The Publisher's Coach

08/20/2026

CONGRATULATIONS to all the 32nd Annual C**A EVVY AWARDS Finalists!

08/12/2026

Jude Randazzo just launched his latest crime thriller, "It's Personal" and it's now available from Amazon as an ebook, audiobook or paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBZRM5BH

You can also read the first chapter at juderandazzobooks.com

It's Personal (Tess Kincaid)

08/06/2026

"Theo of Golden is the debut novel from Allen Levi, an ex-lawyer and musician from Alabama who, just shy of 70 years old, decided to take a stab at writing for the first time. It was good ol’ grassroots, person-to-person marketing – and it worked. Theo of Golden sold 3,000 copies by the end of 2023. By the end of 2024, that figure climbed to 25,000, with the following year bringing a spike in sales. The first half of 2025 saw Theo of Golden shift 125,000 copies; it was ranked 38 on Amazon’s Top 100 bestseller list in America. Quickly, word got around about this unknown author with a hit on his hands, and publishers started paying attention. Suzanne Gluck, a literary agent at WME who represents authors including Brené Brown and Serena Williams, described it to The Wall Street Journal as “like walking into the woods and discovering a unicorn”. The heated auction for the rights took place that September, with Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, emerging as the victor in America. They rushed to publish their edition within the month, launching an audio version narrated by The Green Mile actor David Morse before Christmas. In the UK, HarperCollins imprint, Fontana Books, subsequently secured the British rights. Sales have since skyrocketed, with more than 2.5 million copies sold." So yes, there are indeed succesful indie (self) published books." So yes, there are indeed some amazingly succesful indie (self) published books.
Here's the link to the article:
https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/theo-of-golden-bestseller-allen-levi-b3027929.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawThutpwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMWlKUFhlSGdhSWhtTk5wek1zcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeqZGYhIlxZPKjNQ4U8i7DcNVoMIBh2fYRYmEoxfNsJThp58Hpz_XFVsyi-W8_aem_VT72yJIFU2Ybx_dj8Gd6Lw

It's outsold some of the buzziest books of the year and Oprah is a fan – but the debut novel by an ex-lawyer and musician from Alabama almost flew under the radar entirely. Annabel Nugent tells the inside story of an unlikely publishing hit

08/03/2026

This is a reminder as it's from 15 Years Ago:
To all of my Publishing Industry colleagues: Both the House and Senate passed the bill to exempt books from testing for the CPSIA. The article below is from Publishers Weekly:
Children's Books Finally Receive Exemption from CPSIA Testing Requirements
by Karen Raugust
Aug 02, 2011
On Monday, three years after the August 2008 enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), publishers of ink-on-paper books and other printed materials suddenly received news they’d been hoping for from the outset. Both the House and Senate passed an amendment to CPSIA that exempts “ordinary” children’s books, along with a few other classes of products (e.g., all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles), from the law’s testing provisions.
"We still have to comply with the lead limits and the tracking labels, but not the most onerous part, which is the testing and subsequently the certification requirements. While the legislation does not specifically exclude us from certification, if we don’t have to test, we should not have to certify.”

07/28/2026

If you're a C**A member you should take advantage of this great opportunity for your book(s) to be seen and promoted at the 2026 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association FallCon in Denver on Oct 5th & 6th.

07/24/2026

Are you part of the Anthropic settlement?

Bloomsbury, the publisher behind the Harry Potter series, expects to receive about $19 million alongside affected authors from Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement.

The company has 14,087 titles included in the agreement, with proposed compensation of roughly $3,000 per book.

The payout will be made in installments and shared with authors after legal fees and other costs.

The case accused Anthropic of using copyrighted books to train its AI models without permission.

Source: The Guardian

07/24/2026

FYI!

AI companies are reportedly buying old printed books for training data because they are free from AI-generated content.

According to 404 Media, a firm named ISBNdb helps AI labs source between 1,000 and 1 million books per order.

The company says books published before 2022 offer cleaner, edited, and structured human knowledge than much of today’s internet.

Source: 404 Media

07/09/2026

The U.S. Copyright Office is offering a free webinar on July 15th. All publishers and authors should know about and understand how to protect their intellectual property via official copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Copyright of Intellectual Property is something ALL C**A members should know about and understand:. Take advantage of this free webinar offered by the U.S. Copyright Office on July 15th.

U.S. Copyright Office Announces Copyright Essentials: Copyright 101 Webinar
The U.S. Copyright Office invites you to register to attend the upcoming online webinar, “Copyright Essentials: Copyright 101, on Wednesday, July 15 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. This event is the latest edition in its educational series designed to teach copyright basics and key concepts to creators within various disciplines.

In this session, the Copyright Office discusses the foundations of copyright law, the process of copyright registration, and Copyright Office programs supporting research, enforcement, and understanding copyright concepts like fair use. We will answer commonly asked questions; review educational resources and registration options, such as the Office’s Copyright Registration Toolkit; and share how the Copyright Office’s Public Information Office can assist along the way.

Speakers:
Samantha Levin, Attorney-Advisor, Office of Public Information and Education
Taylor Schumacher, Attorney-Advisor, Office of Public Information and Education

The Copyright Office strategic goal of Copyright for All means making the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as many members of the public as possible, through initiatives including education and outreach. Subscribe to stay updated about future webinars in this series.

Watch the complete set of recordings on our Copyright Essentials event page.

United States Copyright Office
copyright.gov
(202) 707-3000
or 1 (877) 476-0778 (toll free)

This service is provided at no charge by U.S. Copyright Office.