BOOK NEWS
This is no joke! With all the crazy stuff going on the editor of this newsletter has decided that for this April Fools Day we would not pull any pranks. Just the real stuff and maybe a little straight-forward humor mixed in, which you will easily recognize.
Are Books a Priority Yet, Amazon?
Amazon has expanded its list of priority items and extended its prioritization of sales of those items, although it has not announced which new items now qualify for the distinction. Printers and distributors are both taking hits from the new coronavirus outbreak, with Quad closing its book printing operations last week and Diamond Comic Distributors halting payments to vendors this week. In the good news department, PW has named its Bookstore and Rep of the Year. And HarperCollins has purchased some of Egmont's European book groups. Plus there's plenty more news below. Elsewhere, Refinery 29 interviews a handful of America's gig workers on why they're going on strike right now. The Atlantic highlights how public libraries are responding to Covid-19. And an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times asks how marijuana can be declared essential in California during the coronavirus shutdown while bookstores are still not.
