News Archives

News Summary: Writers Using AI Report Higher Earnings; New Platform Written Revives Blockchain for Books

The first story is a reminder of that old adage about today’s news being tomorrow’s chip paper (something I realize only those of us of a certain age will get). I don’t normally give the time of day to something I come across as a piece of advertorial. But this caught my eye because it threw me back to a different time.

November 8, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: $50M Literary Arts Fund to Support Writers; Bluesky Surpasses 40M Users and Adds Dislike Feature

Like many stories as they first break, I don’t have full details of what a major new $50 million initiative will actually offer. But the Literary Arts Fund has committed to giving that much money to nonprofit organizations that directly support writers and creators by 2031. I wanted to report on the initiative now because the first call for grant applications is due to open next Monday, November 10. So mark the date in your diary and be sure to visit the site then to see exactly what the eligibility terms and the nature and size of the grants will be.

November 6, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: European Booksellers Say AI Must Respect Copyright and Human Creativity as Bloomsbury CEO Praises Its Creative Potential

European booksellers call for AI to respect copyright and human creativity, while Bloomsbury’s CEO highlights AI’s potential to inspire creativity.

November 4, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Grammarly Rebrands as Superhuman, OpenAI Faces Class Action, and TikTok Deal Nears Completion

Sometimes tech companies get ideas above their station. But when a glorified spellchecker rebrands itself “Superhuman,” you wonder if it might need to introduce a “you just jumped the shark” alert. That is exactly what has happened with Grammarly.

November 1, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Direct Selling Gains Momentum Among Indie Authors as Platforms Like Substack and Draft2Digital Expand Options

Jane Friedman and others highlight the growing trend of direct selling for authors, with new opportunities on Substack, IBPA, and Draft2Digital.

October 30, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Amazon’s New A10 Algorithm Prioritizes Reader Engagement, Sparking Concern Among Indie Authors

ALLi’s Orna Ross discusses Amazon’s new A10 algorithm and how its focus on reader engagement affects indie author sales.

October 28, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Frankfurt Survey Reveals AI Use Across Publishing; EU Act Draws Criticism

As foreshadowed on Tuesday, I end the week with a round-up that includes news from Frankfurt, where last week’s other major conference took place. One of the things that particularly caught my eye there was the release of a survey by BISG (Book Industry Study Group) on the use of AI in the publishing industry.

October 25, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Spotify Expands AI and Audiobook Initiatives; New Romance Call Opens for Indie Authors

It’s not just conferences that have been going on, and following the report on SelfPubCon we’ll have a short break before recapping Frankfurt. Neither Spotify nor AI has disappeared from the news. In fact, they appear in the same story.

October 23, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: SelfPubCon25 Highlights New Marketing, Streaming, and Reader Connection Trends

Last weekend was ALLi’s SelfPubCon25. Did I mention that? It was also Frankfurt Book Fair during the week, and I’ll look in the next column at some of the themes emerging from that. But I want to start where it really matters—with our own event and the key topics that came out on the subject “New Trends in Self-Publishing.”

October 21, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Reedsy Launches Novel Sprint to Replace NaNoWriMo, with Prizes and No AI

Reedsy introduces its Novel Sprint as an alternative to NaNoWriMo, offering cash prizes and requiring all 50,000 words to be human written.

October 18, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Baker & Taylor Closure Reshapes Library Supply; Frankfurt Fair Opens Ahead of SelfPubCon 25

The last story I ran last week broke right at the time of writing, meaning there was little time to include much detail. (Well, both did: the Nobel Prize announcement was made about two and a half minutes before I filed with Howard, but while I love its drama, it is not, sadly, indie-oriented enough to warrant a larger unpacking here.)

October 16, 2025
Dan Holloway
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News Summary: Spotify Clarifies ChatGPT Integration; AI Video App Sora Sparks Debate

Spotify’s relationship with AI feels as though it has become increasingly— for want of a better phrase—a slightly edgy one. The company is, first and foremost, a tech company rather than an arts company. Daniel Ek was a coder before anything else and has always taken the company in a direction that favors innovation. On the other hand, Spotify is passionate about working with creative people—nowhere more so than when it comes to writers.

October 14, 2025
Dan Holloway
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