Self-publishing News: IBPA Maps out Current Author Publishing Paths and Booksellers Seek New Models
The IBPA has launched its outline of eight publishing models, an interesting companion piece to Jane Friedman’s different publishing models guide.
Self-Publishing News: Meta Considered Buying Simon & Schuster to Train AI
The New York Times received leaks from a former employee at Facebook’s parent Meta that show the company were spending a lot of time at the start of 2023 discussing the possibility of buying Simon & Schuster. The purpose of the acquiring Simon & Schuster would have been to acquire the rights to the catalogue so as to use it for AI training.
Self-Publishing News: Manga Publishers Win Record Compensation in Piracy Ruling
Courts in Tokyo ruled that piracy site Manga-Mura should pay 1.7bn yen (US$10m) to three manga publishers in Japan for lost revenue.
Self-Publishing News: ChatGPT Update and Screenwriters Guilds Unite to Issue Ethical AI Principles
The latest version of ChatGPT will, according to OpenAI, be less roundabout, more direct, and more conversational in its answers. And, two major bodies representing script writers have issued a joint statement outlining five principles for an ethical framework for the use of AI in script writing.
Self-Publishing News: Substack Syncs Up With Spotify
Spotify has been working on more tools for creators & consumers as part of its expansionist agenda to become the world’s one-stop audio shop
Self-Publishing News: UK Government AI Update and Society of Authors Survey Show Creators and Regulators Have Vastly Different AI Concerns
CMA published its latest update clarifying where the government’s concerns are. The Society of Authors’ recommendations are a world apart.
Self-Publishing News: Font Selection May Help Make Print More Sustainable
HarperCollins claims to save 245.6 million pages, equivalent to over 5000 trees to improve their sustainability credentials.
Self-Publishing News: Fairly Trained Certifies First Ethical AI Platform
Fairly Trade is a certification body for AI industries that was able to provide a stamp of approval for individual companies and platforms
Self-Publishing News: Draft2Digital Partners With Social Reading App Fable
Draft2Digital will be partnering in a retail distribution deal with the popular social reading app Fable.
Self-Publishing News: Storytel’s 2023 Report Throws Light on the Environmental Impact of Audiobooks
Environmental sustainability is very much on the publishing industry radar. It’s a subject I’ve reported on many times on ALLi's News Column. Here is Storytel's 2023 environmental report
Self-publishing News: AI Voice Cloning is (sort of) Here While Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25 Year Sentence Draws a Line Under FTX Scandal
AI has dominated the news so much in the past year, that it’s easy to forget the level of erstwhile hype about the last techno fad, NFTs (non fungible tokens)
Self-publishing News: 2023’s Book Figures From Around the World Shine a Light on Ongoing Trends
This week saw three sets of figures, each of which comes with an interesting tale about the state of book buying. And that has to be worth reporting on.