Newsletter 29 November 2023: Fakery vs authenticity; nonfiction author ripoff; invest like a Munger
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Newsletter 29 November 2023: Fakery vs authenticity; nonfiction author ripoff; invest like a Munger

Newsletter 20. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year; suing Microsoft and OpenAI; stop checking your grades; plus three people to follow, three books to read, and the perfect gift for the author in your life. Inauthentic I always thought the advice and books on how to be authentic were a little silly. Who wants to be…

Newsletter 22 Nov 2023: The travails of Warner’s David Zaslav; obstreperous agents; form follows fashion
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Newsletter 22 Nov 2023: The travails of Warner’s David Zaslav; obstreperous agents; form follows fashion

Newsletter 19. How viewership evolves, media conforms, and finance destroys. Plus a survey finds AI all over publishing, an agent pokes the industry in the eye, an ugly electric truck, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Three painful lessons from David Zaslav’s Warner Odyssey I was fascinated to read Jonathan Mahler,…

Newsletter 15 November 2023: Text is best; Amazon’s predation; robot acquisitions editors
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Newsletter 15 November 2023: Text is best; Amazon’s predation; robot acquisitions editors

Why I love text more than other medium, how Amazon prices, a machine reads your book pitch, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and witty link. Why text is good and books are best There’s an explosion in content. Blogs, Substacks, Medium posts, Threads, Podcasts, vlogs, you name it. Which format is…

Newsletter 8 November 2023: The growth miasma; lying in Meadows; reading with friends

Newsletter 8 November 2023: The growth miasma; lying in Meadows; reading with friends

How growth destroys everything good; the end of bestsellers; if you tell truth under oath you can’t lie in print; plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a warm plug. Growth is the inverse of quality The idea of growth is baked into everything that happens in our capitalist economy. We’ve internalized…

Newsletter 1 November 2023: AI regulation fail; Scholastic reversal; blocking deep fakes

Newsletter 1 November 2023: AI regulation fail; Scholastic reversal; blocking deep fakes

Newsletter Week 16: The president’s executive order on AI is incoherent, plus Scholastic ends its book ghetto, attempting to outlaw image theft, three people to follow, three books to read, and my book makes the Inc. Non-Obvious longlist. What’s wrong with Joe Biden’s AI executive order Two weeks ago, I complained that Marc Andreessen’s “Tech-Optimist…

Newsletter 18 October 2023: Feckless techno-optimists; AI-generated science; Spotify audiobooks
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Newsletter 18 October 2023: Feckless techno-optimists; AI-generated science; Spotify audiobooks

Newsletter Week 14: The problem with rampant technology; AI “assists” in the creation of journal articles; authors join musicians as Spotify serfs; plus three people to follow and three books to read. Marc Andreessen says “trust technology.” Here’s why that’s dangerous Mark Andreessen of the venture firm Andreessen-Horowitz published “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.” I have to…

Newsletter 11 October 2023: Just one idea; Robert Caro’s notes; an X-cess of fakery
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Newsletter 11 October 2023: Just one idea; Robert Caro’s notes; an X-cess of fakery

Special note: All of us are in a very raw state because of the devastating events taking place abroad. Business as usual is anything but usual right now. If reading about business books takes your mind off of things for a moment, I offer these insights for you. If not, I’ll catch you later. Newsletter…

Newsletter 4 October 2023: Content to make content; starving artists; Banned Books Week; fake agencies
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Newsletter 4 October 2023: Content to make content; starving artists; Banned Books Week; fake agencies

Newsletter Week 12: Delving into the “content” debate, the record spread of book banning, plus 3 people to follow, 3 books to read, and plugging yourself in. The difference between creative work and “content” There is none. OK. Put down the pitchforks, people. You and I work in the content industry, whether we admit it…