The Thursday Book Beat: News To Look Out for in 2015

Happy New Year! Today’s Book Beat is structured differently. Instead of giving you the most recent book news, I’ll be giving you a list of news items from 2014 that I think will make a comeback in 2015.

BookCon 2015

Last year, we talked a lot about the first annual BookCon, as it fumbled with its less than diverse line up of authors. It thrust the discussion of diversity in the book industry into the mainstream, and as the second annual BookCon makes its way to us, it looks like big changes have been made from its first go around. We’ll definitely keep an eye on that this year.

We Need Diverse Books

A great thing came out of BookCon 2014 and it was the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign and they have great initiatives coming up this new year. I predict more discussion on diversity in 2015 that we feverishly started in 2014.

Amazon

It was quite the year for Amazon, wasn’t it? The Hachette battle has finally ended but 2015 will be the year we see if criticisms of Amazon as a major player in book world will persist. There were a lot of pro-Independent bookstore initiatives, pledges etc in 2014 in response to the Hachette issue but will that continue into the new year? Or will we have a short attention span and go back to the way things were pre-Hachette? Only time will tell.

Ellora’s Cave v. Dear Author

When this first broke in September, I wrote it up for the site but a lot has happened since then. The case is still alive and well in 2015 so expect an update, but, in the meantime, you can check out Courtney Milan’s write ups. She’s a historical romance writer as well as someone who has a background in law. She ably translates law babble into more coherent layman’s English. This case will have an impact on the book blogging community so it’s something to keep an eye on in 2015.

Superheroic YA

Last year it was announced that we won’t just have one but two young adult novels starring our favourite women in comics: Lois Lane and Black Widow. This year is when those announcements will materialize into actual books. Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond is set to come out in May while Black Widow by Margaret Stohl is set out to come out sometime in 2015 (title and cover yet to be released). I’m excited for both!

Publisher Ch-Ch-Changes

There have been interesting changes in 2014 in regards to publishers. We had HarperCollins close down its warehouse in CanadaEgmont announced it would be selling its US division, and Angry Robot closed two imprints. I wonder if we’ll be getting more of this type of news in 2015.

What do you think will make a news comeback in 2015?

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Ardo Omer

Ardo Omer

Former WWAC editor. Current curmudgeon and Batman's personal assistant. Icon art by Diana Sim.

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