Publishers Weekly released its most recent survey of 886 publishing professionals, which asks about a range of workplace and industry-related topics. Here are a few highlights.

Publishing is less diverse than it was on the whole, except among newer employees. 79% identify as white, which is up from 76% in last year’s survey. Among respondents who have less than six years of experience in the industry, that number is 65%.

Salaries are falling. Not sure what to make of this one. Median reported salary was down to $78,000 from $80,000 in 2024, with male respondents reporting salaries falling to $89,000 from $97,000. Management salaries, however, rose by 8%.

Workers do not like AI and think it will hurt the industry. Workers’ biggest AI-related concern is that they will work on a book that is largely AI-generated. 77% of respondents think that AI will be a net negative for book publishing, which is a big jump from 56% who thought so in 2024.

Dive deeper into the findings from the survey.

The next Oprah’s Book Club reading selection is Solace in Winter by Mary Lawson. The Canadian author’s works include:

• Bestselling debut Crow Lake
• Man Booker Prize longlisted The Other Side of the Bridge
• Booker Prize longlisted A Town Called Solace

Solace in Winter is set in the same world as these previous novels and explores how a series of accidental encounters rocks the lives of an elderly widower, an injured draft dodger, and an abandoned dog. The story is set in a Canadian town in 1969 as young men flee to the northern border to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

Of the book, Oprah said:

“Beautifully written and deeply moving, Solace in Winter reminds us that even in our loneliest moments, unexpected connections can open our hearts, heal old wounds, and change our lives in ways we never imagined.”

The novel and audiobook are available, as is the video podcast conversation between Oprah and Lawson. – SZW

Isolation can be terrifying, especially when it’s not isolation at all. Small towns, rural settings, and places where the population is less connected to the larger world or culture (by choice or by design) are prime locations for eliciting thrills and chills in readers. So it’s little surprise isolation is a popular setting for thrillers and scary stories.

Here are four thrillers set in remote locales. They’re all set during the winter, a season that only enhances that isolation.

→ The Unveiling by Quan Barry: A Black film scout is on her way to Antarctica to photograph potential locations for a film about Ernest Shackleton. When she’s stranded on an island with wealthy white travelers after a kayaking accident, every noise and experience on the desolate land is terrifying.

→ When They Find Me by Carter Wilson*: In a tiny Colorado town, Annie and her daughter are hiding from people who’d do anything to find her. Riven and her family have always lived off-grid, and her father is convinced they’ve found where the man who destroyed their lives is living. When Riven knocks on Annie’s door, their worlds collide in unexpected–and bone-chilling–ways.

→ Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice: A small Anishinaabe community has gone completely dark, and desperation is mounting as food supplies dwindle. When the arrival of unexpected visitors encourages community members to travel south, what emerges is a power struggle between the visitors and the community leaders, a mounting death toll, and tension between Anishinaabe traditions and the greater outside world.

→ One by One by Ruth Ware: A London-based tech startup has gathered its team for a corporate retreat in the French Alps. Everything seems fine until a shareholder begins to talk about a lucrative buyout, and tensions flare. Then a snowstorm hits, and an avalanche cuts the resort off from civilization—and one team is missing. Every second the team waits is one that they may never see outside again.

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Voting has officially begun for the 2026 Goodreads Choice Awards. This opening round continues until November 22nd, followed by a final round from November 24th to November 29th. The winners will be announced on December 3rd.

• There are books in 15 categories to vote for, same as last year. Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Romance, Romantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror, Debut Novel, Audiobook, Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, and History & Biography

The Goodreads Choice Awards are the most blatant popularity contest of all the year-end awards: you don’t need to have read all the books in a category to vote for the “best” one. You don’t even need to have read the book you’re voting for.

• That introduces a host of problems, and that’s before getting into the fact that Amazon owns Goodreads. Still, it makes for a good snapshot of the books getting the most attention at this point in time.

See the full list of nominees and cast your vot, if you’re so inclined.

The fact that Heated Rivalry has been renewed for two more seasons hardly comes as a surprise: the popularity of this little Canadian gay romance TV show is difficult to overstate.

What’s unexpected, though, is that we’re also getting a Heated Rivalry movie. The rumour* is that this is a Christmas-themed movie that will not star the show’s main couple, Shane and Ilya. Instead, we’re expecting Scott and Kip to take centre stage.

Reactions from fans have been mixed: while no one is upset about getting more content, many are disappointed that it will not be about the main characters. Scott/Kip fans are, of course, celebrating.

And then there’s a whole curious fandom discourse pitting the ships against each other, claiming that Shane/Ilya is a ship for straight women, while Scott/Kip is for queer men. (We simply don’t have the space to unpack all of that here.)

Meanwhile, the theatrical releases of season one have been very successful. I hope this paves the way for more showings of fan-favourite streaming shows in theatres; I had a great time at the KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along. —DE

^{*Allow me my Canadian spelling for this celebration of a Canadian phenomenon.}

November is Native American Heritage Month, and the perfect time to dive deeper into Indigenous speculative fiction. This genre can be a particularly interesting way to learn about Native culture because of how often it draws from Indigenous lore, bringing us closer to the stories and spirituality of the land we inhabit.

In these speculative books, compiled by Lyndsie Manusos, young men talk to glaciers, powerful girls summon monsters, and more.

• A Glacier’s Guide to Dying by Michelle Porter: A young Métis man sets out to find his father and finds himself arguing with a dying glacier, and wonders if he too suffers from the visions that destroyed his father’s life.

• The Sorceress of Sky Serpents by Eden Robinson: Once Yuala’s talent for connecting with monsters from another world is revealed, she’s put on the path to become the next Clan shaman. But trouble is cooking: south of her Clan is a chief hunting the Sorceress of Sky Serpents, as foretold by soothsayers…

• Hollow is the Heart by H.E. Edgmon (August 2027): Privilege, class, obsession, and identity all converge in this queer dark academia novel. Single trans dad Icarus falls for Laramie, but Laramie’s obsession with a local monster begins to consume him.

• House of Salt by Shay Kauwe (August 2027): A Waikiki bartender runs a scam on tourists: ridding them of spirits for a price. When a wealthy family hears of her “gifts,” they hire her to rid them of a curse—one she soon realizes is actually real. She’ll need to tap into her grandmother’s ancestral teachings to banish the malevolent spirits. —EE

Did you know? After her mother’s passing, Gaitskill read her journals, finding several instances where her mother had written, “I do not know what do to with this child.”

Don’t miss the best new graphic novels of November.

Pen and paper writing groups are bubbling up.

Book announcements are one early sign that someone has their eye on the White House.

Works in translation are “booming” in the UK.

Can I interest you in raising a glass at a banned books speakeasy?

Written by Jeff O’Neal, Sharifah Williams, Kelly Jensen, Danika Ellis, and Erica Ezeifedi. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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