The More Things Change…

18 years...  

In Publishing News this week,

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on The Authors Guild statement condemning publishers indiscriminate use of AI. Editors have been loading manuscripts and author personal information into AI with no security guardrails and compromising authors. Hopefully they will address the concerns. (I won’t hold my breath.) This issue highlights something I have been thinking about. Writers and Illustrators work has been scraped to train AI so when a publisher checks whether AI has been used and the answer comes back yes how can you trust the answer? Kathleen Schmidt has written about this - Can We Trust Book Publishing To Tell Us The Truth?

 

Meanwhile, there is an update on the Anthropic Court Case for people following this. The payout numbers are fluctuating, and everyone is waiting on the hearing in May.

 

Penguin Random House likes to get spot new talent and every year they have a competition for cover designers to reimagine a couple of their classic titles. They have just announced their 2026 winners. An interesting view of changing styles in cover design.

 

Mark Williams has an eye on publishing news across the world. He reports on the first Indigenous Literary Congress and Book Fair. It is about to get underway in May run by the Dayak People of Indonesia. 

 

Publisher’s Weekly reports on the findings from the 150 page report, Books in Translation: Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market. With the rise in adoption of AI translation what does it mean for translators today? This is an interesting article and a guide on what will separate out the best from the rest.

 

The case of the new fees at Draft2Digital continues to rage and now Barnes and Noble have instituted a minimum low price on print books being sold on their platform. These are all ways to combat an onslaught of AI written sludge from scammers. Rachel Morton offers another perspective of why you should be happy with the new fees. Food for thought here.

 

Richard Curtis explains the role of Royalty Managers in Publishing and how this role developed. This is also the area where the biggest frauds against authors happen and once you read how royalties work you will understand why. It all has to do with Book Returns. (This is a contentious subject. Publishers created this system in the depression to keep bookstores open. So do we need a 100 year old model which encourages unsustainable printing practices in 2026?)

 

Jane Friedman has an interesting essay on Librarians and how they may be seen as ‘arbiters of reality’ in the future. Already they are the most trusted humans. In this age of fake and AI, we need these important people. Share this essay around!

 

Joanna Penn has been mining her vast collection of author interviews and has another deep dive information article, this time on Kickstarters. If you have been wondering how to go about planning a Kickstarter campaign, check out this comprehensive article.

 

Tasmina Perry has an interesting blog on creativity. This week she was looking at lessons from the past and how we can reframe them to boost our creativity now.

Emilie Noelle Provost has an essay on Writer Unboxed on four ways you can recharge your creativity. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Why your story is important- Jenny Hansen- Bookmark

Fear or the fatal flaw- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Give your characters serious challenges- Jonelle Patrick- Bookmark

How to write when it feels hard- Jill Boehme- Bookmark

Turning point vs Plot Point- September Fawkes- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

The sales conundrum- Kathleen Schmidt- Great Essay

The introverts guide to quiet marketing- Kristina God

Substack vs Blogs- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark

2 great articles from Penny Sansevieri- Updated Goodreads for Authors and Book Promotion ideas–- Bookmark

 

To Finish

Today is World Book Day and if you want a quick history of the book check out Kay DiBianca from the Killzone blog who has a great list article on the evolution of the book.

 

Kristine Rusch has curated a new Writing Craft Book Bundle. She contacted all the authors and asked if they wanted to produce updated versions of their writing craft books based on the challenges facing writers today. An excellent collection and exclusive to Storybundle so grab the bargains and feel good about paying the authors directly and supporting a great charity as well.

 

This week The Craicer Blog turns 18. That's 18 years of watching this crazy industry and trying to understand it. The view from my desk is that the more you can show that you are human and worth listening to, or reading, the more you will appear authentic in this age of AI. 

I would like to thank all the people who have been reading the weekly blog from the beginning- yes that’s my Kidlit people in New Zealand, who know me in person, but also readers from around the world who have only met me through the blog or by email. In the beginning publishing news and ideas took 18 months to filter down as change in the New Zealand publishing scene. Now it’s less than a month and change is felt everywhere. But my corner remains unchanged over here in the publishing blogosphere. 

