#book publishing websites

[reasonsforhope]

Book Publishing Resources

Well, since a few people said they were interested and/or that posting about it on here occasionally was a decent idea, here we go!

I'm MC Calvi, a freelance editor specializing in self-help, psychology, spirituality, paganism, workbooks, and LGBTQ books.

You can find out more about me at my website, where I also offer free twenty-minute book/publishing consultations, in addition to regular editing services.

I am also now offering some pay-what-you-can resources on my website and on Gumroad. I'm committed to offering pay-what-you-can resources because the odds are already so stacked against marginalized authors, and publishing shouldn't be pay to win.

I have two new booklets I'm actually super happy with! They both draw on my eight years of experience in the publishing industry to give authors a leg up.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming as I hit "publish" on another good news post!

[severalowls]

I love when somebody writes about something as "the rise and fall of [thing]" but the thing is still like, fine. If anything it's still rising, maybe more than ever, but the author doesn't like that very much.

[smol-blue-bird]

just found another Theodora Novel on the Kindle app. it does not look promising. I must read it immediately

[drakonfire12]

How to help the Ukrainian Book Industry

As per usual, I forget to post on Tumblr now a days. Let's talk Faktor Druk.

What happened?

Russia launched 15 missiles at Kharkiv. Faktor Druk, a printing house was hit twice (in total 3 strikes in the general area). Last I heard, 7 are dead. 22 are wounded. (During the strike, 50 employees were in the building.)

Why it matters? Most Ukrainian publishers had books printed there. Every 3rd Ukrainian book was printed there [Source]. You may think "it's only 50 000 fiction books", but no, it includes textbooks. As in, kids might not get any textbooks, because who else will print them when most books are printed in Kharkiv?

"The printing house Faktor-Druk is part of the Faktor company group, which also includes the renowned Ukrainian publishing house and bookstore Vivat. Faktor-Druk has the capacity to produce approximately 50 million hardcover and paperback books, 100 million magazines, and 300 million newspapers annually. The facility employs 400 people and encompasses 15,822 square meters of production space. According to Forbes Ukraine, Faktor-Druk is one of only two factories in Ukraine that can print products for Disney and Marvel, having successfully passed a rigorous multi-level audit." [Source]

Now how to help? Countries are trying to help with rebuilding, but here are some things you can do.

Vivat posted about a fundraiser for Faktor Druk. Originally posted here by CEO Yuliya Orlova. Reposted to Vivat website here.

Based on my own experience, I believe it is crucial to channel our grief and anger into action. How can you do that?

Ways to support: Donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they are our heroes! Keep buying Ukrainian books! Factor-Druk is one of the largest printing houses in Ukraine, where not only Vivat books are printed, but also many books from other publishers, as well as newspapers, magazines, calendars, school notebooks for your children and grandchildren.⠀ How to help: The Factor company has initiated a fundraiser. All donations will be used to support those affected and to restore the printing industry. Details can be found at the following link: https://vivat.com.ua/blog/udar-po-drukarni-faktor-druk-yak-dopomohty/ [Source]

Vally_v on Instagram is doing a fundraiser raffle below for the chance to win this edition of Ivan Franko's “Manipuliantka”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Val Voshchevska 🇺🇦 (@vally_v)

You can support the publishers by buying Ukrainian books and ebooks (most print their books through Faktor).

On the whole, this destruction is part of the larger war where Russians have been destroying Ukraine.

Some more background

The first year of the full-scale invasion led to a 50% decrease in demand [Source]. Shelling in Kharkiv has led to a backlog due to limited electricity and a shortage of qualified personnel [Source].

In terms of operations, within 2022:

From the start of the full scale invasion to April 25th of 2024, the Russians have damaged 1062 cultural heritage sites [Source]:

Specifically, architectural and urban planning sites comprise 316 objects, architecture – 307, historical– 226, architecture and urban planning, historical – 61, archaeology – 56, architecture, historical – 39, monumental art – 21, urban planning and monumental-decorative art – 19, architecture, monumental art – 7, urban planning – 5, science and technology, architecture – 2, architecture and monumental art – 1, architecture, garden and park art – 1; architecture and garden and park art – 1.

From that same period of time, Russians damaged 1987 cultural institutions (324 destroyed) [Source].

