Total net book sales in December in the U.S. fell 4.3%, to $904.6 million, compared to December 2023, representing sales of 1,279 publishers and distributed clients as reported to the Association of American Publishers. For all of 2024, net book sales rose 6.5%, to $14.177 billion.

December's drop in net book sales was the first monthly decline since March and included all trade formats except for digital audio, up 12%, and special bindings, up 0.1%. The other trade formats, all with lower net sales in December, were hardcovers, down 1%; paperbacks, down 11%; e-books, down 11.8%; and physical audio, down 57.9%.

For the year, trade revenues rose 6%, to $9.5 billion. Hardback revenues rose 6.8%, to $3.5 billion; paperbacks were up 3%, to $3.2 billion; mass market dropped 13.3%, to $122.9 million; and special bindings were up 4.3%, to $231.7 million. E-book revenues rose 1.6%, to $1 billion; digital audio rose 23.8%, to $1.1 billion; and physical audio fell 37.4%, to $8.7 million.

Sales by category for December 2024:

Tamela Todd

Sip N Read Book Bar, which will offer a blend of "literature and libations," is set to open this spring at 1620 Michigan Ave., Suite 122, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Mich. The Free Press reported that the new business is a place "where visitors can peruse novels of all genres in a space that's billed as cozy and social while offering Michigan-made wines and craft cocktails."

"Sip N Read is more than just a bookstore or a bar--it's a destination where stories are told, friendships are formed, and ideas are shared," said owner and author Tamela Todd, who founded the bookshop and bar to provide an atmosphere that "encourages conversation, creativity, and community." 

Located in a 2,400-square-foot space, Sip N Read will also offer monthly literary and discussion events, book signings, and author readings.

Noting that the project "is truly personal for me," she added: "As a three-time published author, books have always been a huge part of my life. I love nothing more than sipping and reading--whether it's coffee, tea, wine, or a mocktail--and I wanted to create a space that brings that experience to life. We're creating a space that celebrates literature while offering a modern social experience, blending two of life's greatest pleasures--books and wine."

At Winter Institute 2025 last week in Denver, Colo., American Booksellers for Free Expression associate director Philomena Polefrone held a session on crafting effective testimony against book banning bills.

Among the "huge number" of bills moving through state legislatures at the moment, Polefrone reported, most are focused on public schools and libraries. They can take many forms, and though some are "devastatingly effective" at removing books from classrooms and library shelves, they do not directly impact booksellers, and in those cases, the American Booksellers Association and booksellers "don't have legal standing." But when a bill would affect booksellers by expanding the definition of obscenity or imposing a book rating system, bookseller testimony is an invaluable tool against it.

Elaborating on those two categories of book bans, Polefrone called the former a "huge threat," saying that it would become a major problem not only to sell certain books to minors but also to display those books in a way accessible to minors, and it could lead to stores having to create adults-only sections or even bar minors from entry.

Book rating laws, meanwhile, would apply such onerous demands on booksellers that they could effectively stop booksellers from working with schools. Polefrone noted that the ABA is involved in an ongoing case in Texas challenging HB900, which so far has been ruled in booksellers' favor, and last year, booksellers in New Hampshire were able to mobilize and defeat a book rating portion of a bill.

Philomena Polefrone

Touching on the life cycle of a bill, Polefrone explained that state legislatures typically have two chambers, and once a bill is proposed, it is referred to a relevant committee. The committee decides whether to table it or put it to a vote, and if the vote passes, the process repeats in the second chamber. If it clears both chambers, the bill goes to the governor to be signed into law or vetoed.

The committee phase, Polefrone said, is "the best place to kill a bill" and when one typically testifies. The most effective testimony is in-person testimony, followed by virtual testimony. Behind those is written testimony, and though it is comparatively less effective, it is "still very much worth doing," Polefrone said.

When it comes to crafting testimony, Polefrone advised looking for a "bipartisan argument," which usually comes down to money. She acknowledged that it may not be the argument "you're most pumped about," but the most persuasive arguments in these scenarios tend to be the ones showing that a given bill would be bad for business, and to that end, being a small business is a "secret bipartisan weapon."

