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✦ Featured Story
The $10,000 Question Every Author Eventually Faces
You've got budget and time to invest — but should it go toward writing your next book or marketing the one already on the shelf? We break down the trade-offs, the hidden costs of each path, and how to know which move actually pays off for your career right now.
Read the Full Article →
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News Roundup
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Publishing & Rights
Diversion Publishing Buys U.K. Indie Press Influx Press
Diversion Publishing acquired the London-based independent publisher Influx Press, marking a significant expansion of its international operations. According to Publishers Weekly, the deal added roughly 75 titles to Diversion's catalog, including literary fiction, short fiction, and experimental writing, along with a roster of authors recognized by major literary awards such as the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Read more →
Digital & Technology
AI has plunged the book publishing industry into utter chaos
Nieman Lab reports that generative AI is forcing book publishing into a reckoning over what counts as original human work and how the technology should be ethically deployed or disclosed. The piece cites an incident in which Hachette Book Group pulled a forthcoming horror novel after online readers accused the author of using generative AI to write portions of the book, a charge the author denied. Read more →
Awards & Releases
Judges Reveal the Longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize
The 2026 Booker Prize longlist of 13 novels was announced by a judging panel chaired by classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard, chosen from 163 submissions. Past winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart, along with previous shortlistee Elizabeth Strout, are nominated alongside first-time longlisted authors, with the shortlist due September 22 and the winner announced November 9 in London. Read more →
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✦ Author Spotlight
Our Authors This Month
Bestsellers & New Releases from the Scribando Showcase
This September, we're delighted to spotlight a group of authors whose work spans the mind, the body, and the stories we tell ourselves. In "The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind," readers are invited to explore the fascinating intersection of human cognition and artificial intelligence. Alongside it, Damian Fozard's forthcoming "Disbelief" promises to be a compelling addition to our lineup — one we can't wait to see arrive.
"The bravest writers turn inward, questioning the very machinery of mind, body, and belief."
Farzad Khosravi's new release, "The Primal Trap: Why your ape brain is sabotaging your leadership — and how to fix it," offers a fresh lens on the instincts shaping how we lead, while Rosen Dimov's "Not Your Script" challenges readers to write their own story. And congratulations are in order for Farah Arakji, whose "Happy Gut: An Evidence-Based Journey to Understand Your Body, Heal Your Microbiome, and Survive in a Broken Food World" reached #1 Bestseller in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome this August. Discover these voices and more when you visit the Scribando Showcase.
New Release
The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind
Unknown Author
View Showcase ›
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Coming Soon
Disbelief
Damian Fozard
View Showcase ›
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New Release
The Primal Trap: Why your ape brain is sabotaging your leadership - and how to fix it.
Farzad Khosravi
View Showcase ›
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New Release
Not Your Script
Rosen Dimov
View Showcase ›
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#1 Bestseller in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in August 2026
Happy Gut: An Evidence-Based Journey to Understand Your Body, Heal Your Microbiome, and Survive in a Broken Food World
Farah Arakji
View Showcase ›
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Industry Updates
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Anthropic's $1.5 Billion AI Copyright Settlement Wins Final Approval
A federal judge granted final approval to Anthropic's $1.5 billion class-action settlement, the largest copyright recovery in history, compensating authors and publishers roughly $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 works pirated to train its Claude chatbot. More than 91% of covered authors and publishers had claimed their share of the payment.
AAP Reports U.S. Publishing Revenue Reached $33.4 Billion in 2025
The Association of American Publishers' StatShot Annual report estimated the U.S. publishing industry generated $33.4 billion in revenue across print and digital formats in 2025, a 2.5% increase over 2024's $32.5 billion. Print continued to dominate trade publishing at 76.3% of trade revenue, while digital audio remained a strong growth category.
Amazon KDP Enables EPUB and PDF Downloads for DRM-Free Kindle Titles
Starting January 20, 2026, Amazon began allowing verified purchasers to download DRM-free Kindle books as EPUB and PDF files, making titles transferable across devices and ecosystems beyond the Kindle app. The change applies only to titles published after the cutoff or older DRM-free books where authors manually opt in through their KDP dashboard.
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Upcoming Events
Baltimore Book Festival
📍 Baltimore, USA · In Person
The Baltimore Book Festival returns to the streets of Waverly for a two-day celebration of books and authors, presented by Baltimore's bookstores and literary community.
Brooklyn Book Festival
📍 Brooklyn, USA · Hybrid
The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City, presenting national and international literary stars alongside emerging authors. The main Festival Day takes place September 27, with a virtual festival and Children's Day among the surrounding Bookend events.
Frankfurt Book Fair
📍 Frankfurt, Germany · In Person
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books and the global marketplace for publishing rights, running October 7 to 11 at Messe Frankfurt. The 2026 edition welcomes Czechia as its Guest of Honour, drawing publishers, agents, scouts, and authors from around the world.
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✦ Supported By
The Partners Who Make This Possible
Book World Update is produced by Scribando and supported by a curated network of trusted publishing services. Every partner listed here is one we personally recommend.
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