Thank you for continuing to drop into the blog and sharing it with your friends. I’ll continue to shine a light into the jungle of publishing, older and greyer but still interested in this crazy industry.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

If you want to celebrate with me on 18 years you can donate to my coffee fund here. I appreciate all coffee blog love. Thank you.

 

It will soon be newsletter time so if so 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.

Thanks.

 

Is AI Text Destroying Our Characters Humanity?

 

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

 

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 Emilipothèse on Unsplash

Creator Imposter Syndrome

 

 

In Publishing News this week

 

As you read this the Shanghai Bologna Children’s Book fair gets underway in Shanghai. It is billed as the largest Asia Pacific region book fair dedicated to children’s books. Looking at the geographic representation… there are a lot of Asian countries quite a spread of European countries but none from the lower Pacific Rim. Is it geopolitical politics that is keeping them away?

 

African publishing is having a geopolitical publishing problem, reports Publishers Weekly. The problem is Wakanda. This mythical nation is being seen as the default African experience by international publishers There are 53 nations in Africa, apparently they all sound like Wakanda, and look like Wakanda. African publishers are trying to separate themselves and be true to their own voices.

 

Scotland libraries have highlighted a real crisis happening at home and across the world, the closure of libraries. They are calling for more financial and contextual support for libraries. What happened to the billionaires who funded libraries? Where are they now?

 

Mark Williams reports on Audible’s huge investment in Harry Potter, specifically a full dramatized audiobook production. A cast of hundreds, a fan base of millions, a match made in heaven or at least the accounting ledger. He sounds a warning to others who might think this is a good idea.

 

Publishing’s survival depends on data, says the Elsevier chairman Y S Chi. He was speaking at Sharjah Publishers Conference and knows what he is talking about. This is a fascinating article from Publishers Weekly. He gives publishing five years before it is irrelevant if they don’t take action now with their proprietary data. I wonder how many publishers still have their head in the sand on this. Data and what you can learn from it is one of the big discussions in the independent publishing community.

 

Amazon has a news release that they have Kindle Translate in Beta. They are just looking at Spanish and German translations at the moment. I wonder if they picked those two because of the huge book selling markets they have.

 

There are still 200,000 books unclaimed in the Anthropic settlement. Writer Beware is warning of scam law firms who want to help you get your payout. This is really annoying the actual lawyers who are overseeing this case and the payout. Not every law firm is your friend especially if you might be coming into money. 

 

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad imposter syndrome crisis writes Rachel Toalson for Writer Unboxed. (I don’t know a single good writer who doesn’t suffer from this.) Why is this such a problem in the writer community? Rachel suggests we get out of our own head.

 

Anthologies. It’s lovely to be asked to contribute to these. But there are some pitfalls out there for the unwary author. Matty Dalrymple and Mark Leslie Lefavbre have a chapter from their excellent short story writing craft book on Jane Friedman’s blog. Before you say yes to the anthology.

 

Joanna Penn recently had a great interview with Wendy Dale on Memoir and why structure matters more than you think. For anyone writing or editing a memoir, this is a must read.

 

In The Craft Section,

The art of intimacy in writing- Sarah Hamer- Bookmark

How to mine early memories for children’s stories- Marilyn June Janson

Secondary characters should have motivation- Anne R Allen- Bookmark

Stop labeling the process and trust the story- Yasmin Angoe

Is your writing good enough- Suzy Vadori- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section

How I use Bookbub ads to market full price books- Mathew Holmes -Bookmark

The Instagram Glow Up – Sandra Beckwith

The power of the prequel- Written Word Media- Bookmark

Book Promo ideas- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Wither Social Media -James Scott Bell- Interesting 

 

To Finish

 

Rachel Thompson’s posts on book marketing are always must reads for me. Her latest post Why Creators Fear Bad Reviews and How That Fear Makes Us Better is one of her stand out articles that all writers should read. She explores the psychology behind creator fear and how we can harness it to turn it into creative fuel. 

Creative fuel comes from many sources. The Storybundle collection of writing craft books is only available for another three weeks so go check it out. You will kick yourself if you miss out.

 

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.

 

 

Photo by Llanydd Lloyd on Unsplash