Founded in 2009, Dutch nonfiction publisher Maven specializes in narrative nonfiction. It recently announced that readers can now engage with some titles through an AI chat model that’s been trained on the full text of the book. This AI chat edition is embedded as a WhatsApp contact and works by messaging in the app. It’s meant to be conversational, offering knowledge from the book in response to specific questions.
Authors must grant permission to Maven for this special edition to be produced and sold, and it is purchased separately from the standard editions. Only four such books are now available; Maven is also assisting other Dutch publishers with AI chat editions. Publishers Marketplace has the full story (subscription required).
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.
