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NOTE: My wife thinks I’ve been banging the “AI sucks” drum a little too hard and was worried about me jeopardizing my future employment prospects. I reminded her that I basically became unemployable back in my outspoken DBW days, and it’s been downhill ever since! If my stance on AI is a dealbreaker for someone, they probably haven’t known me very long. Nevertheless, there’s no AI in this one, partly because there’s nothing new to say about how and why it sucks.

_ONE

How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015 | Jane Friedman

I’d argue that the last 10 years haven’t been all that revolutionary for publishing, at least not as much as the 10 years before that. Yes, new players have changed the landscape, consolidation has continued, there are political battles. But the industry I reported on in 2015 operates in fundamentally the same ways, so when I talk with writers I’m not telling them anything dramatically different today than I did in 2015.

A few weeks ago, I was startled to realize it’s been 10 years since I left Library Journal and thought I might finally be done with the book side of the publishing industry for good. After a brief, terrible experience working with a messy Goodreads/Buzzfeed wannabe (yes, they were very confused), I went back to B2B magazines and was prepared to settle back into a world that understood and appreciated the importance of engaging directly with readers as much as possible.

And then Writer’s Digest popped up again, and then I eventually found my way back to libraries, once again on the periphery of an industry that hasn’t ever quite known what to do with me.

Jane and I met during my first time at WD, back in 2007 — she was on the book side, I was on the magazine side, before the community integration that literally changed everything for both of us — and she’s been one of my most trusted sources for publishing insights ever since. Unsurprising to me, The Bottom Line (fka The Hot Sheet) has been a must-read from its initial launch and continues to be so in its 10th year, even as I’m arguably once again on the fringes of what most people consider to be the “book publishing industry” these days and, once again, wondering if it’s time to finally let it go.

(Libraries are beloved marketing channels but also considered a major threat to sales by many, while comics are treated like a second-class citizen despite having a larger and more diverse readership than every prestige genre in the industry. Don’t get me started…)

I’m glad she’s made this article freely available because everyone should take advantage of her thoughtful insights on the actually notable developments over the past 10 years. I’m also really looking forward to her overview of the many things that DIDN’T happen over the same period, because the publishing industry has the collective memory of a goldfish, falling for variations of the same new shiny nonsense every few years, while often ignoring the real disruptions that are actually happening in their peripheral vision.

PS: If you’re not already subscriber, you absolutely should be.

__TWO

An Interview with Lisa Lucas | Szilvia Molnar

I don’t know that my career would be possible without champions like them, because I’ve never felt that the world was straight up ready to receive me without somebody else cosigning me. It’s challenging even now. I left book publishing, and the question is: Will I go back? Can I go back? At present, there’s no indication that I can.

This is an impressively candid, inspiring, frustrating, and infuriating interview that hit me hard on several levels. PRH did Lucas dirty, but I’m glad to see it didn’t break her spirit, and I’m very curious to see what she does next — and where.

It’s worth noting that she didn’t voluntarily “leave” book publishing, though. She was unceremoniously shoved out last year after being treated like a useful mascot (her words) during Corporate America’s most recent attempt to opportunistically and tactically embrace diversity.

The way so many people with lesser resumes, platforms, and influence regularly move around this small, “relationship-driven” industry, it says a lot that Lucas not only hasn’t found a gig yet but, worse, doesn’t appear to have any serious prospects despite having much more of the “industry” experience she didn’t have back in 2020, when people openly wondered about the reason for her surprise appointment.

It makes me wonder what’s changed since 2020? And what hasn’t changed since 2015?

___THREE

How bigotry crushed the dreams of an all-Black Little League team | Chris Lamb

The Civil Rights Movement is often told in terms of court decisions, bus boycotts and racist demagogues. It’s rarely told from the point of view of children, who suffered in ways that left physical and emotional scars.

American history is a vast library of depressing stories, most known only to those who experienced them firsthand, so it’s not a surprise I’d never heard of the 1955 Cannon Street YMCA Little League All-Star team from Charleston, South Carolina — despite Charleston being one of my favorite Southern cities I’ve visited several times over the past 10 years.

I haven’t made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York yet, but I’m glad to see their story is part of an exhibit on Black baseball, even if that exhibit just opened last year. I’m also glad that it’s an independent non-profit organization, so it’s hopefully immune to the ongoing push to whitewash history and this exhibit will remain available for everyone to see as a reminder of how pervasive (and relatively recent) America’s racist history really was. These kids were just a few years older than my parents at the time.

Thanks to Lamb and The Conversation for resurfacing the Cannon Street story, especially at a time when most media outlets continue to play the “both sides” game, ensuring history continues to rhyme.

____FOUR

Fan who racially insulted Iñaki Williams in Spanish league game reaches deal to avoid prison time | Tales Azzoni

Prosecutors were seeking a two-year prison sentence for the fan, who made monkey sounds and gestures toward Williams after he was substituted in Athletic’s 1-1 draw at Espanyol in Barcelona in January 2020. The Spanish league also joined the case against the fan.

Spain is probably my favorite country on several metrics, not just for their superior football, but the overt racism that’s so common in football stadiums across the country is definitely one of the main reasons I’d be hesitant to actually live there.

That said, among the many things I learned during my time in the Army was the overt racism of a proud bigot is preferable to the covert racism that’s driven the US throughout my entire lifetime. I can’t even imagine a scenario where any major US sports league would take a serious stance against racism, never mind actually take a fan to court over a racist act.

While I don’t think relocation is a realistic option for us anytime soon, the future isn’t looking terribly promising for the failing American Experiment right now, so all cards have to be put on the table.

_____FIVE

Miss Crabb: librarian and poet | Jessamyn West

Like “Haha, remember that cool building and also there’s a librarian involved.” but then I wondered… The paucity of name/address, the possible double entendre message (from a woman), what else could I find out here? And then, along the way, it became another goofy “librarian vs. LLM” story which I will mostly spare you. But first, Miss Crabb.

I’ve mentioned before that Jessamyn is one of my favorite librarians, and I particularly love when she recounts the various ways she uses her librarian training to support patrons. Sometimes, that support happens outside of the library, like this one, which led me to wonder if cozy library mysteries was a genre?

A month later, she posts this amazing story about Miss Crabb, and if Cozy Library Mysteries didn’t exist before, it absolutely does now. She even has a nemesis in Deepseek, and I can imagine her pitting her librarian skills against a local “influencer” who uses “AI” to make videos about local history that are subtly wrong in different ways, causing trouble for people with each one — and she consistently and entertainingly debunks all of them!

Of course, because we live in the worst timeline, that influencer would continue to make videos and have a large audience for them, which also makes it perfect for a long-running CBS series.

PS: This does NOT count as talking about AI!

______BONUS

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