News in the Spring 2013 Issue of the Authors Guild Bulletin

E-book sales increased by 45 percent in 2012 to make up 20 percent of the trade book market, according to a report released in May be Bookstats….Adult fiction, particularly romance novels, showed the strongest growth in e-book sales….Overall, trade book sales increased 7 percent in 2012. “The growth in trade book sales occurred despite the loss of numerous brick-and-mortar stores in 2012.”… Online retail appears poised to surpass brick-and-mortar stores soon.

In other news. At a symposium held on December 12 at the Library of Congress, where the U.S. Copyright Office and the Center for the Book cosponsored a discussion on the part and future role of the professional author, Louisa Thomas, author of Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family-A Test of Will and Faith in World War, make this comment: “I had thought that when I published a book in 2011, the hardest part would be selling the idea, and then writing the book, but I was wrong. The hardest part was trying to get people to buy it.” Scott Turow, author and Authors Guild president, commented, “I have a daughter who is finishing an MFA…and I was talking with her about some of these issues, and she looked at me, and said, ‘Oh, Dad, none of my friends think we’ll be able to make livings as writers.'”