The Publishing Industry’s Big Bet, a Book You Can Smell, and an AI Payout
Three stories from the book world.
Hey everyone, for a little mid-week* fun, I thought I’d share three interesting things happening in publishing right now.
*I don’t call Wednesday “hump day” because I’m too juvenile and will start giggling.
1. Is Publishing Becoming Las Vegas?
Tajja Isen’s essay, “The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem,” has been bouncing around in my head all week. On the surface, it’s about the industry’s obsession with “sales track,” that invisible but essential number that follows authors from book to book, influencing how editors and marketing teams see them. But the piece is really about how the entire publishing industry has become more risk-averse, more spreadsheet-driven, and less human.
Isen starts with the story of The Bluest Eye. When Toni Morrison’s debut came out in 1970, it sold only a couple thousand copies and went out of print within four years. If that happened today, Morrison might never have gotten a second shot. But back then, editors still had the freedom (and budgets) to bet on a writer’s potential. They could build a career over time. That luxury seems to be melting away faster than the icecaps.
Of course, let’s not be disingenuous about things: sales track has always mattered. Publishing lives at the intersection of art and commerce (Exhibit A: adult coloring books). But while publishing houses have always cared about how an author’s last book performed, Isen claims that the weight of it has changed. Now, that single number has grown to dominate acquisition meetings. Consequently, authors who don’t immediately sell are quietly dropped; midlist writers slide to small presses; and debuts are hyped to impossible expectations.
Isen makes a compelling argument that publishing’s obsession with sales track is eating away at the very conditions that once made literature possible. It’s capitalism devouring its own farm system — the “slow build” that gave us writers like Morrison, McCarthy, and Kerouac. And yet… at the risk of sounding like a literary climate change denier, I talk to a lot of editors and agents (as well as spend way too much time in bookstores), and it seems to me like plenty of exciting, strange, and daring books are still being acquired and published.
2. An Author, a Condiment Company, and a Vampire walk into a Bookstore.
Speaking of strange and daring books, apparently someone is planning to release a scratch-n-sniff book. In a recent Agents & Books newsletter, literary agent Kate McKean shared a hilarious update: New York Times bestseller Jennifer L. Armentrout’s next release, The Primal of Blood and Bone, will be available as a limited-edition hardcover printed with garlic-mayo-scented ink (thanks to a collaboration with Hellmann’s Mayonnaise).
It’s such a weird gimmick that I don’t even know how to feel about it. On the one hand, it’s amazing—and proof that physical books can still do things digital can’t. On the other hand, garlic-mayo? Why not make the book smell like chocolate or lemons or suntan lotion (beach read?) If you absolutely have to bring in a corporate sponsor, how about Cinnabon?
Anyway, the edition will only be sold through the author’s indie store, Miss Willa’s Bookshop in West Virginia, so your local bookstore isn’t about to start smelling like a Sbarros (unless it’s a B&N near a mall food court).
3. A Rare Win for Authors
Anthropic, one of the big AI players, agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement for training its models on pirated books. Authors can now search a public list to see if their work was used, and possibly get paid for it.
Here is a link to see if your book has been used. And, flow chart style, if the answer is yes—> Here is a link to file your claim.
The compensation that authors will receive is still being determined. The figure I’ve heard thrown around most often is $1,500 per title… but I’ll believe it when I see it. Actually, I won’t see anything, because my books weren’t data-scraped, but it turns out that two of my wife’s books were. So I will eventually get some answers (and I’ll report back!)
In the meantime, let’s chalk up a win for writers. While the (potential) money is surely appreciated, the precedent matters more: for once, tech companies are being held accountable for the content they’ve secretly feasted on.
Thanks for reading.
—Panio Gianopoulos
Editorial Director, Author Insider & The Next Big Idea Club