Getting Down to Business
By Densie Webb | October 5, 2024 |
There were some wins, some losses, and several ongoing battles in the book-banning wars. Will AI replace audiobook narrators—audiobook publishers are trying it on for size. The publishing industry is up, but publishing jobs are down. A website spills all the publishing tea. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited celebrates a decade of its subscription e-book service. The revolving door in publishing keeps turning and a network for women in publishing will convene in New York later this month.
AI
Generative AI offers a sample of the freaky future in the form of a bodiless podcast
Amazon
Audiobooks
International audiobook publishers say the industry is strong
ACX testing AI program to replicate narrators’ voices
BookBans
How booksellers are taking on book banners
Freedom-to-read advocates want to expand efforts beyond the courtroom
Renewed court challenge in Iowa
A new resolution promoting the freedom to read presented by members of both houses of Congress
Preliminary 2024 report on book censorship
Stephen King books now banned in Florida
Publishers
Lots of moving and shaking in the publishing world.
Publishing Jobs have been disappearing
Overall, the publishing industry was up by 6.2% in June, the most recent stats
Appellate decision upholds the rights of authors and publishers
Authors Guild negotiates closure of TouchPoint Press
The torch of Sam Spade is being passed to prize-winning crime writer, Max Allan Collins
Spilling the tea on publishing
Social Media
Are you on BookTok as a content provider or consumer? Have you noticed any differences in the platform over the last several years?
Densie Webb has spent a long career as a freelance nonfiction writer and editor, specializing in health and nutrition and has published several books and tons of articles on the topic over the years. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Red Adept Publishing released her debut women’s fiction novel titled, “When Robins Appear” in 2020. It is available in ebook, audiobook, and paperback formats. Her second novel, best categorized as romantic/domestic suspense, “Breathing in Reverse” was published in 2023, also with Red Adept Publishing. She is currently working (but not fast enough) on novel #3. She grew up in Louisiana, spent 13 years in New York, and settled in Austin, TX, where it’s summer nine months of the year. She’s an avid walker (not of the dead variety, though she loves anything to do with zombies, vampires, or post-apocalyptic worlds), drinks way too much coffee, and has a small “devil dog” that keep her on her toes. And she is thrilled to be a part of the Writer Unboxed family!
Thanks, Densie It takes time and research to create these posts. Beth
Thanks, Beth! I hope you found it useful!
AI can’t even get messages correct on my phone, let alone fix a manuscript in the deep ways an editor can. AI doesn’t follow the nuances or understand the deep complexities of plot and characterization, the narrative voice, or the deep dives and light touches that pull readers’ through books. Nevertheless, I’m sure publishers will turn to AI as a cheap replacement. Hopefully, writers will still turn to me and other freelancers who really know how to make their books shine. Even beyond AI, publishing houses seem to only hire new college graduates. I have decades of experience as a writer and editor, but my degree is in computer programming, so they don’t want me–but they’ll trust AI. Seems to me, I have the degree to run AI and the knowhow to fix the books, but AI is better? What irony. Makes me laugh. Good article, Densie. I like your book cover. I’ll check it out.
AI is really shaking thing up, but I believe the cream will rise to the top. I foresee wonderful applications in areas like medicine to help physicians with diagnosis and treatment, but I agree, the human touch is very much needed in writing and editing, which requires a je ne sais quoi, which can’t be captured in computer programming—at least not yet…