Brevity is key, with most speakers having at most two or three minutes to testify, and Polefrone suggested crafting a one-sentence version of the argument to be stated at the start and repeated at the end. Booksellers should succinctly establish their credentials as small businesses, job creators, and constituents, which could include mentioning the number of years in business, the number of employees, and contributions to the local economy.

Polefrone urged booksellers to quantify, whether in costs or staff hours, as much as possible when talking about the impact of a bill. If, for example, a bill would make business relationships with schools no longer tenable, "you want to come in armed with numbers." If something can't be directly quantified, booksellers can still point to burdens like having to verify IDs at the door or barring minors from entering entirely, should the bill aim to expand the definition of obscenity. There could also be room for First Amendment arguments, such as prior restraint or compelled speech, or arguments that complying with book bans would cause reputational harm.

Polefrone warned that anyone testifying should "be ready for hostile questions," and she discussed a few "traps to avoid." Booksellers should try to stay calm and "be the reasonable one in the room," even if doing so means giving the benefit of the doubt to people who might not deserve it. The testimony should not be overcomplicated; when discussing business impacts, "don't get into the weeds." And booksellers should practice 30-second, one-minute, and two-minute versions of their testimony to make sure they don't run out of time, no matter the limit.

As an example of "perfect" in-person testimony, Polefrone showed the testimony given by Charley Rejsek, CEO of BookPeople in Austin, Tex., against HB900. Rejsek offered a succinct "reading of the bill from the perspective of a bookseller," showing how it would translate into her day-to-day and negatively impact the business.

During the session's q&a portion, Polefrone emphasized that part of the harm done by a bill like this is that it makes people so terrified of liability that they not only comply in advance but over-comply. "That's the kind of thing that we as booksellers cannot do. Under no circumstances." --Alex Mutter

Canadian author Antonine Maillet, "who shaped a new literary language for an isolated French-speaking minority, becoming the first non-European to win France's most prestigious literary prize," died February 17, the New York Times reported. She was 95. In novels, short stories, and plays, Maillet "gave voice to the overlooked French-speaking populations in the historic region of Acadia--perhaps half a million people spread across the Anglophone Maritime Provinces of Canada."

Antonine Maillet

"We Acadians, we were considered inferior beings," she told Le Monde in 1979 after winning the Prix Goncourt for her novel Pélagie-la-Charrette, one of her few works to be translated into English (Pélagie, 1982). "I was perfectly aware that if I wanted to succeed in life, I had to become English-speaking, because the Acadian was looked down on for what he was."

Maillet created a new language out of the archaic French that had survived through an almost exclusively oral tradition in her native Acadia. "I speak for those who couldn't, because they didn't know how to write," she once said in an interview.

"She invented Acadia, gave their laurels to a people that had been forgotten and whose survival was due only to incredible obstinacy," critic Gerard Meudal wrote in Le Monde in 1997. "She made their voices heard."

A theme park, animated by principal characters from her works, was built in 1992 in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Maillet's hometown. A Canada Post stamp with her image was issued in 2021. President Emmanuel Macron of France awarded her the Légion d'Honneur the same year, and visited her at her home in Montreal in 2024.

"She gave back to the French language a note that was no longer being heard, the French of Rabelais," Pierre Filion, her longtime editor at Leméac, said in an interview. "And cultivated French people appreciated it."

Maillet published her first novel, Pointe-aux-Coques, in 1958 and her second, On a Mangé la Dune, in 1962. She taught literature during the 1960s and early 1970s at the Universities of Moncton, Laval, and Montreal, and earned her Ph.D. at Laval in 1971. By the mid-1970s, her literary success, notably with La Sagouine and Mariaagélas, allowed her to devote herself to writing.

"We are a minority, even on our home turf," she told Le Monde in 1979. "Which is even harder than being in a minority abroad. And this is what I want to say: All those who are, in this world, a little bit mistreated, looked-down on, in the minority--we understand them."

