Is the Political Book Boom Ending?

I haven’t posted much about book publishing in a while, and that’s partly because there hasn’t been anything all that spectacular to link to. But I did see a few trends this week I found interesting. Here’s one about political books.

In a BookExpo with few surprises last week, one thing that some didn’t see coming was the revelation from David Walter, the NPD Group‘s executive director for client development, that sales of political books have run into a substantial slowdown in 2019.

Here’s a link to more. It says there could be a certain amount of “political fatigue” right now. I know I’m pretty much sick of politics at this point. 

Is Drag Queen Story Hour the Future?

I never thought I’d see the day where drag queens would be reading stories to kids in libraries, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. As a gay man I’ve always thought of drag culture as a form of musical entertainment. But drag queen story hour is becoming more and more popular and many places. There was one here not far from New Hope recently that drew a huge crowd. 

Today, four years after that first event, drag performers regularly entertain children at libraries and community centers in progressive enclaves like New York and Los Angeles as well as red-state towns like Juneau, Alaska, and Lincoln, Neb.

There’s more, here. I think it’s wonderful. 

When Authors Don’t Fact Check

This is one thing I’ve always been careful about. Even though I write fiction, I’m constantly fact checking certain things in my books to make sure they are accurate. I recently had characters who are on the PrEP regimen, and I researched PrEP just to make sure I wasn’t giving out false information to readers. And I was just skimming the topic with a line or two. I try not to get into that sort of thing with fiction because it tends to take the reader out of the story for too long. 

Apparently, though, not all authors care about fact-checking.

The error was caught by Gray Kimbrough, an economist at American University’s School of Public Affairs, who uses the survey data — and realized that Dolan must have gotten it wrong. 

Here’s more. They get into a few more examples.

Amazon 

Sleepless In San Francisco

by

Ryan Field 

Kendle’s Fire

by 

Ryan Field 

Altered Parts

by Ryan Field

Amazon Link

Reader Reviews: “This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina. A sequel is in order and a film as well. Bravo Field”

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