Following revelations that OpenAI’s ChatGPT — along with Google’s BERT and other foundational large language models — was trained on a corpus of over 7,000 books scraped from Smashwords without permission, along with another larger corpus of likely illegal written material — the first class action suit seeking to enforce authors’ rights was brought in a San Francisco Federal Court. Named plaintiffs and authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad seek class action status on behalf of a broad class of authors of copyrighted material, in a suit filed by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm and Matthew Butterick against OpenAI. They […]
Archives for June 2023
Andrews McMeel Acquires Amber Lotus
Andrews McMeel has acquired Amber Lotus Publishing, known for “calendars that showcase wisdom text and inspirational quotes paired with exceptional work by artists and photographers,” from Leslie Gignilliat-Day and Lawson Day. AMP will publish Amber Lotus calendars under their own imprint, starting with the 2025 calendar season. AMP president and publisher Kirsty Melville says in the announcement: “Their work complements the Andrews McMeel calendar line wonderfully, and we’re honored that they have chosen us to continue their mission of sharing the extraordinary work of so many talented teachers and artists.” Leslie Gignilliat-Day adds, “We’re grateful Kirsty shares this vision and […]
Distribution: Five New Presses To Longleaf Services
Longleaf Services will now distribute: Chemeketa Press, Clemson University Press, University Press of Kansas, Texas Christian University Press, and InterVarsity Press.
Third B&N Store Unionizes
Following the successful unionization of stores in Hadley, MA and Union Square, NYC, the Barnes & Noble in Park Slope Brooklyn voted 88 percent in favor of unionizing, after announcing their intent in May. Like the chain’s other locations, the store joins the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The union now will go into contract negotiation with management, planning to address “continued safety issues amid the rebound of New York City post-pandemic including workplace harassment, substandard pay for the industry below that of independent booksellers, unstable scheduling practices, a lack of structure when it comes to job duties and tasks […]
Agency News: Irene Goodman Agents to Start New Agencies
The Irene Goodman Literary Agency has announced that as of July 1 all of their senior agents will be transitioning into a variety of new agencies. In a statement provided by Goodman, the agency says: “This is a natural progression based on growing interests and diverging needs. We will all miss being under the umbrella of IGLA, but remain excited for the future. We will continue to enjoy warm collegial relationships with each other, with our clients, and the many publishers with whom we work.” Irene Goodman will remain president of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. At least three new […]