In Publishing News this week,
The money will be coming soon, said the judge in the Anthropic AI case. The news was reported earlier this week by Publishers Weekly. If you are a claimant however, don’t bank on the money for Christmas presents. Soon means under a year, probably, maybe, in lawyer speak.
How fast can you get a book out? Publisher’s Weekly reports that Holt has really pushed the boat out with Mahmoud Khalil’s memoir on life in an ICE detention center. PW interviewed the team behind the fast turn around on how they did it.
Hands up who uses Libby? It’s a great service. So good, they are worried about how many AI bot books they are getting and are taking steps according to Techbuzz.
I was chatting to a young publishing professional today about the rise of publishing opportunities in Sharjah. We are so focused on the troubled publishing world in the West, that we forget about the rest of the world. Sharjah has been making some big connections lately, says Mark Williams and we should be factoring them into our publishing calendars, from jobs, to printing, to mammoth book festivals and book sales. There are publishing opportunities and partnerships waiting.
Last week I talked about Amy Chan’s publicist nightmare of big spending for no return. Publicists have all been discussing her article and explaining how to use a publicist effectively. Leigh Stein has 3 lessons from Amy Chan’s experience and publicist Kathleen Schmidt breaks down what independent publicists do.
If I winced and said a few naughty words when I read the Publishing Perspectives article on Wiley partnering with the Genesis mission consortium to support the US governments AI goals. I can just bet that was mild compared to Wiley’s scientific authors who have been struggling with AI scraping their work without compensation. However, this move might mean they get some extra money from Wiley. *
Mark Williams has been looking at similar deal with Bloomsbury who are riding high on another generation of kids getting into Harry Potter while also making AI deals on the side. If the publishers are making AI deals, how can they demand authors shouldn’t use it as well? Mark also comments on China banning chat bot companions.
Mark Lefebvre has an article on scams and their scammy behaviour towards authors. He has screen shots of the types of scams sent to him in a typical day. Mark is a horror writer. If you hate the scammers as much as he does- he has probably dreamed up some fate scenarios for the scam perpetrators.
Has a Romantasy Bookstore opened near you? In my city two are opening this month on the same street and further down the street a very prominent independent bookstore is expanding to create a new Romantasy section.
This phenomenon is happening everywhere says Publisher’s Weekly. It’s not just about the books but the community space. Is Romantasy going to save the publishing industry?
Search is changing rapidly because of AI. Many people are using ChatGPT as a search engine. This changes the nature of book publicity. Metadata is more important than ever as AI needs to find your book. Darcy Pattison has a great article on how to get AI search engines to find your kid’s book.
In The Craft Section,
Using real life in fiction- Richard Jordan - Bookmark
How to Write Authentic Fear – Angela Ackerman- Bookmark
The idea method – Gabriela Pereira- Bookmark
Story Bibles- Joe Lallo - Bookmark
The psychology of endings and how to do them well- K M Weiland - Bookmark
In The Marketing Section,
Turning your blurb into a sales pitch- Susan Odev- Bookmark
Why your backlist is your most valuable asset- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
The ultimate guide to the successful book giveaway- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark
Personalizing your author brand- podcast interview with Damon Courtney from Bookfunnel- Interesting chat with the Wish I’d Known, team.
The power of the many in anthology promo- Great ideas.- Patrice Gopo
To Finish
The head shot. It looks great and authors will use their head shot for years scared about showing an aging profile. AI magically comes to the rescue and produces the ultra-polished look. Dan Blank talks about the head shot and AI. With the rise of AI everywhere readers are looking for authentic connections with authors. What do you do if for professional reasons you can’t show your face? You still have to prove you are not an AI bot writing your books.
Proving you are a human, the authors dilemma this decade.
Maureen
@craicer
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*not holding my breath as Scientific publishing is an everyone pays the academic publisher model, including the authors.
Photo by pina messina on Unsplash
