Events Calendar

EU Adds Tariff On Book Imports

News Podcast: EU Adds Tariff on Book Imports; The Economist Charts AI Publishing Surge; Pocket Books Returns for Indies

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway covers four stories: a new EU tariff that will affect authors shipping books directly to European readers; The Economist's striking data showing book publishing volumes have doubled since ChatGPT launched in 2022; the Commonwealth Short Story Prize awarding its top prize to the very story accused of AI authorship; and the relaunch of Simon and Schuster's Pocket Books imprint, which is specifically targeting successful indie and hybrid authors for a romance-first print list launching in January 2027.
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AI-Generated Books Now Match Human Output

News Summary: Economist Graph Shows AI-Generated Books Now Match Human Output at 150,000 Titles Monthly

Wherever books are discussed, the past few weeks have seen heated discussion of a graph that appeared in the Economist. It puts flesh on the bones of that "million more books" claim that did the rounds a little earlier. What it shows is the correlation between the steepening of the "books published" figures and the release of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022. In classic hockey-stick style, it shows AI-generated books sharply increasing to the point where they are equaling the number of non-AI-generated titles at around 150,000 a month.
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Rakuten Kobo

News Podcast: Rakuten Kobo Took a ‘Book Community First’ Approach to AI — and Rejected 45 Percent of Submissions

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway reports on a revealing piece by Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn, who explains why Kobo rejected 45 percent of self-published submissions in 2025 — most of them suspected AI-generated — and frames the decision as a "book community first" choice over a "readers first" approach. Dan also returns to the Commonwealth Short Story Prize controversy, where organizers have taken a strikingly different and very human approach to AI detection: gathering notes, drafts, and timestamped evidence from authors rather than relying on AI detection tools. He closes with news of a BISG and BookNet Canada survey on AI in publishing that indie authors in the US and Canada are encouraged to take part in.
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Suspected AI Content

News Summary: Kobo CEO Reveals 45% of Self-Published Submissions Rejected for Suspected AI Content

I missed this story when it first came out a fortnight ago (I think because the title of the article by Rakuten Kobo's Russ Tamblyn is decidedly oblique, so I just moved on). Fortunately the substantive content has generated several more helpfully titled spinout columns since then, so I'm circling back to the original. A single sentence is at the heart of this piece, and it contains a figure that provides additional context for much of the recent debate over AI-generated content. Tamblyn is speaking in his capacity as president and CEO at Rakuten Kobo.
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Korean Publishers Embrace AI

News Summary: Korean Publishers Embrace AI as ‘Reader’; Barnes and Noble Clarifies AI Book Policy

Last week saw a highly controversial statement from Kim Tae-Heon, president of the Korean Publishers Association. In the statement, Kim refers to the emergence of AI as "reader." This has, of course, caused considerable rumblings among those who feel he has not done adequate justice to the rapacious nature of the technology and the companies who control it.
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Audible Retires Legacy Royalty Model

News Podcast: Audible Retires Legacy Royalty Model; Oscars Rule on AI; Publishing Industry AI Survey

On this episode of Self-Publishing with ALLi, Dan Holloway breaks down Audible's decision to retire its legacy royalty model by the end of 2026, explaining what the new model means for audiobook authors and the separate decision about whether to enter the All You Can Listen pool. He also reports on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' new Oscar eligibility rules requiring human actors and writers, and examines a Book Industry Study Group survey showing that concern about AI-generated books in the marketplace has now entered the top four worries for publishing industry professionals.
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Oscars Require Human Actors And Authors

News Summary: Oscars Require Human Actors and Authors; Canadian Publishing Survey Reveals AI Concerns

From time to time in the past few years, major, globally recognized red carpet events in the creative sphere have issued policies on AI and its eligibility for entry into their sanctum sanctorum. Most notable among them was the Grammys. Until now. The Motion Picture Academy of America has updated the rules governing eligibility for the Oscars.
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AI Editing

News Podcast: ‘Shy Girl’ Controversy Raises AI Editing Questions; Self-Publishing Surge Sparks Debate

On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway examines the fallout from the “Shy Girl” controversy, where allegations of AI-assisted writing led to a withdrawn book deal and raised new questions about author responsibility and editorial use of AI. He also highlights Jane Friedman’s new AI-in-publishing guide, reports on a surge in self-published titles linked to AI tools, and looks at the growing use of Substack as a platform for fiction.
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Alliance Of Independent Authors | Self-Publishing News May 10, 2025 | With Dan Holloway

Apple Loosens App Store Rules; EU Publishers Call for AI Transparency: Self-Publishing News with Dan Holloway

We end the week with a round-up of several small but nonetheless important stories. The biggest of those relates to the recent legal developments in the Epic Games and Apple case. The US courts have ruled that Apple must allow apps to link to external payment sites outside of the US App Store. Apple is appealing the decision, which would stop them from slicing off a 27 percent commission on purchases made through apps from the App Store, but in the meantime, they are having to comply.
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