Underdogs

Our annual analysis of the PW adult bestseller lists found that the Big Five publishers once again dominated both hardcover and trade paperback formats in 2025—though a number of smaller presses managed to hold their own. Longtime children’s comics editor Andrea Colvin has launched a literary agency representing authors and illustrators of books for young readers. The National Book Critics Circle Award finalists have been announced, with winners to be named in March. In the U.K., indie bookstores are scrambling to prepare for a business rate tax hike that will go into effect this spring, per the Bookseller. The Observer looks back on the controversy surrounding Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path and the challenges of fact-checking memoir. In the Los Angeles Review of Books, former Black Sparrow Press editorial director Joshua Bodwell recounts how the publisher was shaped by its founder’s relationship with Charles Bukowski. The New York Times profiles I’m Glad My Mom Died author Jennette McCurdy, whose debut novel Half His Age is out today. Lit Hub rounds up 75 of the best book covers from the last 10 years. And trailblazing queer book publisher Don Weise has died at 59.