Author math and marketing question: if I create a solid batch of content and devise a strong marketing/posting plan, how many cat videos will I have watched in a month? This is how I’m calculating ROI. What? You do it differently?

Have you read The Vienna Vantage as part of your book club? Are you ready to discuss the book? Or maybe you want to think more about the story now that you’ve read it? Here are some questions to get the thoughts and conversation flowing. #crimediction mahuacavanagh.com/2026/08/24/b...

Mahua Cavanagh : Book Club Questions

Have you read The Vienna Vantage as part of your book club? Are you ready to discuss the book? Or maybe you want to think more about the story now that you’ve read it? Here are some questions…

mahuacavanagh.com

Foot is better. I think it was actually a bruise. So the doggos get to have their weekend excursion. It’s a win-win.

Results from @authorsguild.org survey on publishers' failure to register authors' copyrights. Of 54% of respondents who said contracts required pubs to register, most said they failed to do so. (AG notes some likely selection bias, based on who responded to survey) authorsguild.org/news/survey-...

Survey Results Detail Publishers’ Failure to Register Authors’ Copyrights

The Authors Guild recently conducted a survey of authors to gather information about a troubling issue that came to light in the wake of the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright class action settlement. A...

authorsguild.org

Having something delivered late is annoying. Having #UPS lie & send a notice stating it was delivered on time is maddening. I would have gotten over the former. I can’t forgive the latter. I no longer trust them. (Package was actually delivered on the 17th.)

You know what sucks? A blister under a callous on your foot. Massive ouch.

Another new scam--well, new-ish: it's another variation on the book club scam. Domain registered July 9. Check out the all-AI "team". I'm exhausted. libraryagents.com

Library Agents | Find the Right Literary Agent for Your Book

Research literary agents, prepare professional submission materials, and organize your submissions with guidance from Library Agents.

libraryagents.com

Anthropic explains the watermarking that will be part of future Claude models (and is generating angst among slopists) www.anthropic.com/news/claude-...

How Claude's text watermarking works

Future Claude models will generate text that contains a watermark. This is a way of determining the likelihood that Claude was involved in writing the text, and we, along with several other major AI p...

anthropic.com

'They are absolutely an essential service that needs to be properly funded ... lately there have been a lot of government decisions made that make it less appealing to live in Nova Scotia' Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid donates $300K to 5 N.S. libraries facing closure www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Heated Rivalry author donates $300K to 5 rural libraries facing closure | CBC News

Rachel Reid says when she heard five libraries in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley were set to permanently close their doors, she wanted to help as much as she could.

cbc.ca

Yes, sometimes, cutting off parents is the answer. And it's okay to say that.

Sometimes, Cutting Off Parents is the Answer

And we should honor that.

charlotteclymer.substack.com

Google (which has a lot to answer for on the unpermissioned digitization/copyright violation front) patented non-destructive book scanning tech in 2009 www.404media.co/we-tracked-a...

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

404media.co

I’m still on a break from writing. Have I been scuba diving? No. I’ve been daydreaming about it, though. I had a lovely beach vacation in Normandy a few weeks ago and that put diving back on my mind. mahuacavanagh.com/2026/08/17/s...

Mahua Cavanagh : Summer Day Dreaming

I’m still on a break from writing. Have I been scuba diving? No. I’ve been daydreaming about it, though. I had a lovely beach vacation in Normandy a few weeks ago and that put diving ba…

mahuacavanagh.com

You shouldn't have to worry about this happening...but unfortunately you do. Helpful advice on what to do if you suddenly find your book for sale under somone else's name selfpublishingadvice.org/spammers-and...

Spammers and Scammers: What to Do When Your Book Is Sold Under a False Name — The Self-Publishing Advice Center

Welcome to Spammers and Scammers, our third edition in this series where we look at different scams targeting our indie author and publisher community so we can stay educated and protected from bad ac...

selfpublishingadvice.org

Peaceful walk out in nature. Came across the very rare Dutch Woodland Gnome. #nature #whimsy #mentalcleanse

New: 3 yrs ago I published exposé revealing Richard Hanania used pseudonym to write for Nazi sites Ever since I've watched centrist media rehabilitate him, accepting his ludicrous claim to have left white nationalism behind. My look at what it means, for @marisakabas.bsky.social' The Handbasket

You don’t have to hand it to Richard Hanania

The so-called "former" white supremacist's work doesn't show accountability—or that he's actually moved on from his earlier views, Christopher Mathias writes.

thehandbasket.co

New #WriterBeware blog post: guest author Denise Beck-Clark describes how she almost fell for an AI-juiced impersonation scam, highlighting how complicated such scams can be and what makes writers vulnerable to them writerbeware.blog/2026/08/14/g...

