The company wanted to have it both ways: to exert the cultural influence of a major media company without shouldering any more responsibility (or economic burden) than is expected of a mere service provider, such as Gmail. - The Atlantic
Swift obviously doesn't have any actual free time, but anyway: It all comes down a movie trailer and a cat in a backpack, signifying ... something. - Vulture
But by that, we mean the acknowledgements, "where you learn about the temperament of your author, which is sometimes unexpectedly different from that of your narrator." - LitHub
At the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass., "the first speaker took the lectern at noon after the strike of eight bells. 'Call me Ishmael,' the famous opening words, sent a ripple of applause through the room." - Slate
The author of a book about King Charles and other members of the Royal Family being held hostage says, "the move showed the Queen had 'a fantastic sense of humour.'" - BBC
It isn't pretty: "Publishing is competing with other forms of entertainment in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, and an author with existing name recognition is a tempting prospect." - The Guardian (UK)
The issues: "The company wanted to have it both ways: to exert the cultural influence of a major media company without shouldering any more responsibility (or economic burden) than is expected of a mere service provider, such as Gmail.-" The Atlantic
Both "wokeism" and "wokery" refer to culture war issues, though "wokery" has as a second definition cooking with a wok. Among other terms newly added are "safe word", "talkboard", "PFAS", "Gradgrindian", "taliswoman", "hypnic jerk", and "-splaining" as a suffix ("straightsplaining", "mumsplaining"). - The Guardian
The main version of ChatGPT has, since its launch last year, been able to write a children's story, but GPTs allow parents—or anyone, really—to constrain the topic and start with specific prompts, such as a child's name. This means anyone can generate personalized stories starring their kid and their favorite character. Wired
Up to the immediate post-WWII period, publishing was a fairly local, personal business, with houses founded by whiskered men shipping out books to stores on an irregular basis. Today we have the Big Five—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Hachette, and Penguin Random House. - The Bulwark
The LAPL, which manages 73 branches and houses more than 8 million books, has lately been much more ambitious than even the average big-city library system, aggressively expanding its special collections in recent years. But acquiring an entire press takes the system to a whole new level. - Los Angeles Times
After she discovered the work of African-American spoken-word poets, Vanessa Chisakula co-founded Word Smash Poetry in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, and she's seen poetry events spread across the country in the years since. - The Guardian
"Helped by a 1.7% increase in the fourth quarter, unit sales of print books fell only 2.6% in 2023 from 2022. ... The dip was less than many industry members had feared this summer, when sales were steadily declining and were down 4.1% after the first nine months of the year." - Publishers Weekly
"Just under 300 people responded to the survey, which was intended to collect data about copyright, payment, royalties, and other labor issues. … Only 11.5% of respondents reported earning 100% of their income from literary translation work, and … 63.5% reported an annual income of less than $10,000 from literary translation." - Publishers Weekly
