News Today's Book News

[AgentPete]

I get a daily summary of the most important publishing news (UK and US) from the usual trade news sources… today’s bulletin is below.

I’d be happy to share it in the Colony… Let me know if you might find this useful, or if it would be overkill.

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Author Sam Blake urges 'better protections' from Amazon after AI rip-off books appear under her name​

Bestselling author Sam Blake urged Amazon to strengthen safeguards after AI-generated 'rip-off' books were marketed under her name on the Kindle platform, calling for better protection for authors and readers.

Author Sam Blake urges 'better protections' from Amazon after AI rip-off books appear under her name

S&S wins ten-way auction for Jeneva Rose thrillers​

Simon & Schuster won a ten-way rights auction for Jeneva Rose’s high-concept thrillers; the author has sold more than five million copies of her books.

S&S wins ten way auction for Jeneva Rose thrillers

Good Housekeeping announces GH Good Books Autumn collection​

Good Housekeeping launched its GH Good Books accreditation programme, announcing an autumn collection in which Carmel Harrington’s novel ‘The Stolen Child’ took the top spot.

Good Housekeeping announces GH Good Books Autumn collection

British Academy Book Prize shortlist released​

The British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding released a shortlist of six international nonfiction books competing for the £25,000 prize, including Sophie Harman’s ‘Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health’.

British Academy Book Prize shortlist released

Ebury pre-empts 'absolute peak performance' title​

Ebury pre-empted a peak-performance book that aims to help readers identify and overcome unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours to unlock greater confidence, courage and energy.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/ebury-pre-empts-absolute-peak-performance-title/

Neurobollocks deal for Transworld​

Transworld’s Torva imprint triumphed in an eight-way auction for Dr Joseph Devlin’s book “Neurobollocks: Why Nearly Everything You Know About Your Brain Is Wrong,” which debunks common neuroscience myths.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/neurobollocks-deal-for-transworld/

Canongate signs 'transformative' book from science journalist​

Canongate acquired Jo Marchant’s “In Search of Now,” a book described as a transformative exploration of the nature of time, self and reality.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/a...-transformative-book-from-science-journalist/

The Kingdom of Tigers finds its home at HCCB​

HarperCollins Children’s Books (HCCB) bought “The Kingdom of Tigers,” a debut picture book by Felicity Yeoh and illustrator Megan Snyders, which includes an afterword by actress Michelle Yeoh.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/the-kingdom-of-tigers-finds-its-home-at-hccb/

Piccadilly Press enters The Ministry of Manners​

Piccadilly Press acquired David Solomons’ middle‑grade adventure “The Ministry of Manners,” with illustrations by Hazem Asif.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/piccadilly-press-enters-the-ministry-of-manners/

Andrew Ridker’s novel Hope in Netflix deal​

Andrew Ridker’s novel “Hope,” published by Duckworth Books’ Farrago imprint, is being developed into a Netflix series by filmmaker Noah Baumbach and production company A24.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/andrew-ridkers-novel-hope-in-netflix-deal/

Worlds Apart at Moth Books​

Moth Books acquired Julia Franck’s coming-of-age novel “Worlds Apart,” which draws on the German writer’s family history.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/worlds-apart-at-moth-books/

Akoya signs Cardboard Boxes​

Akoya signed Tom Lanoye’s novel “Cardboard Boxes,” a coming-of-age story about a gay teenager in Flanders that has sold more than 200,000 copies.

https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/akoya-signs-cardboard-boxes/

Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Copyright Lawsuit​

Publishers Weekly reported that AI company Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle allegations that it illegally downloaded hundreds of thousands of books to train its language models. The settlement covers about 500,000 works, includes a commitment to destroy the pirated copies, and is considered the largest copyright recovery in U.S. history.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw...-1-5-billion-to-settle-copyright-lawsuit.html

Apple Sued by Authors for Copyright Infringement​

Authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Apple’s “OpenELM” language model illegally copied books for training, including scraping data from the Books3 dataset and using Applebot to gather content. The lawsuit was filed on the same day the Anthropic settlement was announced, underscoring growing legal challenges over AI training practices.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw...ed-by-authors-for-copyright-infringement.html

National Book Festival Crowds Out Troubling Times​

The Library of Congress’s 25th National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., drew 2,200 people to hear Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett discuss her forthcoming book “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution”. Acting Librarian of Congress Robert Newlen presented Geraldine Brooks with the 2025 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, while protesters outside condemned the National Guard’s presence in the city.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw...book-festival-crowds-out-troubling-times.html

Global Illiteracy Is On the Rise, New Report Finds​

A World Literacy Foundation report released on International Literacy Day found that global illiteracy rates increased by 2.2% over 2024 and 2025, with 773 million people unable to read. The report noted that 61% of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds don’t own a single book and estimated the economic cost of illiteracy at $1.4 trillion annually.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw...literacy-is-on-the-rise-new-report-finds.html

 

[Aethalope]

This is extremely useful, thank you for sharing.

The Anthropic ruling is interesting. It seems to set the precedent that it is okay to train LLMs on published works, as long as these have been acquired legally. Or did I misinterpret that?

 

[Bloo]

I very much appreciate this curated rundown. Thank you, AP

 

[AgentPete]

This is extremely useful, thank you for sharing.

OK, so unless folk object (it can be quite long!) I'll continue posting it, then. It does give you a quick overview of what's happening in my little neck of the woods

The Anthropic ruling is interesting. It seems to set the precedent that it is okay to train LLMs on published works, as long as these have been acquired legally. Or did I misinterpret that?

Yes, it inches that possibility closer.

I’ve always said that “LLM rights” ought to be sold like any other rights in a book, e.g. serial, audio, foreign language, etc.

For this to happen, three things need to occur:

1) An acceptance by AI companies that there is such a thing as “LLM rights” which they need to license;
2) A marketplace for those rights with the usual buying/selling mechanics;
3) The technical ability to withdraw specific titles from LLM models at the end of the license period if no extension is agreed.

All of these are looking a bit more likely, but we’re not there yet.