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Harlequin's AI Microdrama Deal

News Summary: Harlequin’s AI Microdrama Deal Sparks Backlash; Publishers Support Music Industry against Anthropic

The publishing industry has had a week of not seeming to be able to get its story straight on AI. I say story, but what I mean in the first instance is AI-generated animated microdramas. Video microdramas have been in the news several times of late. They are very much in demand with audiences and provide an opportunity for those writers who love producing serialized works with short episodes and cliffhangers aplenty.
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OpenAI Shuts Down Sora

News Summary: OpenAI Shuts Down Sora Video Platform; Audible Partners with British Airways

I think I reported on the Sora app when it launched back in October. The app, which enables users to access OpenAI's Sora generative AI platform on their phones to create short video clips, hit the headlines back then for two reasons. In one of the starkest "there's good news and bad news" stories yet to come out of AI, the good news (for OpenAI anyway) was that the launch broke all kinds of records, reaching one million downloads in just five days. That's faster than ChatGPT. In "on the other hand" news, it kind of sucked that people started swamping social media with fake video clips of dead people, like the beloved Robin Williams. And of course, even at the launch the copyright radar was working overtime.
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Jane Friedman Publishes AI Law FAQ

News Summary: Jane Friedman Publishes AI Law FAQ; $3 Million Ruling against Meta Highlights Social Media Risks

Jane Friedman has a long history of publishing incredibly useful information for indie authors. And now she has added an extremely helpful compendium of AI law information. In the form of FAQs, it addresses many of the cases and points of law raised by them that will be of interest to writers. From questions of the disclosure of the use of AI to licensing rights, claims of fair use, and whether you can copyright AI-generated material, this is a handy summary of many of the topics you might want to know about.
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Substack Founder's Memoir

News Summary: Authors Equity to Publish Substack Founder’s Memoir; Patreon CEO Attacks AI Fair Use Claims

Some interesting news today from two of the largest platforms creatives, including many indie authors, use. The first of the three items features Substack, the newsletter platform. An interesting piece in Publishers Weekly highlights that Authors Equity is going to publish the memoir of Substack's founder, Hamish McKenzie. The pairing throws us, per the article, some interesting questions about the potential future relationship between traditional publishing companies and formats and subscription-based platforms more obviously targeted at creators looking to take things into their own hands. Among other things, the article looks at the use of Substack by some high-profile authors like Ottessa Moshfegh to self-publish fiction in serial form.
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Hachette Pulls Horror Novel

News Summary: Hachette Pulls Horror Novel over AI Allegations; Author Sues Publisher

Literary scandals have been with us since Christopher Marlowe got sassy in a sketchy pub, and no doubt for centuries before. And this week, one almighty scandal erupted into the mainstream media (I confess that before this week, I hadn't noticed it bubbling away). At the same time as another literary brouhaha released its latest chapter (in which it turns out the author of the allegedly less-than-accurate memoir "The Salt Path" had actually published beforehand under a different name and was therefore not entitled to the debut prize that launched the book), publishing giant Hachette pulled one of its books from shelves after AI claims.
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US Book Output

News Summary: US Book Output Tops 4 Million Driven by Self-Publishing; UK Retreats on AI Copyright Exception

How many books are published in a year? Is the number going up or down? How many copies are sold? We know these figures are, and have been for a long time, very controversial. Because there are so many books that do not count in these figures, especially self-published titles on places like Amazon that don't require an ISBN. Which makes calculations about the indie sector particularly tricky. Which is why the latest set of figures is so interesting. Hat tip to Jane Friedman for pointing me to this.
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Audible Launches Cheaper Standard Plan

News Summary: Audible Launches Cheaper Standard Plan to Challenge Spotify’s Audiobook Growth

The recent run of new offerings from audiobook platforms keeps on going. It's reached the stage where even TechCrunch (who are, as the name suggests, more a tech than a publishing outlet) are openly calling this an open battle for market share between Audible and Spotify. And are suggesting that Spotify's remarkable growth in the short time (four years) since they launched their audiobook offering has got Audible flustered.
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