Capitol Letters

The military presence in Washington, D.C., ordered by President Trump last month is proving a challenge for indie bookstores, some of whom report a decline in sales as would-be customers avoid the city. ElevenLabs has launched ElevenReader, a direct sales platform for AI-generated audiobooks that will pay authors at 60% royalty rate. Heather Fain has been named publishing director at Knopf Doubleday’s Vintage trade paperback imprint, and Roxane Gay will be honored with the 2025 Literarian Award at this year’s National Book Awards. Gardners, one of the U.K.’s largest book distributors, is sticking additional charges on U.S.-bound shipments, citing financial uncertainty amid President Trump’s heavy tariffs, reports the Bookseller. Holiday spending this year is projected to fall 5.3% compared to 2024, per Reuters, which would be the steepest drop since the pandemic. For Lit Hub, audiobook narrator Adam Verner diagnoses the uncanny quality of AI narration. Meanwhile, NBC News gets to know the growing contingent of freelancers being hired to make AI slop look and sound less sloppy. The Albertan government in Canada has called off a proposed book banning measure after Margaret Atwood, whose The Handmaid’s Tale was among those to be censored, mocked the proposal on X, Deadline reports. And the American Scholar recounts On the Road’s tortuous path to publication.