This past week, Shelf Awareness sent our monthly pre-order e-blast to more than 870,000 of the country's best book readers. The e-blast went to 876,574 customers of 259 participating independent bookstores.

The mailing features 11 upcoming titles selected by Shelf Awareness editors and a sponsored title. Customers can buy these books via "pre-order" buttons that lead directly to the purchase page for the title on each sending store's website. A key feature is that bookstore partners can easily change title selections to best reflect the tastes of their customers and can customize the mailing with links, images and promotional copy of their own.

The pre-order e-blasts are sent the last Wednesday of each month; the next will go out on Wednesday, March 25. Stores interested in learning more can visit our program registration page or contact our partner program team via e-mail.

For a sample of the February pre-order e-blast, see this one from Tea Olive Books + Vintage, Griffin, Ga.

The titles highlighted in the pre-order e-blast were:

When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris (Random House)
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Berkley)
25 Alive: The Most Emotional Women's Murder Club Ever by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown)
The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)
The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates (Flatiron)
Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles (One World)
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins (Harper)
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata (Grove)
Your Pasta Sucks: A Cookbook by Matteo Lane (Chronicle)
Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights by Ashley Hope Pérez and Debbie Fong (Holiday House)
Till Death by Kellan McDaniel (MTV Books)

Food writer and recipe developer Kiera Wright-Ruiz (r.) celebrated the launch of her debut cookbook, My (Half) Latinx Kitchen: Half Recipes, Half Stories, All Latin American (Harvest/HarperCollins) at P&T Knitwear in New York City. She was in conversation with bestselling author and New York Times food reporter Priya Krishna. (photo: Benjamin Korman)

"I can't buy another book. Oh look! A bookstore." That was the sidewalk chalkboard message at the Bookstore in Pine City, Minn., which noted: "Have you seen our signs outside our store? We are getting a little more creative thanks to the great suggestions of our staff. This one pushed my art skills to the max, but it is getting attention from those walking by. Who knows what we will come up with next."

"Quiet mornings. Sunny windows. (We hope) Thriving plants. Comfy seats," First Chapter Bookshop, Seneca, S.C., posted on Instagram, adding: "Perfect, peaceful moments before the doors are unlocked for the day. We don't take a second of this life for granted."

At Little, Brown Books for Young Readers:

Jackie Engel is promoted to senior v-p, deputy publisher.

Victoria Stapleton is promoted to v-p, executive director school & library marketing. Stapleton has been with the company almost 20 years.

Margaret Hansen is promoted to coordinator, school & library marketing. Hansen joined LBYR in 2023.

Bill Grace is promoted to associate director of marketing. Grace joined LBYR in 2018.

Andie Divelbiss is promoted to assistant marketing manager. Divelbiss joined LBYR in 2021.

Alice Gelber is promoted to marketing coordinator. Gelber joined LBYR in 2022.

Cheryl Lew is promoted to publicity director. Lew joined LBYR in 2020.

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In the Workman Running Press Group at Hachette:

Cindy Lee is promoted to marketing director at Workman.

Amy Michelson is promoted to assistant director of marketing at Workman.

Amara Garibyan is promoted to associate marketing manager at Avalon Travel.

Empower Yourself Against Racial and Cultural Stress: Using Skills from the REACH Program to Cope, Heal, and Thrive by Ryan C.T. DeLapp (Guilford Press).

Tomorrow:
Sherri Shepherd Show: Judy Collins, author of Sometimes It's Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss, and Redemption (Andrews McMeel, $18.99, 9781524894368).

Drew Barrymore Show: Giada De Laurentiis, author of Super-Italian: More Than 110 Indulgent Recipes Using Italy's Healthiest Foods (Rodale, $35, 9780593579831).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Brad Meltzer, author of Make Magic: The Book of Inspiration You Didn't Know You Needed (Morrow, $14.99, 9780063440715).

Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Reid Hoffman, co-author of Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future (Authors Equity, $32, 9798893310108).

