Adobe has been sued in a proposed class action suit over using books to train its AI software. The lead plaintiff in the case is Art Kleiner, author of the 1996 book The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change, which was included in the Books3 dataset. Books3 is part of the SlimPajama dataset, which Adobe used to train its “SlimLM small language models,” which provides “document assistance tasks on mobile devices,” according to the complaint. “This runs contrary to Adobe’s outspoken stance on ethical AI development and use” for its AI image generator, Firefly, the […]
Forthcoming: Michael Douglas Memoir
On October 6, Grand Central will publish actor Michael Douglas‘s memoir, the AP reports. The as-yet-untitled book, written with Michael Fleming, will tell Douglas’s story “on [his] own terms,” the actor said in a statement. “Not the highlight reel, not the version shaped by headlines or box office numbers, but the real one. I’ve lived a life that unfolded in public while being deeply private at the same time, and there’s a difference. This is about where I came from, what I fought against, and what I chose for myself. Fame can blur the truth; this is my attempt to […]
US Not Appropriate Venue for Either Case Against Gaiman, Palmer, Court Finds
On Friday, a US District Court judge in Massachusetts dismissed another case related to allegations of sexual assault by Neil Gaiman, on the basis of jurisdiction. The case was brought by Scarlett Pavlovich against Gaiman’s ex-wife, Amanda Palmer. Pavlovich claims Palmer engaged in human trafficking and conspiracy when Pavlovich worked as the couple’s nanny in New Zealand, as well as “negligence against Palmer for introducing plaintiff to Gaiman and failing to warn her of the unreasonable danger he posed,” according to a court filing. The court granted Palmer’s motion to dismiss, noting that Massachusetts is not an appropriate venue. “Plaintiff […]
2025 Trade Sales Just Below Flat After December Growth
The Association of American Publishers released Statshot data for December and 2025 as a whole, reporting strong sales for the month and sales just under flat for the year. In December, trade sales rose 14 percent to $752 million. The return rate fell to 12.5 percent from 13.7 percent in December 2024. Adult books sold $541.9 million, up 9.4 percent, with $270.7 million in fiction (up 2.9 percent) and $271.2 million in nonfiction (up 16.8 percent). Hardcovers sold $186.8 million (up 8.4 percent), paperbacks sold $191.7 million (up 25.8 percent), ebooks sold $67.4 million (down 4.2 percent), and audio sold […]
New Books Publishing February 10
This week’s fiction releases include new novels by Matt Dinniman, Kerri Maniscalco, and James Lee Burke, while nonfiction includes work by Richard Holmes and Dorothy Roberts. 30 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-february-10 11 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-february-10 Also publishing this week are Sarah G. Pierce’s For Human Use and Michelle Maryk’s The Found Object Society, both excerpted in our Buzz Books 2026: Spring/Summer anthology. We consult a number of sources in compiling our weekly lists and PM members can see our lists for the coming months on Bookshop. Check out February‘s 127 fiction releases, 21 works of nonfiction, […]