Traditional Publishing
- Colleen Hoover isn’t writing much at the moment. She used to produce two books a year since 2012. But she hasn’t written a word since April 2023; she’s waiting to be inspired. Read Lauren Larson at Texas Monthly.
- Harlequin gets a TikTok-inspired rebrand. An exec says, “We’re definitely giving our longstanding fans what they want from us—but we can’t ignore these emerging new entrants into the category.” Read Zachary Petit at Fast Company.
- About Reese Witherspoon’s influence on book publishing: She’s nearing her 100th book club pick. What does she look for? “It needs to be optimistic. It needs to be shareable. Do you close this book and say, ‘I know exactly who I want to give it to?’” Read Elisabeth Egan in the New York Times(gift link).
Legal
- Copyright plaintiffs can recover damages for infringing acts that occurred more than three years ago—as long as the claim is timely under the discovery rule. The Supreme Court has given copyright plaintiffs a victory. Read Danner Kline at the National Law Review.
Culture & Politics
- Books are dead, long live books. Book critic Ann Kjellberg goes long on the health of the book publishing industry. Read at Book Post.
- TikTok creators sue the federal government. They are attempting to block the forced sale or ban of TikTok in the US. Read Sapna Maheshwari in the New York Times (gift link).
AI
- Parent company of Penguin Random House commissions study on AI use across media and entertainment industries. The report covers music and news as well as publishing. Emerging areas of use for publishers include ad placement on social media, marketing, and copyediting. Read the PDF.
- How will AI affect Hollywood? While some of this is speculation, a recent survey indicated the most vulnerable jobs include those of concept artists, sound engineers, and voice actors. Visual effects and other post production work are also considered particularly vulnerable. Read Winston Cho and Scott Roxborough in the Hollywood Reporter.
- TikTok will label AI-generated content. Other tech companies are working on similar safeguards. The Biden administration also released an executive order last year that pushes for such labeling. Read Michelle Chapman at the Associated Press.
- When is it “cheating” to use AI to help write poetry? A poet trained an AI model to help produce her poetry chapbook, which went on to win a contest. Backlash was swift. Read Leigh Stein in Reason.
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.