Guest Post: A Narrow Escape From an Impersonation Scam - Writer Beware

In the early days of Writer Beware–back in the pre-digital era–scammers waited for writers to come to them. Sure, they advertised (Writer’s Digest used to have a Classified section that was full of sc...

writerbeware.blog

Illegal mining threatens Ghana’s first marine protected area news.mongabay.com/2026/08/ille... 🧪🌎🦑

Illegal mining threatens Ghana’s first marine protected area

Ghana’s land ministry is failing to act against illegal gold mining in the Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve, say conservationists. Their call comes as pollution threatens vulnerable and…

news.mongabay.com

The creepy yet fascinating story you didn’t know you needed today. Gave me the chills in all the right ways.

Emory 🩶@emory-f8.bsky.social · 2w ago

Did you know? In the Victorian era, London may have had two unidentified serial killers murdering women at the same time? While Jack the Ripper was becoming one of the most notorious murderers in history, police were dealing with another disturbing series of deaths elsewhere. #Victorian #history

Tomorrow is the total solar eclipse and Iberia will operate a special flight into the path of totality carrying scientists and broadcast via live stream. Follow #IB1473 on 12 Aug beginning around 16:45 UTC. www.flightradar24.com/blog/flight-...

My husband just informed me that this #eclipse will be the first time he & I have ever “seen” the dark side of the moon. So now I need a playlist. So far I have: - Eclipse (of course) - Total Eclipse of the Heart - Black Hole Sun - Invisible Sun - Steal My Sunshine What else should I add?

I am wishing something. I know better than to say it out loud. But, man, I am wishing SO HARD.

These are the books I finished reading in July: - The King’s Ransom, by Janet Evanovich - The Fine Art of Lying, by Alexandra Andrews - The Alchemist of All Hallow’s Eve, by Gigi Pandian - Murder Most Delicious, by Danielle Postel-Vinay

As the US federal government refuses to meaingfully regulate AI or address its harms, states are stepping in. www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/tcai-re...

TCAI Mid-Year AI Legislation Report: 84 new AI laws enacted in 27 states so far in 2026 — Transparency Coalition. Legislation for Transparency in AI Now.

Lawmakers passed bills on chatbot safety, education and children’s digital lives, medical authorization and mental health, consumer rights, and frontier model oversight. More states are expected to we...

transparencycoalition.ai

Anthropic copyright settlement update: next steps on payment (assuming no appeals or other delays--the 30-day appeal window ends Aug 19), what to do if there are disputes between claimants blog.taaonline.net/2026/08/bart...

Bartz v Anthropic: When to Expect Payments, Next Steps » Abstract

By Kim Pawlak While the final settlement in the landmark $1.5 billion copyright infringement class action Bartz v. Anthropic was finalized by the court on July 20, Class Counsel said class members wi...

blog.taaonline.net

Important update: I have gotten stickers in the mail

From the indispensable @janefriedman.com , this resource on AI and and publishing janefriedman.com/ai-and-publi...

AI and Publishing: FAQ for Writers | Jane Friedman

Everything writers need to know about AI, copyright, and current case law, in one regularly updated, fact-based guide.

janefriedman.com

Just got a report of a scam solicitation w/ contact info harvested from copyright registration lists. The work is unpublished & not mentioned anywhere else; registration included author's cell #, so solicitation was via SMS. Just a reminder that any contact info on a registration is public record.

I’m seeing a lot of “send them to The Hague” from fellow #Americans. #TheHague is a city. It’s not a court nor is it a building housing the #ICC. Also, the US isn’t a member of the ICC. It’s so shameful that we’re not. We should demand to join the ICC. Then, we can really our leaders accountable.

Fact behind fiction: banks have enabled human traffickers. The story in The Vienna Vantage is fiction, but the types of suspicious activity & how banks ignore safeguards are real. Read it & see how Alessia discovers dirty money & the heinous crime behind it. #vienna #financialcrime #crimefiction