This week! Books!
Lots of links saved up over the past few weeks, let’s get to them!
Anthropic Scores a Landmark AI Copyright Win—but Will Face Trial Over Piracy Claims – Kate Knibbs, Wired – In a huge ruling on A.I. and copyright, a federal judge agreed that using books to train A.I. is fair use, but Anthropic will stand trial over pirating books. Basically, the judge said Anthropic could have used books to train for A.I. if they’d actually paid for them. A mixed result for authors.
A Different California Judge Believes LLMs Are Likely Infringing Much of the Time, But Authors Made the Wrong Argument So Meta Case Is Dismissed – Michael Cader, Publishers Lunch – In a separate trial, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Meta over A.I., but suggested the authors were making the wrong arguments and charted a course for a successful lawsuit that argues LLMs are infringing authors’ rights by appropriating work in a way that creates market harm for authors.
Supreme Court Rules That Parents Can Opt Out of Classes Using LGBTQ+ Books – Katy Hershberger, Publishers Lunch – And in yet another ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that parents can remove their children from lessons where “LGBTQ+-inclusive” books are used.
In Wake of Court Losses, Rhode Island Codifies ‘Right to Read’ – Sam Spratford, Publishers Weekly – And in response to the censorious cultural and legal atmosphere, Rhode Island became the latest state to codify protections for librarians and affirming authors’ right to sue for censorship.
I look forward to a time when legal rulings aren’t among the most important news items in the publishing world.
Authors petition publishers to curtail their use of AI – Chloe Veltman, NPR – More than 70 authors signed an open letter urging publishers to promise they will never release A.I.-generated books.
How local bookstores are helping immigrants amid ICE fears – Victoria Ivie, San Gabriel Valley Tribune – Amid horrifying masked raids and military escalations in the Los Angeles areas, local bookstores are serving as crucial community hubs with mutual aid groups to provide support for the immigrant community. As if we needed another reason to love independent bookstores!
Berkley, Penguin Young Readers Team Up on New Imprint – Sam Spratford, Publishers Weekly – I often discourage authors from pitching the “crossover” appeal of their novels, because for a long time, there really was no such thing. Sometimes books break out of their core genre and get retroactively labeled a crossover hit, but agents and publishers specialize and adult and YA novels sit on completely different shelves in bookstores. Well. Two imprints at Penguin Random House are now teaming up on an adult-YA crossover imprint, so the times may be changing.
Accusations of plagiarism, AI use and author bullying: ‘BookTok’ rocked by recent scandals – Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC News – You will be shocked, SHOCKED to learn that there is author drama on TikTok.
Marginalia mania: how ‘annotating’ books went from big no-no to BookTok’s next trend – Caitlin Welsh, The Guardian – The kids have discovered marginalia.
The Plight Of The White Male Novelist – Sarah Brouillette, Defector / When Novels Mattered – David Brooks, New York Times / The Forever Dying and the Always Dead; or, Literary Fiction and the Novel – Lincoln Michel, Counter Craft – Grouping these together because there has been a ton of #Discourse lately around literary novels and, in particular, the state of the male novelist. (Will no one think of the men, lol!) Lincoln Michel makes the most persuasive case that much of this discourse revolves around false glory days and the rise of mass consumerism across all media. He also pre-debunked claims Brooks made today in his column.
What Reading 5,000 Pages About a Single Family Taught Me About America – Carlos Lozada, New York Times – Speaking of which, in contrast to the gauzy nostalgia about past literary golden eras, one of the actual biggest bestsellers of the ’70s and ’80s was a pulpy multi-generational historical melodrama that followed a single family through American history, written by then-household name John Jakes. Carlos Lozada has a thoughtful essay on what the series meant then and now.
The Critic and Her Publics – Merve Emre, LitHub – Merve’s one of the smartest critics in town, and her fantastic podcast season on what it means to be an editor is now fully available in transcript form.
In This Parisian Atelier, Bookbinding Is a Family Art – James Hill, New York Times – Very cool images and video of an artisanal bookbinder in Paris keeping the dream of beautiful print books alive.
Sprayed Edges Are Everywhere and I Hate Them – Selah Jordan, Paste – Also in bookbinding news, Selah Jordan has some thoughts on the rise of sprayed edges, which have become ubiquitous in romantasy.
Inside the Salt Path controversy: ‘Scandal has stalked memoir since the genre was invented’ – Lucy Knight, The Guardian – The latest memoir scandal is brought to you by Salt Path. These have literally been going on since the concept of a memoir was invented.
Moral Rights: What Writers Need to Know – Victoria Strauss, SFWA – The indispensable Victoria Strauss discusses a lesser-known dimension of author rights, and what to consider if you’re asked to give up moral rights.
The truth behind the endless “kids can’t read” discourse – Constance Grady, Vox – Are the kids really reading less or are we all just getting old? Constance Grady delves into what we do and don’t know about whether the kids are reading.
This week in bestsellers
Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):
Adult print and e-book fiction:
- Edge of Honor by Brad Thor
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
- Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- Behind the Badge by Johnny Joey Jones
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
- Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
Young adult hardcover:
- You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
- Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter
- Wings of Starlight by Allison Saft
- The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang
- A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek
Middle grade hardcover:
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
- Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson
- Snoop by Gordon Korman
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
And keep up with the discussion in all the places!
- Follow me on Bluesky
- Check out the Bransforums
And finally:
Seven Days At The Bin Store – Jen Kinney, Defector – A fascinating look at the rise of bin stores, and what they mean for our era of late stage capitalism.
Have a great weekend!
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