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Why You Should Make a Game to Build Your Author Platform

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Potential readers can step inside your book’s world via brief, text-based, choose-your-own-adventure-style stories made with online tools.
Writing & Publishing Awards Have Difficult Decisions to Make Regarding AI

Writing & Publishing Awards Have Difficult Decisions to Make Regarding AI

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Publishing professionals have a responsibility to learn about AI—not to use it, but to effectively deal with its consequences in their work.
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Links of Interest: May 27, 2026

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The latest in traditional publishing, self-publishing, legal issues, and culture & politics.
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New agency: Two Script Studio

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The agency will support producers and screenwriters who want to turn film and TV projects into novels early in their development.
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On the List: How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson

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Lawson’s new book shares tools and tricks she relies on when her brain isn’t working properly due to depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
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New audiobook features from both Spotify and ElevenLabs

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They include AI-narration for self-publishers, personalized AI-generated daily podcasts, human-narrated longform journalism, and more.
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Pirated audiobooks create problems for publishers and authors

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The combination of AI narration and YouTube advertising has created a new, profitable form of infringement.
Image: aerial view of several suburban houses on a leafy street, only one of which has a swimming pool in the back yard.

Writing Away From Yourself: How to Fictionalize a Character

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If your story requires characters whose motivations don’t come naturally to you, here are some tips to help you imagine the impossible.
Image: a path through woods

Hide the Sawdust: Hone Your Focus Sentence

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A good story, like a good hiking path, simply unfolds without seeming forced. Here's a tool that helps keep complex stories on track.
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Did your publisher fail to register copyright for your work?

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The Authors Guild wants to hear from authors excluded from the Bartz v Anthropic settlement due to a publisher's failure to register for copyright.
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Links of Interest: May 20, 2026

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The latest in AI, traditional publishing, marketing & promotion, and culture & politics.
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Texas Book Festival launches Burro Libro Press

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The publishing imprint will focus on debut literary fiction by emerging writers with strong ties to Texas.
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New fellowship for literary narrative nonfiction

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The fellowship is intended to support writers whose projects engage with the collections of the NYPL flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
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New agent: Lowenstein Associates

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Ava Grayson is actively building her list in literary fiction, horror, romantasy, gothic, YA, romance, fantasy, and narrative nonfiction.
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Audible’s Royalty Plan Changes: How Indie Authors Plan to Adapt

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I spoke with three self-publishing novelists who have distinctive business models and different levels of involvement with Amazon and Audible about the new AYCL royalty model.
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Book sales update (AAP): sales increased 0.9% for first quarter 2026

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Audio consumption is the big winner. With adults, fiction is up and nonfiction is down, while the children’s/YA market is just the opposite.
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Winner of Commonwealth Short Story Prize accused of AI use

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Scandals like this will continue unabated if AI use is prohibited and/or taboo but detection and enforcement is left in the hands of readers.
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Audiobook narrators, voice actors and podcasters sue tech companies

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The tech companies are accused of scraping the voices of actors from the internet and using them to train AI without the notice or consent.
Image: a statue in Busan, South Korea of two standing dragons; one holds forth a red egg to the other.

Romantasy: What It Can Do for Men

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An avid male reader of romantasy speaks up about his love for the genre, and what it can teach men about themselves and their relationships.
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Showing or Telling? How to Decide Based on Line Level, Scene Level, and Story Level

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Both show and tell are essential tools for powerful storytelling. The trick is balancing their use at the line, scene, and story level.
Custom shirts. hoodies, and baseball caps from Dr. Sarita Lyons’ Church Girl merch run, printed by Tee Vision Printing in Philadelphia

What Authors Need to Know About Ordering Wearable Merch

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If you’re an author thinking about wearable merch for a book launch or tour, here are some considerations to help the process go smoothly.
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The Children’s Middle-Grade Slump: How Bad Is It?

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Sales data suggests a return to pre-pandemic normalcy, but backlist dominates and it’s tough for new books and authors to break out.
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Links of Interest: May 13, 2026

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The latest in traditional publishing, scams, culture & politics, and AI.
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Bo-sco: new scouting service for TV/film producers

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Believing the book-to-screen pipeline is missing what’s worth finding, UK-based author Arianna Reiche has launched a page-to-screen IP scouting service.
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On the List: A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry

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Rosanne Parry is the author of nine novels for young readers, which have been translated into more than 14 languages.