IBPA Position Statement on Proposed eBook Laws and Their Impact on Independent Publishers Thursday, March 16, 2023
“Driven by corporate interests, the legislation being put forward undermines the intellectual property of authors and publishers by manipulating fair market compensation for their creative work. It also places an outsized and unsustainable financial burden on small business owners, and ultimately harms the very libraries the laws are meant to protect.”
Writers Guild Says It’s Pushing to Prohibit AI-Generated Works Under Contract in Negotiations
The guild, which is currently at the table with studios and streamers over this issue and others, said Wednesday that artificial intelligence “has no role in guild-covered work, nor in the chain of title in the intellectual property.”
Human Artistry Campaign Advocates for AI Best Practices with seven rules to ensure artificial intelligence technologies can support, rather than replace or erode, “human artistry.”
Sandra Beckwith of Build Book Buzz recently created a free cheat sheet that authors use to get publicity — free media attention — immediately. “8 Services That Help Journalists Find Authors and Other Sources” details the resources pricey book publicists use to discover what journalists are looking for from sources like you.
Also, Tip sheets: How to create the best book publicity document you’ll ever need
Oklahoma Senate passes bill to restrict access to books, in both school and public libraries. On March 7, the bill moved from the Senate to the House. Materials for high school juniors and seniors would be put into a restricted area to protect younger children. The high schoolers would need written consent from a parent or guardian to access those materials.
“Beginning July 1, 2024, no print or nonprint material or media in a school district library, charter school library or public library shall include content that the average person age 18 or older applying contemporary community standards would find (has) a prominent tendency to appeal to a prurient interest in sex,” the measure says.
Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, sponsor of the bill says, schools are not the place to be exposed to pornography and sex. “What we are attempting to do is make school a safe place,” Hamilton said. “We are not banning books.”
War Has Taken Its Toll on Ukrainian Publishing
The number of titles published in Ukraine was cut almost in half last year, dropping from 17,000 in 2021 to just under 9,000 in 2022. The total number of books printed in Ukraine fell from 25.7 million in 2021 to 9.2 million in 2022, partly due to supply chain issues. Typically ordering 60,000 tons of paper, printers only received 20,000 tons last year. The focus of most publishers is to keep the lights and heat on, relying on generators to do this.
Spotify Launches Audiobook Sales in Canada
From Writers Weekly: Extreme Author Warning About AuthorUnit.com / PrimeChamber.com, a form of the Nigerian prince who needs your help.
Several members of the Authors Guild report they’ve been approached by Scryptor Book-to-movie project who for a “registration fee” of $1,200 will pitch their book to big Hollywood movie producers, not limited to new titles.
A Skeptical Judge Presses Internet Archive to Cite Cases That Support Their Copying Books.
