The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy

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May 26th, 2023

What Happens When AI Reads a Book?

I’m borrowing this title from another newsletter deliberately — there’s no need to try to improve on it. It gives me a chance to alert my readers to the person who I think is the finest commentator on practical AI — Ethan Mollick, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who…

November 30th, 2022

An Authoritative Look at Book Publishing Startups

NOTE: The new version of this report was published by Publishers Weekly in November, 2022, with a new title: Book Publishing Startups in the United States 2022: Industry Insights, Analysis, and Investment Opportunities. It is fully updated; hundreds of new listings, and all of the analysis reconsidered. The database can be accessed separately online at…

October 16th, 2022

A Fascinating NFT/Publishing Startup

My news story about Book.io has just been published in Publishers Weekly (PW), in the weekly print edition and online. It was prompted by the news that Ingram has made an investment in the company, and anything that Ingram invests in is going to draw the publishing industry’s attention. (And now, a day after this…

January 17th, 2022

The Intersection of AI & Audiobooks

Last October I wrote an article for Publishers Weekly, “AI Comes to Audiobooks.” With the growth of audiobooks continuing at scale, it’s not surprising that some enterprising vendors would start to explore where AI might enable the audiobook production process. It comes down to using synthetic voices to supply the narration. Synthetic voices have come…