"In total, the following have been affected: – Creative hubs: 958 – Libraries: 708 – Art education institutions: 153 – Museums and galleries: 114 – Theaters, cinemas, and philharmonic halls: 36 – Parks, zoos, reserves: 15 – Circuses: 3"

There is also this interactive map of the book ecosystem in Ukraine:

Links:

Oleksiy Hrushevsky. Ukrain's printing companies suffer 40% capacity cuts after Russian attack on Kharkiv printing house. Online.ua.

Russian army attacks printing house in Kharkiv causing injury and death – UPDATED. Chytomo.

Porter Anderson. Russian Attack Hits Ukraine’s Factor-Druk Printing House. Publishing Perspective.

Porter Anderson. Europe’s Publishers: Anger, Solidarity After Kharkiv Attack. Publishing Perspective.

Олеся Дерзська. Як ракетний удар по «Фактор-Друк» вдарить по книгоіндустрії? Speka.

Factor Group of companies on Facebook.

Yuliya Orlova on Facebook. [Vivat CEO]

Vivat on Facebook. Книгарка Vivat on Telegram.

Sergey Polituchiy on Facebook.

Over 50,000 books destroyed and three publishers affected in Russian strike on Kharkiv printing house. Ukrains'ka Pravda.

Тетяна Леонова. «Українці — не варвари, ми не палимо книжки»: Олена Рибка, шеф-редакторка видавництва Vivat автор. Nakypilo.

Анна М’ясникова. Харківська друкарня після обстрілу. Фоторепортаж. Nakypilo.

On the Ukrainian publishing industry:

[Dec. 2022] The State of the Ukrainian Book Publishing Sector During Wartime. Ukraine World.

[23.12.2022] Anastasia Zagorui & Oksana Khmeliovska. 9 months of invasion: how Ukrainian publishers work in times of war. Chytomo.

[12.08.2022] Anastasia Zagorui. How Ukrainian publishers work during the war. Chytomo.

[12.02.2024] Iryna Baturevych. The Ukrainian Publishing Market 2023: “Competition has reached unprecedented levels”. Chytomo. (old poll, but gives some perspective).

[06.05.2024] Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Due to russian aggression in Ukraine, 1062 cultural heritage sites have been affected.

[02.05.2024] Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. 1987 cultural infrastructure objects have been damaged or destroyed due to russian aggression.

[April 2023] A Brief Overview of the Ukrainian Publishing Sector : Supporting Ukrainian Publishing Resilience and Recovery (SUPRR).

[Oct 2023] Ukraine’s book business during war: Ukrainians want to read their own, but Russia may enter the market again. Rubryka.

[April 2024] Against all odds: How Ukrainian book publishing navigates challenges of war. Rubryka.

[04.04.2024] The constant shelling of Kharkiv leads to major backlog for Ukrainian books-in-print. Chytomo.

Interactive map:

Interactive map of the Ukrainian book ecosystem. Ukrainian Book Institute.

Thanks for reading, this turned out to be a super long post.

[my-skull-is-full-of-sunken-ships]

Couple years ago, before leaving Russia, I bought myself over a dozen books, including one about gays in Soviet pioneer camp that is a part of duology.

I remember my friend suggesting that while I'm still in Russia, I should get my hands on a second book as well.

Me, being a smartass that I am, said "Well, what if I read the first book and don't like it? It'd be a waste of money"

In less than half a year that book got banned.

I just finished the first part that I have with me here, in Slovenia.

I liked it very much.

I cannot buy the second part.

Send help.

[lethalhoopla]

I am once again losing my mind.

This time: I went to look up references of Varric, and just typed "Varric Tethras" into the search bar. I was going to just tab over immediately to the images section, eyes barely glancing over the obvious top-result fandom wiki, then (more entertainingly, but still expected) Wikipedia link-

but. but the next one.

GOODREADS??

.... There's absolutely no tongue-in-cheek in the entry either.

(of course I immediately clicked on it who do you think I am)

There are 3 quotes from him relating to storytelling, both from 2 and Inquisition, as well as a book attribution:

The Dragon Age Novel Edition of Hard in Hightown.

ATTRIBUTED TO VARRIC TETHRAS.

with Mary Kirby*~

Absolutely unblinkingly written summary/bio.

