George Saunders Is Publishing a New Novel Early Next Year<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need to know what it is about. Just that it is coming. And it is coming January 27, 2026.\u00a0Vigil\u00a0is what it is called<\/a>, and like with most George Saunders joints, reading the pitch is both telling and not. I will say that I am especially appreciative of how Saunders is interested in exploration and positing, rather than moralizing or proclaiming:<\/p>\n The novel, he hopes, approaches a political topic without restricting itself to an expression of opinion. \u201cIt\u2019s like Chekhov said \u2014 art doesn\u2019t have to solve a problem, it just has to formulate it correctly,\u201d Saunders says. \u201cSo instead of saying, \u2018Here, world, here\u2019s my fully formed opinion,\u2019 you end up taking yourself on a little trip in the direction of more complexity, more ambiguity, a deeper understanding. In this sense, the product is even more political, because it\u2019s charged, not only with opinion (possibly anger), but also with some sympathy.\u201d<\/p>\n Today In Books<\/p>\n Sign up to Today In Books to receive daily news and miscellany from the world of books.<\/p>\n Hachette Reportedly Acquires Joe Biden\u2019s Memoir for $10 Million<\/p>\n Yes,\u00a0this is a lot less than Obama and Clinton<\/a>\u00a0(both two termers who went out much, much more popular than Biden). And I still think it will struggle to earn out the advance in the short term, but I have much less sense of how these memoirs that are de facto historical documents do over the coming decades. I don\u2019t know anyone champing at the bit for this, but you might have said the same for Jimmy Carter in 1981. Things can change.<\/p>\n For More Than a 100 Years, More Fiction Was Written by Men Than Women<\/p>\n We haven\u2019t linked to much (any?) of it here, but there has been another bout of \u201cwhat about the fellas?\u201d when it comes to books. This has come and going quite a bit in the last 5-10 years.\u00a0This deep historical survey<\/a>was passed around recently to show just how female-heavy novel writing was, and then wasn\u2019t, over the novel\u2019s lifespan. This paper ends in 2018, where men were still writing more fiction than women.\u00a0<\/p>\n But my sense is that the upward slope has continued in the last seven years, and wouldn\u2019t be surprised if it was meaningfully over 50% now. And that is A-OK.<\/p>\n How is AI Changing Publishing?<\/p>\n We hear rumors. And whispers. And more than a few accusations and admissions. But how is AI really being used in the publishing industry? My sense is more than you might think, but not in ways that many of us fear.\u00a0The Book Industry Study Group is launching a cleverly anonymous survey for book professionals<\/a>\u00a0to spill about what their houses and imprints are up to. VERY interested in the results, which will be released in September.<\/p>\n Spotify Expanding Audiobooks Plans in Most Confusing Way Possible<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-07-22-at-10.14.26\u202fAM.jpg.optimal.jpg\"\/)
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