400, prompting his company to limit the number of digital review copies it uploads
Bloomsbury has entered a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud to integrate AI tools such as NotebookLM, Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise into its operations. The partnership aims to deliver data‑driven insights to improve book discovery, sales forecasting and inventory management Bloomsbury’s digital resources division plans to use AI to enhance academic engagement and learning outcomes, while Google’s European president said the collaboration will help transform content discovery and support business growth
Publishers Lunch reports that Kids Can Press reacted strongly to a social media post by U.S. defense official Pete Hegseth depicting Franklin the Turtle shooting at drug boats. The parody image, styled like a Franklin book cover, was unauthorised, and the publisher condemned the appropriation of its beloved character
A round‑up of personnel moves notes that Jennifer Bergstrom was promoted to executive vice‑president at Simon & Schuster while continuing to lead the Gallery imprint Literary agent Zoë Plant joined The Bent Agency, and Shania Soler, Kaylyn Aldridge and Brian King were promoted at Metamorphosis Literary Agency Three agents left Andrea Brown to launch Starling Literary + Media, Kennedy Rooke became retail director at Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, and Spotify introduced an Audiobooks Wrapped feature showing listeners their top audiobooks and genres
Publishing Perspectives editor‑in‑chief Porter Anderson has died. He led the international news site since 2016, moderated panels at book fairs and in 2019 was named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year at the London Book Fair Anderson co‑founded the author newsletter The Hot Sheet (now The Bottom Line) and previously worked as an arts critic and senior producer for CNN
The Book Marketing Society announced winners of its Q3 Awards. Penguin Michael Joseph’s campaign for the novel Alchemised won the adult fiction category, while The Quiet Ear took the adult non‑fiction narrative award and Immortal Consequences won the young adult prize Judges praised immersive campaigns and strong retail partnerships and also recognised winners in guerilla, children’s, debut, innovation and other categories
In an opinion piece, Richard Charkin warns that when publishing companies turn metrics into targets they can distort behaviour. Examples include setting high gross‑profit percentages that encourage overprinting, reducing reliance on a single retailer by curbing sales to that retailer, and quotas for open‑access articles or diversity hires that may prioritise numbers over quality Charkin advocates using balanced scorecards and returning to fundamentals such as profit, author loyalty and a healthy workplace culture
Quill & Quire highlights wâsikan kisewâtisiwin, a tool developed by Shani Gwin’s firm to identify and correct unintentional anti‑Indigenous bias in writing. The AI model incorporates an Indigenous world view and suggests revisions before texts reach their audience A closed beta with organisations is planned for 2026, and the tool aims to assist publishers, governments and healthcare providers in creating more respectful language
A guest post from the Thomas Kuhn Foundation introduces KGX3, an engine that analyses research papers to classify them as normal science, model drift, crisis, revolution or paradigm shift By aggregating these classifications, the system reveals real‑time patterns in how knowledge evolves, enabling policymakers and institutions to see where scientific paradigms are forming or fading The foundation argues that this open service can guide research investments better than citation counts alone
The Independent Publishing Magazine advises indie authors to use A/B testing to choose effective book covers. The article explains that A/B testing compares different designs and can reveal which elements appeal to readers It encourages experimenting with colours, fonts and iconography, noting that 60 % of shoppers are influenced by aesthetics, and recommends involving readers via social media polls to refine covers