Max's Crazy Rich Asians TV series "has officially opened a development room led by Adele Lim who will serve as executive producer, writer and showrunner," Deadline reported. Lim co-wrote the script with Peter Chiarelli for the hit 2018 movie, based on the novel by Kevin Kwan.

In addition to Lim (via her 100 Tigers production company), executive producers will include Jon M. Chu (via his Electric Somewhere banner), who directed the film, and author Kwan. Warner Bros. TV is the studio.

Deadline noted that "there have been unofficial conversations with the original cast about possibly returning; however, there is no creative direction for the season, so it would be too early to speculate on the storyline.... Max confirmed the series will be a drama based on the book series by Kwan, which also includes the titles China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems, and Lies and Weddings."

Winners of the 2025 Audie Awards, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association, were celebrated last night in New York City at the APA's annual gala. The Audiobook of the Year was My Name Is Barbra, written and narrated by Barbra Streisand (Penguin Random House Audio), which also won in the Autobiography/Memoir category. To see all 28 winners, click here.

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Finalists have been selected for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The winner, who will be named in early April, receives $15,000, while the remaining four finalists each get $5,000. All five authors--along with this year's PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion--will be honored on May 15 at the PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration in Washington, D.C. This year's finalists are:

Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda (W.W. Norton)
Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj (HarperVia)
James by Percival Everett (Doubleday)
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Riverhead)

"This year's finalists offer us breathtaking voices from Palestinians in Baltimore, from Lagos, from a vivid Los Angeles and a hospital bed in Iowa City, as well as from the deep annals of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," said prize committee chair Laure Francis-Sharma. "These voices haunt, whisper, and invoke humor and terror. They make us feel deeply at a time when so many of us feel numb at the happenings of the world around us. In these pages we get the fullness of humanity, and we here at PEN/Faulkner cannot wait to celebrate these magnificent contributions to American fiction."

photo: Shelley Rotner

Heidi E.Y. Stemple didn't want to be a writer when she grew up. But she eventually gave in and joined the family business. Now Stemple has written more than 40 books for children, including She Sells Seashells and Bad Girls. Her new picture book, Janie Writes a Play (Charlesbridge, February 11, 2025), is based on the story of how her mother--author Jane Yolen--became a writer. 

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less: (28--I'm a rule breaker)

Janie loved a good story, so when the school play is boring, she writes her own. Author Jane Yolen's first big literary success, as told by her daughter.

On your nightstand now:

The Secret of the Dragon Gems by Rajani LaRocca and Chris Baron; Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss; What Jewish Looks Like by Liz Kleinrock and Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Iris Gottlieb; and Blessed Water by Margot Douaihy. But I also have a huge stack of picture books on my coffee table in my next-to-read pile.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Corgiville Fair and Pumpkin Moonshine by Tasha Tudor, and Cindy's Snowdrops by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Ati Forberg. Later Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams, which I read over and over.

Your top five authors:

Jane Yolen (I am contractually obligated to say that because she is my mother, but it's true nonetheless.)

After that, there are so many authors I love and move around on my top list. I will read anything Jacqueline Woodson writes. Same for Lesa Cline-Ransome. Since nonfiction picture books are my favorite thing ever, I am a Melissa Stewart fan as well as Carole Boston Weatherford.

That is five. But I will kick myself later for not mentioning others....

Book you've faked reading:

Moby-Dick. Booorrrringggg

I tried. I own a beautiful copy. I own the audio. I've gotten two-thirds or more through it multiple times. Just can't. Now you know.

Book you're an evangelist for:

This list is deep, but probably Water Is Water by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Jason Chin. Perfection in all ways.

I am about to become an evangelist for a new picture book by Rajani LaRocca coming soon called Some of Us: A Story of Citizenship and the United States, illustrated by Huy Voun Lee. I got a sneak peek and it's a must-own.

Book you've bought for the cover:

I just bought Feather by Cao Wenxuan, illustrated by Roger Mello and translated by Chloe Garcia-Roberts after seeing Mello's art in the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It is exquisite.

