Is Book Publishing about to Be turned Upside-down by AI? - with Thad Mcllroy

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI), without a doubt, has been having a huge impact on the publishing industry, fundamentally transforming multiple processes from content creation, marketing, and distribution to reader engagement.

This episode features a conversation with Thad McIlroy, principal of The Future of Publishing. He discusses technology, publishing startups, and particularly how AI is about to impact the whole book publishing industry in a profound way.

The conversation gets started with Thad telling us about his background as a publishing analyst, journalist, author, and consultant, and how his career path got intertwined with both technology and publishing.
 
He then illustrates how AI is making a huge influence on editorial, production, and other publishing processes and goes on to explain why this impact is going to be more intersected and profound.
 
Subsequently, he talks about his new research – Book Publishing Startups in the U.S. 2022, a report that charts and illustrates how more than 1,300 publishing ventures have performed over the past 15 years (here you can find out which data is included – after having filled in some information) and how this rich resource on publishing innovation can be used. When asked about messages he wants to convey through this report, he says, “being optimistic, [as] there has never been a more exciting and better time to be in the book publishing industry.”

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We are pleased to provide the links to Thad’s articles, publications, and reports mentioned in this interview for our podcast listeners who want to learn more:

 

• AI Is About to Turn Book Publishing Upside-Down (the Publishers Weekly article on AI),
  AI Comes to Audiobooks (the Publishers Weekly article on AI & audiobooks)

• Book Publishing Startups in the U.S. 2022 (the report on publishing startups) and Book Publishing Startups Database Access

• For more about Thad’s writings and publications on technology and publishing, please visit the website of his book The Metadata Handbook, his website The Future of Publishing, and the site of Publishing Technology Partners

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And more to take away:

• Two figures on his VIP list for a perfect dinner – Leonard Cohen (Canadian singer-songwriter) and Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (German filmmaker)

• A quote that Thad lives by – “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (By poet Maya Angelou)

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