In Publishing News This Week
The end of March saw the closing date for authors to claim compensation from Anthropic in the Bartz vs Anthropic class action. However, this doesn’t mean that Anthropic is off the hook. This week the Association of American Publishers, along with the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical publishers joined a class action taken by the Concord Music Group publishers. Yes, song lyrics were ripped off as well as scientific, technical, and medical information. So Anthropic might have to delve into their $300 billion wallet and find some loose change.
Over on Lit Hub, Mary Childs has an article on feeling left out of the Bartz claim…her book was in the original theft, how come It wasn’t chosen to be in the compensation?
The Guardian reports that Penguin Random House is taking Open AI to court because their Chat GPT bot plagiarized their German children’s book. This court case is being taken in Europe. This is a specific case involving a chat bot. The case is compelling and Open Ai don’t really have a leg to stand on here.
Are animated micro dramas the next big thing? Harlequin thinks so. They have partnered with Dashverse, an AI entertainment company, to produce animated micro dramas inspired by their romance titles. They have a huge back list to mine if the first forty animations do well.
Publishers Weekly interviewed agents and publishers about the Shy Girl controversy which I reported on last week. There was skepticism about Hachette’s claims that they didn’t know anything about the problem before it was brought to their attention.
There are some telling comments about the disparity of power between what publishers demand of authors and what use of AI they make themselves.
Mark Williams has been looking at the audiobook industry and finding the gaps that publishers are missing. Mark is a teacher in The Gambia, one of the poorest nations on Earth and he shares insights into a world where everyone has a smart phone but not a book or a credit card. There is a distribution model ripe for disruption. A fascinating article.
Jane Friedman has a great article about how the Bookstore Market has changed and what publishers should be doing to support them. The article is based on the recent Book Industry Study Group candid discussions at their recent event. If you know a bookseller pass it on. (I will be) Jane also has some author takeaways to think about.
Joanna Penn recently interviewed Anne Lamott and her husband Neal Allen on their new book Good Writing. Many writers will know Anne Lamotts book Bird by Bird which is one of those books on writing that every writer should read. Anne and Neal’s new book for writers is on crafting sentences. Read the transcript or listen to the interview it is fascinating.
This month Richard Charkin is reflecting on those strategy retreats that he attended when he was a publishing CEO and how quickly the high ideas and plans fell by the wayside to corporate bottom lines. This year will the strategy retreats focus on AI and will they change anything in publishing land?
Sara Hildeth writes this week about the rise of AI text generated newsletters. Her response is to question why writers would even bother to use an AI to generate text. The act of writing demands so much more from the writer. This is a thought provoking article on what it means to be a writer.
Written Word Media has an interesting deep dive article into what moves the needle as you go from Author to Authorpreneur. The transition to a business takes a different mindset and a willingness to look at marketing strategies.
Donald Maass has an interesting article on the writers toolbox of questions to make your characters and plot stronger. The important takeaway here is you can read loads of craft books but do you put the ideas into practice?
Mark Leslie Lefebvre is also looking at characters this week, specifically how your characters look at the world differently. Are you thinking about your characters world view and how they move through your story?
In The Craft Section,
15 actionable tips for writing deep characters- Joanna Penn- BOOKMARK
Ego driven vs Soul driven character arcs- K M Weiland – Bookmark
Using contradiction to create micro tension- C S Lakin
How does fear play into Character arcs- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark
Types of backstory – Gabriela Pereira
In The Marketing Section,
How to beat your newsletter competition- Jane Friedman- Bookmark
How to build a powerful email list- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
AI systems can rescue you from difficult marketing tasks- R J Redden
Marketing myths – Rachel Thompson- Bookmark!
Amazon A content can upgrade your sales page- Penny Sansevieri
To Finish
Recently Tessa Barbosa wrote an interesting article on Writer Unboxed about the value of craft in the art of writing. “Creativity is a practice, just like meditation. It is about noticing things, making connections and asking questions."
An AI can’t replicate your voice or point of view. Go out there and be human!
Maureen
@craicer
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