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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing | News | August 14, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: New Ghost Features, AI Content Backlash, and Amazon’s Ongoing Fake Book Problem

I am, by and large, a technophile, but I still find some aspects of the current landscape a little confusing. One of those includes the so-called Fediverse and the platforms built on and in conjunction with it. That’s why I probably report on developments in the likes of X alternative Mastodon less than I might otherwise do—I don’t want to misrepresent something as a result of confusion.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News | August 12, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: Boundless Books Closes, Leaving Authors Owed Royalties; New Venture Offers Help

Over the past few weeks, I’ve reported a couple of times on the troubles at what was Unbound and has since become Boundless Books. Most recently, the founder of Unbound, John Mitchison, left the new company that had been set up under the CEO-ship of Archna Sharma to attempt to rescue what had once seemed like a groundbreaking initiative that mixed book industry know-how with a Kickstarter-type business model for authors.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News | August 9, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: Spotify Expands Audiobook Access in US; Frankfurt and UK Spotlight Comics Creators

A few weeks ago, I reported that Spotify had opened up its family and duo plans in a number of markets so that all plan members could add fifteen hours of audiobooks, not just the person who runs the plan. I noted then that it was surely just a matter of time before this feature was opened up to US audiences. Well, sure enough, that has now happened. It means everyone on a Family or Duo plan can top that plan up to access fifteen hours of audiobooks.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News | August 5, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: Online Safety Act and EU AI Laws Raise Concerns for Writers and Publishers

The Online Safety Act is a piece of U.K. legislation, but as I have been reporting for some years, it affects all of us. And that’s because, as is the way with national legislation, it doesn’t just impact the citizens of a country—its reach extends to everyone who wants to deal with that country. And that includes those who want to sell into its market, which is a lot of us who write in, or translate into, English.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News July 31, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: U.S. Senate Hearing Tackles AI’s Use of Copyrighted Works

I have reported on what seems like a weekly basis on legal cases around AI and copyright, but this week I want to report on a hearing held in the legislative branch of the U.S. government. Before doing so, being an ignorant Brit, I undertook some brief research on what exactly the status of Senate hearings is—so if nothing else, this has increased my knowledge of how government works across the world (note for U.K. readers: I think it’s a bit like a Select Committee).
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News July 24, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: Romantasy’s Popularity Shows No Signs of Slowing, Opening Doors for New Writers and Genres

Romantasy is everywhere. You will have noticed that not only in this column but wherever people are talking about books, whether in traditional media or social media. It feels as though this has been going on for as long as I can remember but, of course, it hasn’t. The big boom in the genre has been gathering steam for a year or so.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News July 22, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: Spotify Expands Audiobook Access; Meta Rejects EU’s AI Code of Practice

Spotify continues to roll out new options for audiobooks. Last week, it extended the flexibility allowed to users to increase the amount of audiobook listening within Spotify’s paid subscriptions. The new offering starts out in the UK and a few other markets, and the full offering will likely be in the US in the near future. The two new plans allow subscribers to add fifteen hours of audiobook listening to their existing subscriptions.
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Alliance Of Independent | Authors | Self-Publishing | News July 19, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

News Summary: The Novelry’s $100K Prize Nears Deadline; Google and UK Age Laws Raise Concerns for Writers

I have already reported on The Novelry’s new $100,000 prize, The Next Big Story. But as the prize closes this month (on July 31) and as Publishers Weekly thinks it worthy of a reminder, I thought it worth doing likewise. After all, $100,000 is not to be sniffed at. And the prize, which has a $15 entry fee, has some other ticks in its favor.
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