Links of Interest: January 31, 2024

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TikTok

  • Penguin Random House decided to let everyone mistakenly believe Taylor Swift had written a novel. When rumors ran wild on TikTok about who wrote the novel Argylle, the PRH marketing department pitched the book to Taylor Swift fan accounts, stating, “We’re excited to offer you a complimentary copy of ARGYLLE by Elly Conway (or Taylor Swift?).” Industry vet Kathleen Schmidt doesn’t think it was a smart move. Read at Publishing Confidential.
  • Did a Big Five publisher’s investment in a TikTok influencer pay off? Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint paid money to a self-proclaimed nonreader to take an 18-day cruise with a pile of books. It’s been good for gossip, but has it been good for business? Not yet, at least in terms of unit sales. Read Sophia Stewart in Publishers Weekly.
  • Author J.D. Barker tried to pay for racy TikTok videos to help promote his new novel. The PR pitch to BookTok influencers (or young women) suggested they create videos with content such as “a camera pan up or down the body using only the book to cover up your naughty bits,” a video that “cut[s] to something racy,” or a video about “the most taboo place you’ve ever had sex.” After the influencers who received this pitch objected to this, calling it predatory and creepy, the author apologized but was still dropped by his agent. Read Sophia Stewart in Publishers Weekly.

Traditional Publishing

  • An interview with the new CEO of Penguin Random House. Nihar Malaviya has been with PRH for 20 years on the business side of operations and couldn’t be more different than his center-of-attention predecessor, Markus Dohle. Watch out for the quiet ones. The most stand-out sentence of the entire piece: “Mr. Malaviya said that, hopefully, A.I. will help [with growth], making it easier to publish more titles without hiring ever more employees.” Hmm. Read Elizabeth A. Harris at the New York Times (gift link).
  • One in four books sold in France is a comic book, manga, or graphic novel. Even journalists and historians are moving into graphic storytelling for serious reporting and analysis. The genre took off in France in 2015. Read Julia Webster Ayuso at the New York Times.

Hybrid Publishing

  • Wonderwell closes and opens under Greenleaf Book Group.Wonderwell, a well-regarded hybrid publisher founded in 2013, has closed and laid off six of its staff. On Feb. 1, it will open as an imprint under longstanding hybrid publishing company Greenleaf Book Group. Read John Maher in Publishers Weekly (subscription required).

Legal

  • The Authors Guild calls for a more expansive copyright recovery window. It would like to see the Supreme Court uphold a decision to allow copyright holders to recover damages for infringements that occurred more than three years before the lawsuit was filed. Read at the Authors Guild website.

Amazon

  • Amazon has to consistently battle AI nonsense in its storefront. For every bizarro thing that gets caught and reported on, you have to wonder how many don’t. Here’s an example of how AI automations get used to mass-generate product descriptions but run afoul of trademarks, resulting in nonsense copy like “I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy.” Read Elizabeth Lopatto at The Verge.
  • Amazon now offers an AI shopping assistant. Right now, the feature is only available via mobile app. You can ask questions about products, and the AI will attempt to answer based on product details and customer reviews. It is intended to replace reading individual reviews. One wonders how this might be gamed like everything else on Amazon. Read Juozas Kaziukėnas at Marketplace Pulse.

AI

  • China rules that AI creations can be protected under copyright: This one escaped our attention late last year. While the ruling has no legal standing outside China, it further reinforces the logic of allowing copyright protection for human works produced in collaboration with AI. (Note there’s a recent US case where a creator tried to register for copyright but did so in the name of the AI—which was a no-go, since copyright is reserved for human creations.) Read J.D. Capelouto at Semafor.
  • OpenAI is caught in a real dilemma regarding the New York Times lawsuit. While it will certainly argue fair use in its court battle, it also continues to license content from other news providers. More broadly, this article is a helpful, nuanced discussion of what arguments OpenAI might make to defend itself and also how it might lose. Read Charlotte Tobitt at Press Gazette.
  • More nuanced discussion of the OpenAI case: Two analysts say that the output similarity that the New York Times was able to generate by using OpenAI is a distraction from the real harm that could be perpetrated by AI: not sending traffic to news sites. Read Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor at AI Snake Oil.
  • A Japanese novelist admits to using AI for her prize-winning novel. Rie Kudan, a Japanese novelist, revealed that about 5 percent of her book was copied directly from ChatGPT outputs. Read at Daily Sabah.
  • The New York Times profiles the Copyright Office during a high-stakes time. The office is responsible for reviewing how centuries-old copyright laws should apply to generative AI and will release three reports this year revealing its position. Read Cecilia Kang (gift link).

UK

Culture & Politics

  • The wealthy founder of Tin House Books, Win McCormack, has been bilked of $34 million. Apparently a couple originally working as McCormack’s chauffeurs are responsible. What they managed to buy before being fired is astounding: a $2 million home in Bermuda Dunes, California; a $2.3 million residence in Sunriver, Oregon; a $1.5 million private Cessna Citation III jet. Read Marlene Lenthang at NBC News.