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Important: Did Anthropic pirate your book? Register for class action lawsuit info (This week in books)

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This week! Books!

This month is racing by, and it’s almost time for our next First Thursday Office Hours. Join me on September 4 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT and ask me anything! Exclusively for newsletter subscribers.

Anthropic AI Class Action: Important Information for Authors – Authors Guild – Very important for authors whose books may have been pirated by Anthropic. Make sure to register with the court-appointed class counsel to receive more information about the class action lawsuit that could result in billions of damages.

Sally Rooney could be arrested under Terrorism Act after pledging royalties to Palestine Action – Ella Creamer, The Guardian – Sally Rooney, a real one, is risking arrest and censorship for continuing to donate royalties to Palestine Action, a group labeled a terrorist organization by the British government for spray painting two RDF airplanes.

Why Magic, Dragons and Explicit Sex Are in Bookstores Everywhere – Alexandra Alter, New York Times – A little over a decade after Fifty Shades of Grey went from Twilight fan-fiction to bestseller lists, a significant chunk of the current romantasy boom is being driven by Harry Potter fan-fiction.

Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Winners – Locus Mag – Congrats to the winners of these prestigious awards for science fiction!

Google Launches Personalized Gemini Storybook App to Industry Concern – Joanne O’Sullivan, Publishers Weekly – Google launched Gemini storybook, which will churn out a picture book with narration based on simple prompts. I’ve tried it, and found the results to be a very-typically A.I. mix of “kind of amazing” and “deeply strange.” Industry groups are concerned at the lack of adequate guardrails for material intended to be consumed by children.

Chinese literature is tough to find in English. One editor hopes to change that – Andrew Limbong, NPR – The United States market is notoriously insular, and translated books can be a challenge. Chinese literature in particular is very difficult to find. Han Zhang at Riverhead is trying to change that.

You Met Grandma at a Keg Party? The Rich Order $100,000 Memoirs for Family Only. – Rachel Louise Ensign, Wall Street Journal – Ghostwritten memoirs are apparently the new must-have accessory for rich boomers.

New Video Game, ‘Tiny Bookshop,’ Has Booksellers Talking (and Playing) – Claire Kirch, Publishers Weekly – Ever dreamed of owning a bookstore but don’t want to lose all your money? There’s a new video game just for you.

What my health journey taught me about reaching readers – Dan Blank, The Creative Shift – After a recent health challenge, Dan Blank did what any creative person who wants to get something done must do: he made a plan to change and stuck to it.

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:

  1. We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
  2. For Richer For Poorer by Danielle Steel
  3. Project Hail Mary by Andrew Weir
  4. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  5. Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
  2. The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp
  3. Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Everything by Alyson Stoner
  4. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
  5. Cudi by Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi

Young adult hardcover:

  1. Hour of the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd
  2. A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid
  3. Glorious Rivals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  4. Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie
  5. Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  2. Refugee by Alan Gratz
  3. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
  4. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
  5. Odder by Katherine Applegate

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!

And finally:

Bulldozing Gaza – Adam Tooze, Chartbook – Historian Adam Tooze uses the horrific ongoing razing of Gaza to look at how the innocuous-seeming bulldozer is intimately bound up in western settler colonialism and warfare.

And on that note, have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

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