In Publishing News this week
A tentative agreement has been reached with authors and Anthropic reports Publishers Weekly. This means an out of court settlement is on the cards. If you have a claim against Anthropic scraping your work to teach its AI you need to register before September 1st. Tech Dirt has an interesting commentary on why Anthropic may have settled- the threat of extreme statutory damages. However, they say this might not be an ongoing trend given what the judge declared about training AI’s.(Fair use- if they bought a copy of the book.)
Mark Williams has an interesting article looking at the middle ground of the two extreme positions of AI use in publishing. Four perspectives of AI collaboration in publishing. He lays out the pro’s and cons of a thoughtful use of AI.
Publishing Perspectives has a breakdown on the Book Sales numbers from The Association of American Publishers from 2024.In a $32 Billion industry, print is still up there. However, online sales accounted for over 30%. Audio sales drove much of the revenue.
While print last year was booming, lack luster sales this year has Bloomsbury axing some of their children’s division team. The Bloomsbury Boom and Bust rollercoaster of children’s publishing. (They get saved every twenty five years by some big name author.)
Mary Kole, specialist children’s editor and agent has written an interesting article on research she has done on the latest sales trends in Midgrade writing. Midgrade is quietly having a moment.
Some children’s writers have got together to launch an MFA in writing for young readers. After teaching at other programmes they decided what the world needed was a dedicated MFA just for children’s books. They have a great faculty and only five in person residencies over two years with two intakes a year. They are fundraising to keep the costs low.
Jennifer Probst has a great article on the 7 steps to thriving as an author in a changing publishing world. Every now and then an article comes along and socks you between the eyes. This is a must read.
Jane Friedman has made her newsletter free for its 10th anniversary. In this article she looks at how publishing has changed since 2015. Does anybody remember the world before Kickstarter, Audio books, and Direct Sales platforms?
James Scott Bell has a great article on the origin of Kill Your Darlings, No it’s not a horror story. It’s being aware when you have overwritten.
Katie Weiland has concluded that story is almost dead in this year’s films. What happened to modern storytelling and 6 ways to find its soul. In the film story cycle we may be in for a return to those great film stories from the 80’s.
Erin Halden has an interesting article on Antagonists. – Do you know about antagonist hierarchy. That is the layers of antagonism in your story. Not every antagonist is a mastermind criminal sometimes they can be the burnt toast in a scene.
In The Craft Section,
How much research is too much- Ellen Buikema (You can never have too much-MC)
5 ways to engage the senses- Lynette Burrows-Bookmark
Deep POV- Lisa Hall Wilson- Bookmark
Writing with subtext- Tammy Burke- Bookmark
What bad movies can teach you- Alex Cavanaugh- Excellent!
In The Marketing Section,
Leverage someone else’s network- Sandra Beckwith
Why every author needs a platform- Written Word Media- Bookmark
Holiday marketing – why prep matters- Penny Sansevieri
10 Amazon KDP secrets- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
How to write a Book Proposal- Reedsy- Bookmark
To Finish
To shamelessly rip off Steven Colbert’s monologue, I trawl through the web to harvest those snippets of interest, tossing them into a pot with spices and creating the hot stew of information that is my weekly roundup. This is a niche blog that writers and publishers tell me is required reading. Even if I take you down some rabbit holes. (Hat tip of thanks to those of you who have chucked a dollar or two into the coffee fund.)
If you have ever had to explain publishing to someone not in the industry you will appreciate the Diana Urban article about the Publishing Sitcom.
Yes, we’re mad to do this crazy thing called writing.
Maureen
@craicer
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