On Monday, Angry Robot Books announced an open submissions period for late April, but with a twist: “We will be doing things very different this year. We will be using something called Storywise, which is a non generative AI system that will help us sort submissions. This means that it does not learn from author’s works to inform an AI model, and therefore the AI model is not trained by your work.” But the community objected strongly to any use of AI in evaluating authors’ material. The publisher quickly dropped the idea, posting: “We have been watching & listening to […]
Distribution: Magination Press
Lerner Publisher Services will distribute American Psychological Association imprint Magination Press globally starting January 1, 2025.
Endeavor Top Execs to Receive Bonuses, Royalties, More in Buyout
When Endeavor finally went public in 2021 at a reduced $24 a share, a few top executives wound up with significant holdings and valuable options while hundreds of others were reportedly told their options were worthless. According to SEC filings, Silver Lake’s move to take Endeavor private again — after producing less than a 15 percent return over three years — will lead to another significant windfall for executives. Endeavor founder and ceo Ari Emanuel—who currently owns 11.9 percent of stock—will receive a $25 million bonus at the sale. He’ll be named founder and executive chairman of William Morris Endeavor, […]
Distribution: Ingram Gives SPD Clients 60 Days to Relocate Inventory; White Goat Press; Keeperton; and More
The SPD closure on March 28 continues to disrupt operations for small presses. In the latest development, Ingram emailed clients that SPD inventory being held in their warehouses will be destroyed in 60 days if not claimed. Additionally, Ingram says it is no longer processing customer orders for those titles (and therefore is not generating any revenue for the presses). They write, “As a result of this closure, our warehouse and fulfillment services relationship with SPD has ended and we have ceased fulfilling orders for your titles. This step was taken to minimize financial impact on you.” Publishers are told […]
Meta Stole Everyone’s Books Because It Was Cheap and Convenient; Considered Buying S&S, But That Was Unnecessary
Big tech has had a voracious appetite for content to train their AI systems and these cash rich nation states all rationalized their way to theft at scale because it was faster and more convenient than legal solutions — and the legal and legislative system is incapable of holding them accountable in any reasonable timeframe. Thanks to its own lawsuit along with its reporting, the NYT documented the scale of illegal hubris: “At Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, managers, lawyers and engineers last year discussed buying the publishing house Simon & Schuster to procure long works, according to recordings […]
People 4/8
Eric A. Schmidt will join Basic as executive editor on April 29th. Schmidt was most recently senior acquisitions editor at the University of California Press.