In an update to their AI copyright infringement case against Meta, plaintiffs Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Christopher Golden allege that, as early as 2020, lawyers for Meta knew there were “legal problems” with using copyrighted books within the dataset to train their AI tool Llama. Kadrey, et al. are now joined by authors Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Junot Díaz, Andrew Sean Greer, David Henry Hwang, Matthew Klam, Laura Lippman, Rachel Louise Snyder, Ayelet Waldman, and Jacqueline Woodson in the class action suit. Llama uses The Pile, a dataset for training large language models that contains Books3, a corpus of […]
Bookselling: Lauren Groff to Open Bookstore In FL
Author Lauren Groff and her husband, Clay Kallman, will open The Lynx bookstore in Gainesville, FL next year, Shelf Awareness reports. The 2,300-square-foot store will be located in the South Main Station area of downtown Gainesville and will specialize in titles by Florida authors and books that are banned in the state. The owners plan to “institute a profit-sharing model” for employees, and they are currently looking for a general manager.
September Trade Sales Show Lower Returns
The AAP released StatShot data for September, reporting total trade sales of $826.8 million, down slightly from $839.4 million last year. Adult books fell 4.4 percent to $554 million in the month. Hardcovers gained 8.2 percent to $223.8 million, while paperbacks fell 15.7 percent to $171.5 million. Ebooks were down too, 5.8 percent to $70.2 million, while digital audio grew 2.2 percent to $58.9 million. Continuing their upswing from August, children’s books saw a gain after months of losses, with overall sales of 272.8 million, up 5.1 percent from 2022. Hardcovers were just above flat at $103.6 million, while paperbacks […]
New Books Publishing Through December
Annelise Ryan publishes new fiction this month, while nonfiction includes work by John Keahey. Also out in December are new books by Anna Bliss and Lauren E. Rico, both of which are excerpted in our Buzz Books 2023: Fall/Winter anthology. 6 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-through-december 4 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-through-december From Buzz Books https://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/ 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 December‘s 27 fiction releases; 17 works of nonfiction; and 10 children’s […]
S&S To Relaunch Summit Books; Clain Will Helm
Judy Clain will join Simon & Schuster on January 16 as senior vice president and publisher of a relaunched Summit Books imprint, reporting to ceo Jonathan Karp. Clain has been editor-in-chief at Little, Brown since 2011, where she has worked since 1998. Summit Books was active from 1976 to 1991 and published Elie Wiesel, Marilyn French, James Baldwin, and Oliver Sacks. The revised imprint, which will live under the flagship Simon & Schuster division, “will build on that legacy for a 21st century audience.” According to the release, Clain will also “take on a leadership role in Simon & Schuster’s […]
Best Of: Vulture, Maureen Corrigan
Vulture and NPR critic Maureen Corrigan announced their top books of the year.