Optimized for inspiration; Anthropic settlement; audiobook explosion: Newsletter 27 August 2025

Newsletter 108. Forget driving traffic — drive thinking instead. Plus disturbing AI-generated children’s books, Claude admits it’s a ripoff, three people to follow and three books to read.

Ideas > algorithms

Did anyone read what you wrote last week?

The answer depends on algorithms. Algorithms determined whether it was visible in their email or social media or featured in web searches. Entire careers have been dedicated to pleasing those algorithms with techniques like Search Engine Optimization and clickbait headlines. Now AI is reshuffling the whole landscape. SEO is out, Generative Engine Optimization is in.

But pause a moment and take a breath. Do you really care if anyone read what you wrote? Reading what you wrote often makes no difference.

The better question is, did you change anyone?

Did you give people a new way to think about the world?

Did you suggest a way that they could change their behavior to be more productive and have more impact? Did they change?

Did they think of you any differently? And will there be any value in that over the long term?

SEO and algorithms can’t affect any of that. It’s a chemical reaction in the brain.

What creates that chemical reaction?

Insights. New insights.

Advice. Actionable advice.

Ideas. Incredible ideas.

Stories. Compelling stories.

If you create inspiring stuff like that, it will attract people. They’ll share what you wrote. If you keep creating it, they’ll keep coming back.

You will bend the algorithms to your will, instead of becoming subservient to them.

Think about the most influential people you’ve ever encountered.

Were they powered by ideas, or pandering to algorithms?

Which would you rather be?

News for writers and others who think

Anthropic, parent company of Claude, announced it has settled a lawsuit with authors over stealing books used for training. But no details were announced. Until we know the terms of the deal, it’s not yet “groundbreaking” — whatever you may read in the media coverage.

Wired, Business Insider, and four other publications were duped into publishing AI-generated stories by a fake author about fake people. The last bastion of truth in what we read is the name of a reputable publication that vouches for the content that appears on its sites. If fake articles keep happening, it’s going to be even harder to know what to believe.

Google introduced Gemini Storybook, an app that creates personalized, illustrated children’s stories based on prompts. Sounds cute, right? I’m not a fan. First off, the heartfelt, creative work of children’s book authors cannot be duplicated by a machine — and it’s sad that we would even try. Second, it’s obviously ripped off from existing books and illustrations. And lastly, as Laura Holmes relates, some of the resulting stories were filled with disturbing and potentially obscene imagery. Read to your kids. There are plenty of good books out there already.

According to new statistics from the Association of American Publishers, in 2024 the digital audio format generated more than $2 billion, exceeding revenue from ebooks. Digital audio revenues from books have increased by 78% in the last five years.

What’s the economy actually doing? It’s pretty hard to tell, between AI euphoria and a shriveling immigrant workforce. This is probably the worst possible time to be monkeying with how we measure things — or replacing central bankers.

This week is your last chance to take the “AI and the Writing Profession” survey. All writers — both those who use AI and those who don’t — deserve to be heard. Join the 1,000+ writers who’ve taken our 15 minute survey. I will publish the results in November. (I’ve already discovered some surprising patterns in the data collected so far.)

Three people to follow

Jamin Spitzer, veteran tech industry comms professional sharing modern insights

Chris Heuer, evangelizing human-centered AI

TJ Fulfer, beautifully visualizing incredible data

Three books to read

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt (Penguin, 2020). Makes the case for recognizing pervasive institutionalized prejudice.

The Uncertainty Advantage: Launching Your Career in an Era of Rapid Change by Scott Stirrett (Dundurn, 2025). Turmoil. Chaos. And how young people can take advantage of it.

A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews (Bloomsbury, 2025). Why write? A hard question. A troubling set of answers.