Sam Missingham
@samatlounge.bsky.social
Publishing commentator. Founder of Meet The Booktokers, As Seen On Booktok, and The Empowered Author. Trying to disrupt book publishing for 15+ years. Not easy.
In all honesty, every single person singing Rod Liddle’s praises is a major red flag.
I knew somebody would say this, and 💯 valid, and yes, we all must take responsibility.
landbewohner 🦋@landbewohner.bsky.social · yesterday"Flew home from holiday" might be a part in the making of this.
😬 piece on climate change originally published in a UK lit journal in 2023 (2024?). Not naming the fuckers tho cos I fell out with em big time later on. See post before this one on the blog for deets 😂 stuhennigan.substack.com/p/burning-do...
Burning Down the House
As promised earlier......
stuhennigan.substack.com
Flew home from holiday yesterday and in my entire life I have never seen the UK look like this. Actually shocking to see it. #ClimateCrisis
Thought: every consumer (and business tbh)-facing AI service is the cheapest and ‘best’ version of itself NOW while they hook people in. Over time it will charge more and reduce options. So, the AI makes everything free or super low cost is bullshit.
Lebowski The Big Dude: Am I Wrong?
ALT: Lebowski The Big Dude: Am I Wrong?
static.klipy.com
In all honesty, I hate the fact we even have to discuss AI.
Reminder that I turned down a job on a new publishing platform because they refused to say absolutely no AI ‘written’ books. I explained what I thought the potential problems ahead could be, but they didn’t agree.
Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts' Big Mistake
ALT: Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts' Big Mistake
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Plans have been approved for an AI data centre in Brick Lane. The council unanimously rejected this planning application on 31 July 2025 and instead called for more housing, but Angela Rayner would rather gentrify the city and further climate change. Sign the petition & share - c.org/jmZw2fjYr8
Sign the Petition
Stop The Brick Lane Data Centre!
c.org
Every month, our team reviews dozens of exciting new children's books ✨ Whether they're a teeny toddler or a very particular teen, you can find their ideal summer book in this list! https://bit.ly/487zIVT
Pedantic but important - AI detection software (if works) doesn’t detect bad writing, it detects AI writing, which also happens to be bad.
99% of the time, when someone accuses you of selective outrage, it’s a way of politically demobilizing you and shutting you up “Why are you angry about data centers instead of fast fashion” isn’t about making you care about fast fashion. It’s about shutting you up about data centers And visa versa
If ‘this is AI’ is one of the worst critiques you can make about art (in all its forms) then I’d say AI isn’t winning.
If Amnesty is afraid to call anti-rights groups anti-rights, they are no longer fit for purpose.
I keep thinking about the ‘creative’ stuff AI churns out and I think the real fight is between the people who think it’s ‘good enough’. The AI-written book, the poster design, the AI film, advert etc and those that don’t want ‘good enough’ AND that these people are happy to pay for better.
Not fine at all. And it means AI is driving UP the cost of publishing too? Lose lose
Catherine Fletcher@catherinefletcher.info · last wk.Publisher in this piece says “If an author has used AI to help support their research for a nonfiction book, that’s fine. But… that means that we now need together to apply another layer of human research to make sure that the facts are actually true.” So it’s not fine really, is it?
Thinking of all the literary TERFs having a horrible day watching everyone share love and solidarity with the Trans community.
It Sucks To Be You!
ALT: It Sucks To Be You!
static.klipy.com
Today’s challenge - block every media outlet who interviews or writes about Musk. Trust me on this one.
Related: my 💯 solidarity with new children’s laureate Patrice Lawrence, as I hear the TERFs are already criticising her (because of course they are). As if we needed reminding - transphobia 🤝 racism.
Remember when I said that publishers tacking on writing schemes for people of colour wouldn't change any of the structural issues? Most of those schemes have disappeared. Making structural changes requires a lot of work, and they've shown that they're not willing to do it.
Unless I’m missing something, they’re doing something (akin to what Bookouture started) about 10 years after all the other big publishers copied them.
Laura Bee@writerlaurabee.bsky.social · 2w agoBehind a paywall, apologies. @samatlounge.bsky.social , opinion?
Having a slight disagreement with someone LinkedIn who thinks authors are being well communicated with about AI by their publishers. I would love to hear your experiences and thoughts on either side of this. And I’d be very happy to hear about publishers doing excellent comms work.
This makes for very grim reading, and reading accounts of bullying and gaslighting in @hachetteuk.bsky.social's division @orionbooks.bsky.social really hideous. Kudos to the two ex-Hachetter staff who spoke publicly.
The Bookseller@thebookseller.com · 2w agoThe Bookseller’s investigation into bullying in the book trade has raised concerns about the sector’s approach to staff welfare, with reports of a culture of denial within some businesses, a sense of fear among employees, and a lack of accountability among some senior management teams 👇.