UK-based publisher Bloomsbury began alerting authors about licensing their work for AI training, focusing on academic and professional backlist titles. Authors can decide if they wish to opt in; if they agree, they’ll be paid a 20 percent royalty rate, which is quite low compared to the 50 percent rate that HarperCollins offered last year. That said, Johns Hopkins University Press recently offered a pittance of $100 or so per title through an opt-out scenario. Maybe licensing amounts don’t look as nice now that two judges have ruled AI training on copyrighted material constitutes fair use. Learn more at the Society of Authors.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
