Some interesting news today from two of the largest platforms creatives, including many indie authors, use. The first of the three items features Substack, the newsletter platform. An interesting piece in Publishers Weekly highlights that Authors Equity is going to publish the memoir of Substack's founder, Hamish McKenzie. The pairing throws us, per the article, some interesting questions about the potential future relationship between traditional publishing companies and formats and subscription-based platforms more obviously targeted at creators looking to take things into their own hands. Among other things, the article looks at the use of Substack by some high-profile authors like Ottessa Moshfegh to self-publish fiction in serial form.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
WordPress.com Embraces AI Agents
And then we have two stories that highlight very different approaches to the use of AI. First up is WordPress.com. Many of us have or have had a WordPress.com website. It was what I used when I first moved from being just a blogger to deciding it would be good to have a few pages about me and my writing that were always there (when I say “first moved,” that implies I have done other things subsequently. To say I've moved beyond that basic WordPress site may be a stretch).
Now WordPress.com is set to allow AI agents to do all kinds of things previously done only by humans, including writing and publishing posts, approving comments, altering the way the website looks, and replying to commenters.
Patreon Takes a Stand
Patreon, however, has taken a very different approach. Patreon's CEO Jack Conte has come out guns blazing against what he calls the “bogus” fair use claims by AI companies. And his rationale is clear: “It's bogus because while they claim it's fair to use the work of creators as training data, they do multimillion-dollar deals with rights holders and publishers like Disney and Condé Nast and Vox and Warner Music.”
In short, if it were really fair use to take creators' work without paying, tech companies wouldn't be paying. Rather, he thinks this is a case of one treatment for fellow corporate giants and one for small-time creators.
It might not be as simple as saying that Patreon is an anti-AI white knight. In fact, it's simple to say that's not the case. But it is true to say that large platforms that host many thousands of individuals might be starting to flex their size to obtain better terms for the small-scale creators who use them.
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