Traditional Publishing
- Does KKR’s ownership of OverDrive and Simon & Schuster make it a vertical monopoly? Once KKR’s acquisition is final, KKR will have significant market share of two parts of the publishing ecosystem that do business with each other: a book publisher and a library ebook lending platform. Read Claire Kelley at Library Journal.
Amazon
- Could Amazon tag AI-generated books if it wanted to? AI-detection firms think current technology could confidently flag books generated by AI, whether or not the authors/publishers admit to it. (Disclosure: Jane is quoted in this piece.) Read Kate Knibbs at Wired.
- Amazon intends to layer AI on top of the existing Amazon search.The AI will allow for instant product comparisons and requests for more details and reviews, as well as recommendations based on search context and personal shopping data. Read Eugene Kim at Business Insider.
AI
- A new study shows that professional writers are still easy to identify when compared with generative AI. At least for now. When evaluating the originality in thought produced by ChatGPT 4, an expert notes, “The characters in this piece are so defined by their religion and culture as to be flattened by stereotype. The events of this piece feel arbitrary, almost random. While that does grant it an unpredictability and a vague form of originality, it feels thoughtless.” Review the PDF.
Culture & Politics
- A useful analysis of where Threads stands right now, especially in relation to X/Twitter. While Threads engagement has diminished since its launch over the summer, it had enjoyed a new influx of users as a result of attacks in Israel. Read Casey Newton at Platformer.
- Gettysburg College is closing the Gettysburg Review. The journal has been around for 35 years. The staff has responded online, and the literary community is trying to save the publication.
Marketing
- Do you need to hire a marketing person? Agent Kate McKean interviews marketer Andrea DeWerd. Read at Agents & Books.
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.