Book you hid from your parents:

I probably hid Wifey by Judy Blume from my parents when we were handing around a beat-up paperback in middle school. But they wouldn't have cared. My parents believed we should read anything that we wanted ("we" meaning myself and my younger brothers). I believe the same.

Book that changed your life:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I went into law enforcement out of college because I became obsessed with kids in street gangs reading it. I worked with juvenile offenders and murder victims' loved ones while in college and became a probation/parole officer. Later, when I started writing, I used the opening line from a speech I gave in high school, about kids in street gangs, in a short story I wrote and published in an anthology. It began "Bang bang, you're dead! It's a game little kids play, but some kids don't play it, they live it."

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely really made me sort through my unfocused thoughts on race-related gun violence. It sent me down a path to deeper thinking, and, I hope, understanding.

Favorite line from a book:

"Sometimes there's an owl and sometimes there isn't." --from Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Appropriate for when I'm owling, but also for so many other situations.

Five books you'll never part with:

My house is FILLED with books I will never part with. But, okay. Hmmm... the copy of Jamberry by Bruce Degen that I used to read to my daughter 735 times a day. A book with a cover by Trina Schart Hyman that she signed for me (I can't even remember the name of the book) that isn't even allowed in my house because it is moldy, so it lives in a sealed plastic bag in my garage. Tony DiTerlizzi's Realms, which has a piece of art for which my daughter was the model. My signed copy of In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. And a little-known book called High Ridge Gobbler by my dad, David Stemple, illustrated by Ted Lewin.

Plus, all my autographed books.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I try to read it every 10 years or so. As I age, the story changes.

Book I wish I'd written:

A Bird Will Soar by Alison Green Myers. Love, love, love. Realistic middle-grade novels are my favorite, and I read as many as I can. This one squeezed my heart in all the right ways.

Korean author/artist Jihyun Kim exquisitely transforms a child's ordinary morning into an appreciative meditation in Blue Sky Morning, her second picture book following her wordless 2022 debut, The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky. Here Kim adds narrative text, gently translated by accomplished polyglot Polly Lawson.

Unlike most mornings, "you're not in a hurry today." A voice rings out over the neighborhood, the leaves just beginning to reveal fall colors: "Wake up, Eunny! It's a beautiful, blue sky morning." In her bright room, Eunny is rousing slowly. She sits "for a moment and listen[s]." Outside, "lots of people are starting their busy days"; Grandpa "is already back from his morning walk"; the kitchen is hustle-bustling with Grandma cooking breakfast; and Mama quickly drinks her coffee. Once Eunny is outside, though, the reminder to "take a deep breath" comes with the "cool and fresh" air.

Hand-in-hand, Mama and Eunny join the stream of hurrying children, but the blue sky slows time and they "stop for a moment, and look up." All around the duo, businesses are opening their doors, workers are delivering and sweeping, and people are talking on phones, but mother and daughter are having a moment, "talking about what [they'll] do today." Eunny leaves Mama at her bus stop, waves goodbye, and turns the corner toward school. There she meets friend Sohee and the two walk in together. The "beautiful, blue sky morning" continues to bring joy as warm light streams through the large windows of Eunny's quickly filling classroom.

Kim works in watercolor and pencil, using sublimely muted colors. Her focus on line, texture, perspective, and realism makes each piece of art a whimsical adaptation of what could be quotidian photographs. She misses none of the details: last night's socks on the floor, finished coffee drinks carelessly left behind, weeds pushing through sidewalk cracks. Kim's meticulous verisimilitude may result from the autobiographical aspect of the work; in an author's note she shares that the picture book was inspired by her "life with her young daughter Eunny," as well as her own childhood memories of Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, re-creating "the house, streets and places she once called home." The magnificent result is a daily reminder to welcome, enjoy, cherish, and share the simple beauty of the everyday. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Jihyun Kim's glorious sophomore picture book, Blue Sky Morning, is a gentle reminder to appreciate and enjoy the simple, quotidian aspects of every day.