Hard Launch

In what the publisher calls a major investment in its romance division, Sourcebooks has tapped Disney Publishing’s Laura Burniac and Simon Pulse’s Rebecca Kuss to take on lead editorial roles for its romance imprints, along with internal promotions in marketing and publicity. Like many educational publishers, McGraw Hill is embracing AI, with the company chalking up its strong Q1 results to its growing investments in the technology. And we rounded up this month’s biggest book club selections. In other news, MacKenzie Scott is serializing her first novel in more than a decade through a Substack newsletter, Inc reports. Slate looks at the wave of new Odyssey readers inspired to pick up Homer’s epic by Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation. The Salt Lake Tribune talks with Brandon Sanderson about how his home state of Utah left its mark on his fantasy novels. For the New York Times, Radhika Jones opines on the value of book prize judges and other literary gatekeepers. Freelance editor and former agent Mary Kole reflects on how AI-generated manuscripts are changing the nature of her work with clients, for Jane Friedman’s blog. Vulture consulted the likes of Roxane Gay, Alia Hanna Habib, and Parul Sehgal to see how they make time for reading. And author and historian Johanna Fernández has died at 55.