I love this with my whole heart. Varric you beautiful bastard -- and DA writers/editors (Mary Kirby very much most importantly included) you even more beautiful, dorky, wonderful bastards.

---

*if you're not in the know, Mary Kirby is a cornerstone of the DA writing team, including being the one who was in charge of Varric (and Merrill!). To say she's his "trusted human confidante" is certainly putting it one (delightful) way.

[asexualbookbird]

still searching but no i cant find evidence that the novice had an editor :|

[apocellipse]

maybe we don’t have to compare reading fanfiction to reading books. maybe it’s not that deep. maybe we all just like reading.

[aquitainequeen]

Applicants for the Editorial Assistant position: I love reading and literature! I spend a lot of time on BookTok! I'm passionate about exciting narratives!

Me, alternating between assessing candidates and scrutinizing a manuscript to make sure there are no nasty permission surprises: Oh, you are applying to the wrong department, my friend.

[colorisbyshe]

Book Depository is shutting down on the 26th of April and in some ways, that's good, because now I can re-direct mostly Americans to book sellers that are NOT owned by Amazon.

But, before I do that, I would like to apologize to a lot of non-Americans who relied on BD to buy harder to find books that are not available in your country. I don't have many alternative resources to offer you because I'm only familiar with what works in America but I welcome any additional comments offering said alternatives.

For everyone, including people who aren't in America, I can offer only this:

Bookfinder: I'm including this first and foremost because you can put in your book title, what country you're in, and it'll do its best to find booksellers and list them by price (WITH shipping already included in that calculation). This DOES include amazon and amazon owned companies. I recommend looking up companies and seeing if they are owned by amazon because a lot are (like BD, like abe books). I won't shame anyone who relies on amazon because sometimes amazon/amazon-owned companies are all that's available. I just want to recognize that Amazon is controlling the flow of available media is a problem.

For Americans (and possibly other countries):

Betterworldbooks

Book Outlet

Bookshop: Supports local book sellers

Discover Books

Thriftbooks

I also recommend shopping locally! Indiebound will help you find local book stores.

But if that also fails you, a good method to finding cheaper books without supporting amazon... is to use amazon. Check amazon listings and under paperback (or hard cover), there will be a link saying "other new, used, and collectible." Click that, look up the names of the sellers listed there, and see if they have their own selling platform off of amazon.

If you are still being failed, check your local library. Use apps like hoopla/overdrive/libby/kanopy (the latter being for film). Go INSIDE your local library and see if they have books for sale--some libraries have year round book sales, some have blow out sales just once or twice a year. With books going for 50 cents, a dollar, three max. Lots of people donate NEW, NEVER READ books to these sales.

If you still can't find the books you are looking for, I do recommend piracy. But PLEASE do not publicly share links to good piracy sources on this post. Spreading them publicly is how resources get fucked over. Please communicate more privately. But my one piece of advice is... "[book name] [ebook file type you want] download" is always a good place to start. Look up what file type is best for the device you wanna use, it's so easy.

[l-e-morgan-author]

if I started a Patreon/something equivalent (e.g. email list) to release a novel would y'all follow it? with a cost I mean, a low cost? I haven't looked into it to get an idea of pricing but it would be low

[fictionadventurer]

It's here!!

It's so pretty!

And thick! (Lots of story to read!)

And it feels so nice in my hands!

[iwanttobepersephone]

Constantly fighting between "Oh that's a really cool concept for a story, plus I do wanna support my mutuals!" And "hhhhhhhhhrhrgggggggg I hate reading on my phoneeeee it hurts my eyesssss" whenever I see someone is writing a fanfiction

[girl-bateman]

Exchange semester in the Netherlands???? Hello ???? Fall of 2024 ???? I got accepted ???

[essektheylyss]

Oh hey! Do you like stories about wlw and weird, convoluted forms of time travel? Do you like supporting queer folks making cool art? Did River Song rewire your brain as a teenager?

I wrote a short story called "A Practical Study of Time" for Baffling Magazine, a queer speculative fiction mag! It's published on Patreon, if you're interested in becoming a patron of a super neat lit mag—or it'll be on their site when their eleventh issue is published in April!

[cuteteacakes]