Final “reply comments” on the US Copyright Office’s “study of the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence systems” are due by the end of day Wednesday. While the office itself has not yet posted any of the replies, the AAP has provided a copy of their comments to the media. The organization states its “forceful opposition to the flawed and inaccurate assertions submitted by some tech companies and/or their investors in the first comment round, in which they position copyright and the protection of creative expression as an obstacle to innovation and progress. This is nonsense. Copyright […]
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Bloom Books Scales to $100 Million; Print Sales Rise In November
Less than three years after its founding, Sourcebooks’ Bloom Books imprint is having a banner year, on track to finish 2023 with almost $100 million in gross sales worldwide according to the company. That has to make the line among the fastest-growing new imprints ever. In outlets tracked by Circana Bookscan, Bloom Books has sold 6.4 million print units so far in 2023, rocketing up from just under 1 million units the same time a year ago. Highlights include sales of more than 1.85 million print units of books by Ana Huang this year, and over 1.5 million print units […]
Acquisitions: The Taunton Press
The Taunton Press has been acquired by “enthusiast media company” Active Interest Media. AIM president at ceo Andrew Clurman said in a release, “AIM and Taunton are closely aligned on several important fronts. While the symmetry of many of our core markets is obvious; woodworking, gardening, and homebuilding; there are many other similarities. Strategically, like AIM, Taunton has been aggressively pursuing the creation of new digital products, memberships, and online learning to better serve their audiences. Most importantly, Taunton shares with AIM a commitment to growing and promoting both the communities we serve, and our fantastic teams dedicated to that […]
Scholastic to Include Diverse Books in Spring Book Fairs
Scholastic announced an update to its Book Fairs policy, after separating out books with BIPOC and queer characters and creators from elementary school fairs in a purported effort to protect teachers and librarians who are dealing with legislation that bans such titles. Scholastic apologized and reversed course in October, announcing that they would discontinue the share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice a la carte collection but without additional details about the future of the program. “From our experience in the fall, we have learned that separating out titles or highlighting titles that might make teachers and librarians vulnerable to serious […]