Ups and Downs

A weak showing for nonfiction dragged down sales of adult books in Q1, according to the latest report from the Association of American Publishers, though total book sales eked out a small increase in the period. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín declined to make a final decision regarding the $1.5 billion settlement in the Bartz v. Anthropic copyright case at a recent hearing, but observers expect she will sign off on it soon. And Macmillan’s Minotaur imprint is working to manage the fallout from a printing error affecting the indie-exclusive edition of Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung’s new thriller. In other news, the Frankfurt Book Fair has announced the 75 authors who will represent guest of honor Czechia at this year’s event. A contingent of West Coast booksellers are circulating an open letter stating that they “refuse to knowingly promote AI works or stock AI-generated books” in their stores. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain have published guidelines to help authors identify the ever-growing number of AI-powered scams targeting writers. For Lit Hub, Max Pearl explores how Stacey Levine’s Mice 1961, published by the Portland, Ore.–based Verse Chorus Press, became an unlikely Pulitzer finalist. Vulture predicts this will be the summer of John Steinbeck. And the New York Times chronicles every step in a book’s journey to the library stacks.