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AI In Self-Published Amazon Books

News Summary: What the Viral Study of AI in Self-Published Amazon Books Really Sets Out to Do

This story is related to the first of the week. I promise(ish—breaking news depending) no AI on Saturday, but the issues around Tuhin Chakrabarty's hugely impactful study on AI in self-published novels are so important and widespread I think it is warranted. Especially as this great piece in the New York Times brings out another angle of the story (with thanks to Jane Friedman, whose newsletter gifted the link from behind the NYT paywall).
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Simon And Schuster Launches Digital Imprint

News Summary: Simon and Schuster Launches Digital Imprint Simon Stream; Canadian E-book Spending Falls to Five-Year Low

It feels like it was only a few days ago that I reported on a Big Five publisher launching an imprint to target successful self-published authors. Indeed, I assumed that I was reading more about the same story I had reported on earlier this month. But it's not. Earlier in July, Simon and Schuster announced they were relaunching Pocket Books, the erstwhile mass market paperback imprint, as a press to publish two or three bestselling titles by previously self-published authors per month, with an emphasis on romance. The intention that time was to work with forward-thinking hybrid authors, as they put it.
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Financial Impact Of BookTok

News Summary: Can You Measure the Financial Impact of BookTok? (Apparently So)

We hear a lot about BookTok's positive influence on the creative world, especially among nascent young readers (alongside what we hear about its deleterious influence on the world's youth). In a scenario as old as Socrates, we have booksellers crediting BookTok with rescuing an industry as legislative crackdowns and curfews the world over would have us believe TikTok is an existential threat to the world's young (and some whisper from op-ed columns whether those two statements might refer to the same thing).
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Anthropic Settlement

News Summary: Judge Issues Final Approval for $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement; Copyright Office Proposes Fee Increase

For those of you waiting to receive some kind of compensation in the Anthropic lawsuit (and indeed those who are waiting on other potential lawsuits and wondering if anything other than hot air is ever likely to come of them), the wait is one step closer to being over. A judge has issued the final approval for the $1.5 billion settlement in the class action case of Bartz v. Anthropic. This will see each of the 91.3 percent of titles in the eligible class whose owners came forward receive payment.
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Perplexity Launches An Ebook Store

News Podcast: Perplexity Launches an Ebook Store; Library of Congress Acquires Indie Books; Spotify Passes 100 Million Audiobook Listeners

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers three stories pointing in the same direction: books are everywhere. He reports on AI search engine Perplexity launching an ebook store, adding yet another major platform to the growing list selling books directly to readers. He examines the Library of Congress's initiative to acquire indie and self-published titles — and explains why copyright registration and deposit matter more than ever in the age of AI lawsuits. And he closes with Spotify's announcement that it has passed 100 million audiobook listeners, now dwarfing Audible in audience size.
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What Librarians Look For

News Summary: ALA Meeting Reveals What Librarians Look for When Ordering Indie Titles

Earlier this month saw the annual meeting of the American Library Association (ALA). Long-time indie supporter Guy LeCharles Gonzalez was there and reported back some invaluable insights. It follows a number of items featuring libraries and the issue of pricing, specifically the way librarians believe e-books should be priced for library usage. This time, the main point of interest is on discovery, and two related questions: what are librarians looking for from indie titles? And how can indie authors make their titles easier for librarians looking for those things to find (and, crucially, to go ahead and order once they have been found)?
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Amazon Raises KDP

News Summary: Amazon Raises KDP 70% Royalty Cap to $12.99; Bookshop.org Launches Audiobooks in UK

Breaking news: as of July 7, Amazon has extended the upper limit of the 70 percent KDP royalty bracket to $12.99 from $9.99. That allows some books to have a higher ticket price reflecting an author's desire to price within the market, without having to take a hit down to the 35 percent royalty rate. For those in that $10–$12.99 range currently, you may be eligible to switch to 70 percent per the FAQs, but will not automatically be switched.
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