As we noted recently, coalitions of authors took the lead in 2023 in trying to hold the leaders in generative AI accountable for stealing vast amounts of copyrighted materials to train their Large Language Models. Now at year’s end, authors gained a powerful ally in court as the New York Times Company filed its own copyright infringement lawsuit in Federal Court in New York’s Southern District against OpenAI and Microsoft. The NYT says comes after lengthy negotiations: “For months, The Times has attempted to reach a negotiated agreement with Defendants, in accordance with its history of working productively with large […]
PRH Wins Partial Victory in Iowa Book Ban Suit; WaPo Analyzes Book Bans
In a preliminary victory for Penguin Random House in their suit claiming that Iowa’s book bans are unconstitutional, the state conceded that books about sexual orientation and gender identity will be allowed in school and classroom libraries. According to a press release, “students will be able to access them freely, read, and do reports on them.” This concession covers half of the publisher’s case against Iowa, which they brought with authors, educators, a student and parent, and the Iowa State Education Association. The other half concerns books that describe or visually depict sex, regardless of context, which are restricted through […]
Skyhorse to Acquire Regnery
Skyhorse announced a deal to acquire conservative publisher Regnery from Salem Media Group, which amusingly they chose to release through the New York Times. (But it worked, and got the paper to cover an otherwise small acquisition.) Regnery is projecting sales of just $10 million for 2023, and will operate as an imprint of Skyhorse. They bring a backlist of over 1,500 titles. Skyhorse president and publisher Tony Lyons tells the NYT candidly that his books “are provocative and dangerous and disturbing,” which he sees as an argument why stores should carry them, to “encourage dialogue and debate.” The transaction […]
B&N Union Square Employees Stop Work on Pre-Holiday Afternoon
Unionized workers at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square walked off the job at 2 PM on Friday, December 22 to protest “the company’s failure to return on economic portions of the contract amid their highest sales season.” After joining the RWDSU in June, employees have met with management to negotiate a contract throughout the fall. According to the union, last week, ceo James Daunt came to the bargaining table. In a release, the union stated, “If the company wants to live up to James Daunt’s vision of a well trained, knowledgeable sales team, and a shopping experience for […]
People 12/21
Holiday Sales Come Down to Final Week
For the sales week ending December 16, Circana Bookscan reports weekly sales of 28.6 million units, falling behind last year’s sales of 29.5 million units in the same week. But with Christmas on Monday, booksellers should see another very full week of sales leading into the holiday. As Circana Bookscan analyst Kristen McLean wrote a week ago, “Overall we expect the close of 2023 to look very much like 2022 — two shallower ‘Super Saturdays’ rather than a single high peak.” Unit sales are expected to run about 3 percent below last year’s totals. For the eight weeks of sales […]