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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Hurowitz and Abu Dhabi-Based Mubadala Are Bidding for Simon & Schuster
Investor and author Richard Hurowitz in partnership with the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala are among the second-round bidders for Simon & Schuster. Mubadala manages investments for the government of Abu Dhabi. Other bidders include private equity firm KKR and Harper Collins. The news was reported by the WSJ. A writer, investor and publisher of the quarterly magazine The Octavian Report, Hurowitz has been a bidder for other trade publishing companies in the past. And Hurowitz and Mubadala are considered by those with knowledge of the process to likely have been bidders for S&S in 2020 as well. Paramount Global executive […]
Vivendi Signs Deal to Sell Editis to IMI
On Friday, following clearance from the EU for Vivendi’s acquisition of Lagardere, the company announced they had executed the planned agreement to sell the publisher Editis to International Media Invest (IMI). That spinoff will require its own approval from the European Commission, though Vivendi says, “Completion is expected by early October 2023 at the latest.” IMI is owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. He also owns a 25 percent share in French-based retailer of books and other media, FNAC, and has reportedly expressed interest in buying a controlling share in the company. Vivendi needs to complete the sale of Editis […]
The Classics
As you adjust to our new look at Pubishers Marketplace, it’s worth underscoring that the revised “screenshot view” preserves and refreshes our classic look for those who like things old school. When you bring up screenshot view, where you see “Version:“, just click down on the menu to get the classic image: Also, for those of you who like the “New for you” counters that show the number of recently posted deals (and other updates) since your last visit to the site, that feature has been relocated to the top of the Your Account page.