New #WriterBeware blog post: Scammers are increasingly posing as literary agents/agencies, often with elaborate websites that can be extremely convincing. How to spot--and unmask--them #WritingCommunity #LiteraryAgents #Publishing https://writerbeware.blog/2023/12/15/how-to-spot-a-fake-literary-agency/

Kelly Jensen of Book Riot takes a look at every current lawsuit against book bans #WritingCommunity #Publishing
#Library https://literaryactivism.substack.com/p/lawsuits-are-the-way-forward-a-look

New #WriterBeware blog post: Multiple author complaints about fee-charging UK publisher L.R. Price Publications Ltd. include long publishing delays (months to over a year), legal threats, intimidating communications, and more #WritingCommunity #Publishing https://writerbeware.blog/2023/12/01/author-complaints-at-l-r-price-publications-ltd/

New #WriterBeware blog post: Two scam email solicitations currently doing the rounds: a fake publisher-matching service and a faux distributor #WritingCommunity #Publishing https://writerbeware.blog/2023/11/24/two-new-solicitation-bewares-discoverpublishers-com-and-reseller-ventures/

Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly takes a close look at the FTC lawsuit against Amazon, unpacking some new details, including Amazon's secret algorithm for raising prices #WritingCommunity #Publishing #Bookselling https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/93662-taking-a-closer-look-at-the-ftc-lawsuit-against-amazon.html

After an initial veto by the governor, the Freelance Isn't Free Act is now the law in New York State. Protects contract workers & freelancers against wage theft and other ills #WritingCommunity #Freelance https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93811-freelance-isn-t-free-becomes-law-in-new-york-state.html

The Authors Guild breaks down the key aspects affecting authors of Pres. Biden's recent Executive Order addressing #ArtificialIntelligence, including #copyright #WritingCommunity
#Authors https://authorsguild.org/news/what-authors-should-know-about-president-bidens-executive-order-on-ai-use/

Publishers Weekly releases its annual publishing industry salary survey. Among other takeaways: publishing continues to be mostly white (shocker!), and low pay is most frequent complaint #WritingCommunity #Publishing
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93769-the-pw-publishing-industry-salary-survey-2023.html

@kenmarable I've fair-used wifi on occasion...

As creators challenge unpermissioned use of copyright-protected work to train generative AI, a major investor in the technology joins Big Tech in pushing for a "fair use" designation. Translation: paying for rights is just too expensive #WritingCommunity #ArtificialIntelligence #Copyright https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-horowitz-ai-copyright-2023-11

Bumping this post about long-standing payment problems at @CricketMediaInc, which continue to go unaddressed. Latest comment is from an illustrator owed $3,000 for over 3 years #WriterBeware #illustrators #kidlit https://writerbeware.blog/2022/11/18/long-standing-payment-problems-at-cricket-media/

Here's the latest in publisher impersonation, courtesy of Pen2Paper Press. I don't know what fee the author was asked for, but I've heard from writers who paid as much as $7,500 for "services" from this scammer @simonschuster #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #Publishing #Scams

Mixed results for one of several lawsuits over AI copyright infringement: judge dismisses some, but not all, of authors' suit against Meta #WritingCommunity #Publishing #ArtificialIntelligence https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93726-judge-will-toss-part-of-authors-ai-copyright-lawsuit.html

New #WriterBeware blog post: SFWA's comments in response to the US Copyright Office's request for public comment on #copyright and artificial intelligence detail some of the harms of generative AI and suggest specific ways to mitigate them. These comments are relevant to all writers, not just writers of speculative fiction #WritingCommunity #ArtificialIntelligence https://writerbeware.blog/2023/11/10/artificial-intelligence-and-copyright-sfwas-comments-to-the-us-copyright-office/

Fake lit agency alert: AG Literary. Web domain 17 days old so a bit hard to figure how they sold so many books already 😜 What they're really selling: a "compelling book proposal", provided by a "third-party vendor" aka the actual scammer #WriterBeware #WritingCommunity #PublishingScams https://agliterary.com/

@claudiac I checked in the one database I'm aware of that's publicly checkable; thankfully none of my books are there.

Most generative AI has been trained on copyright-protected material (without creators' permission) and users may unintentionally infringe someone's copyright. TechCrunch looks at how AI companies protect their customers from potential copyright suits--or rather, how they mostly don't #WritingCommunity #ArtificalIntelligence https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/06/some-gen-ai-vendors-say-theyll-defend-customers-from-ip-lawsuits-others-not-so-much/

@claireodell Yikes! I once criticized the guidelines of a contest being conducted by a small press, which then retaliated by leaving 1-star reviews on all my books.

@ulidig Yeah. I'm not holding my breath.

Goodreads says it's addressing the problem of "review bombing" on the site. It's about time, given how long the problem has been going on--but do we believe it? #WritingCommunity
#BookReviews #AmWriting https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93651-goodreads-asks-users-to-help-combat-review-bombing.html