Authors Reject New Literary Database
Plus a new option for mailing books and a robots writing travel books
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Authors Reject New Literary Database
We are going to need some court to rule on what counts as fair use when it comes to AI, LLMs, and copyrighted work. Fast. The latest accelerant is called Prosecraft, and it bills itself as the first large linguistic database for literature. It has sucked in the work of more than 12,000 authors so that it can spit about speciously useful info like how “vivid” something is. It also says it can analyze passive voice, but whoever made this doesn’t know what passive voice actually is. And how are authors whose work has been fed into this thing feeling about it? Not terribly enthused.
Media Mail Makes the World of U.S. Book Publishing Go Round. Is Its Replacement Here?
Look, I know it doesn’t seem like a new option in a table on the USPS website is all that interesting, but what if I told you…it might be barely interesting? There is a new mailing option called USPS Ground Advantage that sure looks like the old Media Mail option (which is still available). It’s a little more expensive (starting at $4.75 against media mail’s $3.92) and has a faster delivery window and more tracking options. I have no idea what the publishing industry (from publishers to stores to retailers) spends on mailing books around, but it’s a lot. And if that amount goes up by 20%, that’s quite a bit of new overhead. As far as I can tell, there is no messaging saying that Media Mail is going away, but it has always seemed a relic of a bygone era.
“Everything you Need to Know Before Plan a Trip to Paris”
Get used to the AI beat here on Today in Books. The above quote is from the description of a travel guide that’s popular on Amazon called Paris Travel Guide 2023. This is just one of many travel guides published attributed to someone called Mike Steves, who has the same mailing address as legendary travel writer Rick Steves. So what’s the story here? Check out the full New York Times piece, but the upshot is that the online travel guide market looks like it is being swamped with crappy AI-generated stuff. Though as far as I can tell, that phrase is redundant.
Book Award Categories That Should Exist
Best Feel-Good Novel? Sign me up. Best Rage Read? I’m listening. I would be interested in seeing nominees for all of these book award categories that do not exist...Yet.