At the US Book Show ceo panel, Publishers Weekly editorial director Jonathan Segura asked executives how they are wrestling with the problem of detecting AI-generated content in manuscripts. HBG ceo Shelley didn’t reference the cancelled SHY GIRL or have a specific answer, saying that the company doesn’t have a systemic way of checking for AI authorship. He said that AI-detection programs are largely imperfect and that authors have concerns about having their work fed into such tool. He also doesn’t want to encourage a “culture of suspicion or disbelief of authors,” but said that the company has a contractual policy […]
Book Fairs
BookCon Responds to Wild Lines, ARC Giveaways
After 25,000 people descended on the Javits Center for Book Con last weekend, parent company Reed Pop has responded to criticism over the event’s organization, USA Today reports. Social media posts detailed intense crowds and frenzied ARC drops, which some attendees called unsafe. “We heard the feedback clearly on the reservation system, ARC drops, and crowd flow. Some of it was demand outpacing our projections; some of it was decisions we’ll make differently next year. A community that shows up with this much passion is one we can grow alongside, and we’re grateful for it,” Reed Pop vice president of […]
London Book Fair: Germany Leads Changes to the English-Language Rights Market
The changing market for English-language rights in Europe continues to be a book fair topic of conversation. In his talk on Tuesday morning, PRH UK ceo Tom Weldon spoke about Piper, an imprint of Bonnier Germany, acquiring the exclusive English-language European rights to Bonnie Garmus’s new novel PECK & PECK (Scribner is publishing it in the US). Garmus’s first book, the international bestseller Lessons in Chemistry, was published by PRH, as well as Piper. Weldon said that letting Garmus’s book go was a decision based on the rights structure: “The reason was a very important principle for us, which is […]
London Book Fair: Audio, AI, and Declining Attention Spans
On day two of London Book Fair, chatter on the convention floor kept returning to how to revive nonfiction. Meanwhile, the programming continued to address audio, AI, and declining attention spans. Niamh Parsley, head of product & design for audiobooks at Spotify spoke about Page Match, noted that the company has tracked about a 50/50 split between people who come looking for a specific audiobook and people who happen upon a book they want to listen to. “We’re not relying on authors to bring their audiences to Spotify,” she said. Additionally, the app uses data from customers’ listening to help […]
London Book Fair Opens to Talk of New S&S CEO, Middle East Pressures On Supply Chain and Costs
As you would expect, headlines fueled the party conversations the night before the opening of the London Book Fair, focused on the new ceo of Simon & Schuster and the war in the Middle East. The traditional Monday night WME and Harper parties buzzed with news of Greg Greeley’s appointment, with eyebrows raised over his background at Amazon and how long he will stay in the job until KKR exits their investment, already two-and-a-half years into their “base case” of five to seven years of ownership. Meanwhile, in the virtual world, people were obsessing over New York Magazine’s What Do […]
LBF to Move Rights Center
The London Book Fair will move the international rights center in the Olympia this year, the Bookseller reports. The move comes after a “chaotic” time in the rights center last year, according to WME head of international rights Tracy Fisher, when the center was split into two sections due to construction at the Olympia, and portions of the ceiling fell down. “Layout changes were made this year due to concerns around the 2025 show, leading to some exhibitors deciding not take tables this year, or attend at all,” the Bookseller notes. Canongate also decided not to exhibit at the Olympia […]