Issue 88 - Yes, people buy books, and AI has a good side
500 Words is a publication of FutureX.Studio.
Hello, and welcome to 500 Words.
It didn't seem that long ago that the experts said that nobody would buy physical books anymore. Well, Barnes & Noble is thriving, on track to open 58 new stores this year. That's the fastest pace the company has set for openings since 2009. Physical books are winning in the age of social media, aided by social media, like Facebook, TikTok and the popular #booktok hashtag. The new Barnes & Noble stores will be coming to New Orleans, Northbook, IL, Conroe, TX, Santa Fe, NM, Fayette, KY, and Santa Monica, CA, among other places.
YES, PEOPLE BUY BOOKS
According to industry estimates, Americans buy more than a billion books each year, and books generate significant revenue for publishers.
Surprised? If we look at BookScan, which logs customer purchases at stores and websites, we see that it logged 767 million print sales in 2023. Add e-books, audiobooks, and you are pushing toward a billion books.
Is a billion books a lot? Compared to what?
In 2023, there were 825 million movie tickets sold in the US and Canada. If people were going to spend about $25 on entertainment, a book was as likely to get their cash as a movie ticket. The takeaway is that print book sales are doing just fine and not overwhelmed by digital books or even TV streaming.
Publishers, like the movie business, are consumed by a blockbuster mentality. Unless a book sells millions of copies, big publishers may call it a failure. Even if a book from a big publishing house doesn't sell 300,000 copies in a year, those publishers will call it a failure, as well. Yet many a successful book has made its money over time, not just in one year. Jonathan Karp, CEO of Simon & Shuster, has said that, "About half the books we publish make money."
Only half their books make money? Is that bad? Actually, it's similar to the movie business. A few big hits fund the rest. For an independent publisher, with lower overhead costs, selling a thousand books can be a win.
INTERROGATING AI
Some creative folk are setting boundaries around AI, and I think that's a good thing. IA Writer, a writing app I've used for articles and books, can track which parts of your text were generated by AI and which are your own. As they wrote in a blog, "AI always needs supervision. Left to its own devices, it can make the most ridiculous mistakes and make you look like a complete fool."
The people who run Procreate, a drawing app, have said they will never include AI-powered image generating tools in the app. (YouTube clip in the links, below.)
On the other hand, don't try a chatbot as your personal doctor. ChatGPT's medical diagnoses are accurate less than half of the time.
SOURCES
ChatGPT is truly awful at diagnosing medical conditions
This is a weekly letter about indie publishing from Lee Schneider. Author of the novels SURRENDER, RESIST and the forthcoming LIBERATION. Creator of the audio dramas MISSION OF THE LUNAR SPARROW, YOUR PERFORMANCE REVIEW, and PRIVACY POD. Working on many things. Nice to see you here.