A Slow Start

Tariffs and fiscal uncertainty reined in Penguin Random House’s growth in the first half of 2025, capping its sales gains at 2.1% while profits dipped by 12%. The care and attention that indie presses provide is proving a powerful draw for midlist authors, who are increasingly turning away from their conglomerate publishing houses. Plus, Italian comics creator Hugo Pratt’s iconic character Corto Maltese is getting a proper introduction to American readers later this year courtesy of Fantagraphics. For her newsletter, Jane Friedman breaks down four key ways that publishing has changed over the last decade. President Obama dropped his annual summer reading list, which includes Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain biography and Katie Kitamura’s latest novel. Fast Company unpacks the surprising success of Book of the Month, which has survived 100 years of changing trends and reading habits. The Los Angeles Times spotlights sisters Annabelle and Alexandra Brown Chang, who are shaking up the world of YA with their book club, bookstore, and upcoming novel. The Economist tracks the resurgence of the “cozy crime” genre. For the New Yorker, Joshua Rothman considers how AI is eroding and remixing culture. And Lit Hub extols the virtues of CliffsNotes study guides in the era of ChatGPT.