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Technology • Innovation • Publishing - Issue #183

Technology • Innovation • Publishing - Issue #183
By Kathy Sandler • Issue #183 • View online
My heart goes out to the 200 employees let go at Meredith when they announced they’re stopping the print versions of 6 Meredith magazines: Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents, and People en Español. If anyone is affected by these layoffs, please feel free to reach out.

Innovation
Apple Inc. acquired a startup called AI Music that uses artificial intelligence to generate tailor-made music, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, adding technology that could be used across its slate of audio offerings. #AI #music
www.bloomberg.com  •  Share
YouTube says it will start creating metaverse experiences on its video platform, beginning with gaming, following competitors’ investments in the buzzy category #metaverse #YouTube #gaming
www.bloomberg.com  •  Share
Obviously fraught w problems, but this is a trend to be aware of .
venturebeat.com  •  Share
Technology
Facebook’s first attempt at the “metaverse” — the social VR app Horizon Worlds — is supposedly limited to ages 18+. Instead, it’s teeming with little kids, who are running around chatting with adult strangers with zero safeguards or supervision. 
www.washingtonpost.com  •  Share
A rush of investors is pouring into the new virtual land craze, hoping to get in on the ground floor of the next digital Manhattan or Monaco.
www.cnbc.com  •  Share
An interesting take on NFTs - you “own” them, just like you “own” a share of stock. The internet has always financialized our lives. Web3 just makes that explicit.
www.theatlantic.com  •  Share
McDonald’s is making its way into the metaverse by registering for 10 trademarks in the virtual space.
metro.co.uk  •  Share
Peloton Interactive is drawing interest from potential suitors including Amazon.com, as the stationary-bike maker’s stock slumps and an activist urges it to explore a sale. #Amazon
www.wsj.com  •  Share
Key Microsoft Office apps including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will soon block macros by default.
venturebeat.com  •  Share
Publishing & Media
Together, the merging Draft2Digital-Smashwords self-publishing platform claims at least 250,000 writers and more than 800,000 ebooks.
publishingperspectives.com  •  Share
What are the key things to think about when creating a cookbook pitch?
What are the key things to think about when creating a cookbook pitch?
Inspired by the ‘Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver’? Here, @PenguinUKBooks cookbook editors share their insights on what makes an amazing cookbook pitch. #CookbookChallenge #teamPRH
www.penguin.co.uk  •  Share
Decoding Dickens’s Secret Notes to Himself, One Symbol at a Time
Decoding Dickens’s Secret Notes to Himself, One Symbol at a Time
A letter Charles Dickens wrote in his mystifying style of shorthand had gone unread for over a century. Computer programmers helped scholars decode it.
www.nytimes.com  •  Share
ICYMI Works written decades ago, often by female Jewish immigrants, were dismissed as insignificant or unmarketable. But in the past several years, translators devoted to the literature are making it available to a wider readership.
www.nytimes.com  •  Share
RT @LiverightPub We are proud to announce WRBG x Liveright, a new @wellreadblkgirl series made with the incredible @guidetoglo, “dedicated to debut fiction by women and non-binary authors, ‘with a focus on people of color and traditionally underrepresented voices.'”
apnews.com  •  Share
RT @SketchesbyBoze Can we put away the myth that “no one visits the library anymore”? In the US alone, nearly two *billion* physical books were borrowed and three billion digital books in 2019. Libraries are beloved and essential.
bookriot.com  •  Share
HT @publishingtrend ICYMI Conservatives are pushing to ban books from school libraries. At a time of crisis, a group of Pennsylvania teenagers are fighting back  #BannedBooks
www.theguardian.com  •  Share
PRH Expands Partnership With PEN America, Pledges $100K to Honor Centenary
PRH Expands Partnership With PEN America, Pledges $100K to Honor Centenary
PRH Expands Partnership With PEN America, Pledges $100K to Honor Centenary #TeamPRH
global.penguinrandomhouse.com  •  Share
Cosmopolitan Switches Print to Eight-Issues-a-Year Collection
Cosmopolitan Switches Print to Eight-Issues-a-Year Collection
It will begin printing eight-themed issues, each dedicated to a different subject rather than tied to a specific month. #magazines
wwd.com  •  Share
The funds will help Forbes execute on its plan to merge with Magnum Opus Acquisition, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in the first quarter of the year.
nypost.com  •  Share
BuzzFeed Studios Plans Big Year After Rocky Public Offering
BuzzFeed Studios Plans Big Year After Rocky Public Offering
BuzzFeed Studio is leaning on its digital audience as it amps up film and TV production, with its first film, ‘Book of Love,’ out Feb. 4. #BrandExtensions
www.hollywoodreporter.com  •  Share
Industry Dive, which publishes 53 business newsletters, says it is on pace to generate $105M to $110M in 2022 revenue, up from $29M in 2019 and $85M in 2021 
www.adweek.com  •  Share
Gannett-owned Newsquest is in bilateral discussions about a merger with Archant that would reinforce its status among the UK’s biggest publishers of local news.
news.sky.com  •  Share
Resources & Opportunities
MT @diversebooks Like many others, we have been alarmed by the censorship of diverse titles across the country and the treatment of educators who are already facing extraordinarily difficult circumstances with the pandemic. Here’s how we plan to address these problems.
diversebooks.org  •  Share
MT @WhitingFdn Applications for the Creative Nonfiction Grant are open today! Are you currently completing an under-contract book-length work of deeply researched and creatively composed nonfiction for a general readership?
www.whiting.org  •  Share
Black History, Black Freedom & Black Love
The American History You Weren’t Taught in School. Streaming free during Black History Month
learn.masterclass.com  •  Share
HT @neilperkin Idea generation tools for creative professionals By Juggi Ramakrishnan and Todd McCracken.
deckofbrilliance.com  •  Share
Come hear stories from the top women leaders who are breaking barriers in book publishing today:
  • Dominique Raccah (Moderator), CEO of Sourcebooks
  • Jennifer Goldstein, Head of Books at A Kids Book About
  • Lavaille Lavette, President & Publisher at Ebony Magazine Publishing
  • Cindy Spiegel, Partner and CEO at Spiegel & Grau
3/1 at 6pm ET. Free for @WMG_NYC members, $15 for non-members.
www.womensmediagroup.org  •  Share
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Kathy Sandler

The latest in technology, innovation, and publishing curated by Kathy Sandler.
I work at Penguin Random House. Opinions expressed are my own.

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