Reports from the Trenches

The publishing world is doing its utmost to contend with the copyright issues posed by AI. Lawsuits are underway or being dismissed or a little of both.

Here we have a case where AI training of LLMs (large language models) has been ruled to be non-infringing. However, the defendant’s practice of downloading pirated books to create a permanent library was considered grounds for a copyright infringement action.

Meanwhile, Meta may have won this one, but the court delineated what seems a reasonable factor to include in any fair use analysis. The effect of the use on the commercial value of the copyrighted work. It is, in fact, one of the four factors that must be considered in any fair use analysis.

And this one just boggles the mind.

Is it really The End of Publishing as We Know It? The article lies behind a paywall, so take a wild guess.

Apparently, Independent Publishers Are Fed Up with Barnes & Noble. And the U.S. Supreme Court just wrapped up a “hurly-burly session” with a couple of decisions that affect the book industry and libraries.

Nice to know someone cares about literacy.

Why has the novel-reading man disappeared? I don’t know. Why do bookstores and publishers and everyone else assume that women only go for the color pink? Why assume we all go to the bookstore in groups?

Please note this quote:

In one sense, then, for men to read more fiction as the world of the novel exists today would not just require more stereotypically masculine subject matter. It might be a matter of men approaching their reading lives a little more like women do — getting recommendations online from celebrities and influencers, browsing together, forming book clubs.

Talk about a parade of stereotypes! For the record, I’ve never been in a book club. I don’t give a damn about celebrity endorsements for books or anything else. And social media influencers? Couldn’t even name most of them. Sorry, guys. We aren’t all obsessed with you.

However, maybe trolling bookstores with a group would be just the thing. A traveling group of authors, going from local bookstore to local bookstore. Making a difference by blogging about it, taking photos and videos, and posting them somewhere or other.

PS: Is TikTok still really a “best-seller machine”? You do realize that article is three years old? So … it’s been a minute. A very long, long minute.

BTW, you can buy the vast majority of my fiction here.

You can also buy digital and audio versions of my work here.

PPS: If you want to be a screenwriter, don’t expect the world to beat a path to your screenplay. Learn from guys like this, who’ve lived the life.

Just remember. You can spend a fortune on how to do anything, if you’re not careful. So read the kind of scripts you’d like to write. Make the movies you want to see. All possible now, for good or ill. :)

And stop thinking all people of a certain demographic are the same.

PPPS: Deborah Frances-White on why it’s time to start talking.