Publishing Industry News: April 10, 2020

• During this time of self-isolation, Dolly Parton is now reading bedtime stories and posting them online on Thursdays at 7 pm (ET), 6 pm (CT). Goodnight with Dolly will feature Parton reading a series of Imagination Library books that she will stream on the Imagination Library’s official social channels during the next 10 weeks. The first episode aired April 2.

• Author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to launch her new site, Harry Potter at Home, for parents and readers who are in quarantine. The site features craft videos, quizzes, puzzles, articles and more. Rowling has also relaxed licensing rules so that people can read the Harry Potter series and post it online without copyright-infringement problems.

• In the biggest sign yet that the impact of COVID-19 on the book industry will not remain limited to the bookselling sector for much longer, Macmillan has cut staff and, temporarily, salaries; closed the Thomas Dunne imprint; and implemented a hiring freeze. 

• While parents have had to figure out how to explain COVID-19 to their children, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has also had to figure out a way to explain the current danger to its patients. One solution was creating an in-house coloring book: Learn about the Coronavirus. It is  available for download on St. Jude’s Together website, together.stjude.org/content/dam/together/en-us/other/covid-19/coronavirus-for-kids-together.pdf; and 750 copies were printed in three languages for the St. Jude campus, Target House and Ronald McDonald House.

• Author James Patterson is spearheading a group that includes Reese Witherspoon, Reese’s Book Club, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and the American Booksellers Association to raise millions of dollars to help save independent bookstores.