Is It A Trend?

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

 

The Anthropic court case news was everywhere.

A quick rundown of the case so far. Anthropic (Claude AI) were taken to court in a class action on unlawfully training their AI on pirated copyrighted works. The judge indicated fair use was the issue and they could have bought a copy of each book for training. However, they used stolen work- so there was a case. Anthropic settled out of court for $1 Billion. (less than 1% of their recent venture capital fundraising) Each author stands to get $3000 if they or their publisher had registered the book with the US copyright office. Authors discover their publishers haven’t copyrighted their books. The judge comes back and says hang on this settlement is not fair. Who knows what will happen next.

 

While Apple was celebrating their latest iPhone, in court news they are being sued by authors for copyright infringement and yes… they used a pirate site to train their AI.

 

Media Voices has an article about a new AI on the block that publishers can use to find places where their content has been reused or pirated without compensation. 

 

Elsewhere, Spotify is teaming up with Booktok to launch Booktok Hub a dedicated site to get Booktok recommended audiobooks through Spotify. They will use the viral power of Booktok to sell books to you.

 

This week International Literacy Day was not celebrated with joy. A report out from the World Literacy Foundation laments that literacy is going backwards. An estimated 2 Billion people cannot read a simple sentence. This is appalling. Bring back the old days when rich people funded libraries and lifted literacy. 

 

Bologna Children’s Book Fair and Shanghai Book fair have got together to produce a fair dedicated to illustration and pop culture. This looks like an exciting event to go to. Publishing Perspectives reports what’s on offer in November. 

 

With the huge interest in K Pop stories, a new publishing company has been set up to bring more of these stories into the English language. Publishers Weekly details the rise of the webcomic publisher Crossed Hearts.

 

Publishers Weekly also has an in-depth article with Agents on Middle Grade fiction and the trials of bringing these books to market in the current restricted publishing atmosphere. Despite all the hurdles they remain optimistic.

 

Darcy Pattison has an excellent article on publishing children’s books. She lays out the different models and talks about what you might want from your career. Your goals will determine your business model. 

 

Jami Gold has an excellent article on Angela and Becca’s blog about How to Differentiate Stories from AI Slop. What do you bring to the table in your writing that an AI can’t. This is a must read for reasons not to let AI do the creative work for you.

 

In the Craft Section,

It’s what’s up front that counts-James Preston

How to write stories that matter- Lynette Burrows – Excellent!

Foreshadowing in writing- Tammy Burke- Bookmark

Does my Character have to arc our of their want- September Fawkes - Bookmark

Make yourself the most useful critiquer- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Bookbub Ads- easy to create- Bookbub- Bookmark

How to use geniuslink to sell books- Rachel Thompson -Bookmark

Podcasts and authors- Sandra Beckwith

How to have multiple identities- Alliance of Independent Authors

Surviving author photos- Randy Susan Meyers- Bookmark

 

To Finish 

A writer just can’t help it. They have to find out what everyone is writing. Chasing Trends is always the hot topic at writer’s gatherings. Can you get in on the ground floor of a trend? Ellen Buikema has a great article on spotting trend cycles and when to just leave them alone and write your own unique story.

You might just start a trend!

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the free Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic  Photo by 愚木混株 Yumu on Unsplash

Creativity With A Side Of Madness

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

The Internet Archive is back in the news again with the appeals court handing down their verdict. The archive wanted to scan eBooks and make print copies of them. They didn’t see a problem with it because they were nonprofit. This week the appeals court upheld the decision against Internet Archive. Four years in the courts and now we have the definitive ruling on Fair Use (Don’t publish in another format- when you aren’t the publisher of record.)

 

Also in the courts, writers, students, and teachers protesting the book banning law passed in Florida. High profile Young Adult writers have joined this action claiming censorship is happening in schools. 

 

NaNoWriMo.org has found itself in hot water over their stance on AI. Many writers have been vitriolic about their stance that denying the use of AI tools is Classist and Abelist. The Verge looks at the arguments.

 

Mark Williams looks at Wiley’s windfall of $44mill and their claim of operating in the best interests of their authors by seeking AI deals. It’s all about the money.

 

Draft2Digital is dipping its toes in the AI ocean but before they make any big decisions they are asking their authors to fill out a survey on AI. Dan Holloway of the Alliance of Independent Authors has the lowdown on what they want to know. 

 

Publishers Weekly reports that the team behind the successful Black List, film screenplay market place, are looking at expanding to novels. If you think your novel would make a great film but you don’t know where to start- The Black List could be the solution.

 

Don’t Forget to check into Writer Beware every now and then to find out the latest scams. Lately there has been a proliferation of fake literary agencies.

 

A few years ago, I gave a speech on what may be coming down the track for authors. I mentioned blockchain. Hardly anyone understood it and many have confused it with bitcoin but blockchain is still around. In these days of trying to track down what AI is scraping your work, blockchain could be the answer. The founder of Raddish thinks so and has set up a company with over $80 million in the pot to prove it. 

 

Rob Hart wrote an interesting blog post on his successful writing career and what happened when his publisher dropped him because his book didn’t sell amazingly, just pretty good. This is an honest look at being a writer in the publishing industry. Those amazing deals aren’t always wonderful for the writer.

 

What do you do if you lose track changes? Kelley Segroi has a great article on Women On Writing’s nifty little blog with handy tips on managing your documents.

 

KimBoo York has an interesting article on Jane Friedman’s blog about Creative Intuition. She mentions that Creative Intuition is knowing the trope and subverting it. It’s a great article with helpful tips on developing this super power.

 

Donald Maass has a super post over at Writer Unboxed about character and character driven stories. This is a must read on what propels your character to action. 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

The missing link in 3 act structure- Lisa Poisso- Bookmark

Story Structure Midpoint- K M Weiland – Bookmark

Hook lines and stinkers- P J Parrish- Bookmark

Common POV violations- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Tips for writing physical comedy- Charles Yallowitz

 

In The Marketing Section,

Building a website- Bookbub- Bookmark

5 reasons for book endorsements- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

10 ways to market a book- Rachel Thompson

3 free marketing strategies- Draft2Digital

How to write an awesome personalized query letter- Tiffany Hawk- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

I try to keep up with my podcast listening but sometimes when life gets super busy I end up skipping episodes. I did this with Joanna Penn’s podcast a few weeks back and then I heard that the episode was getting a lot of attention so I hunted down the transcript (Thanks Joanna for always doing a transcript) to A Touch of Madness- Joanna Penn talking to film maker Larry Kasanoff. What a standout episode! This touches on creativity and taking chances and is so inspiring. If you need a creative pick me up or even if you don’t… take a chance and listen/read this. Our best work comes from being in touch with our creative madness.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

If you like the blog and want to buy me a coffee, I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Photo by laura adai on Unsplash