In these times when so much in the world seems quite so eyebrow-raising, it can be dangerous to look through the literary news on April Fools' Day. I had to double-check the Guardian's article about the New York Times book reviewer dropped for using AI to write a book review (but a March 31 publication date suggests it's real).
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
That story is just one of several featured in a fascinating/worrying/probably-genuine-but-I'm-panicked-it's-either-an-April-Fool-or-AI-(help, bring pizza!) piece on Lit Hub that examines the struggles editors have in telling when clients are using AI, and other recent high-profile AI users. The basic point it makes is simple: AI writes like it does because it's predictive, and therefore writes like humans do. And that makes it very hard to identify. And many of us overestimate our ability to make that identification.
I think the fact that at this point in reading the piece I was in such an inescapable loop about how I would know whether or not what I was reading was written by a human or a machine was precisely the point of the article. We are going to have to learn to live with that low-level existential discomfort or give up.
Bookstore Business Lessons for Indies
To finish, a fascinating piece Jane Friedman ran this week looking at a panel hosted by the Book Industry Study Group that looked at the business of bookstores. At the end is a list of takeaways for authors with a traditional publisher, but two of the reflections from bookstore-running panelists really speak to indies as well.
First, bookstores are (from my experience I would moderate that to “can be”) incredibly good at picking up on social media trends. Indeed, they can be better at it than publishers, and this can cause supply issues, especially when it comes to backlist titles that suddenly explode because someone's post about it goes viral. These are windows of opportunity that can open rapidly and close just as swiftly, and when stock just isn't there, it can be frustrating for booksellers.
As indies, using print-on-demand and with nimbleness from lack of size, this can be an opportunity. But it's not just in working with bookstores: making the most of sudden social media interest can pay dividends.
Second, it was noted that readers are increasingly price-sensitive, especially when they don't know the author. This is an area where we can experiment in a way that authors reliant on their publishers simply can't.
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