Numbers Game

HarperCollins-exec-turned-author Jim Hanas has launched a free dashboard to track the top-selling titles from some 900 small presses against Amazon rankings, the Independent Publishers Caucus’s Top 40, and more. Penguin Random House will release a slate of books this year inspired by roleplaying video game Baldur’s Gate 3, with four new titles—including a cookbook and a tie-in novel—planned from three different imprints. W.W. Norton is combining its publicity and marketing teams under a single department, headed by chief communications officer Louise Brockett. And the Children’s Book Council has teamed with Ingram to curate book lists for middle grade readers amid declining literacy rates. In other news, Netflix is continuing its partnership with Harlan Coben, and will adapt the 2007 novel The Woods for British audiences, reports Deadline. Dwight Garner of the New York Times opines on the uncertain future of book reviewing. The Guardian stops by a new exhibition at New York City’s Poster House exploring how books became a symbol of freedom in the early 20th century. The Los Angeles Times shines a spotlight on a local book club that’s convened for a quarter century. On Substack, Isaac Kolding reconsiders what counts as “short fiction” in the internet era. And Poets & Writers talked with powerhouse agent Alia Hanna Habib.