An exploration of how the book publishing industry might embrace AI-driven transformation as an opportunity for renewal and growth
Preamble
This weekend found me over at the Wall Street Journal, my business-news go-to since I left the UK way back, and had to say goodbye to the Financial Times. Here’s the thing: The FT has been printed on pink paper since 1893, and offers a relaxing read amid the economics jargon and the indexes of indexes. The pink screen version may or may not work as well, but it’s bloody expensive, and here in The Gambia there’s no chance of picking up a secondhand copy on a park bench or a train seat.
The WSJ is a bit more user-friendly when it comes to freebie articles through syndicate feeds, and when I saw an MSN feed article with McKinsey and AI in the title, I had to know more.
Okay, full disclosure: I misread the title and thought it said Kinsey and AI, and I was in for a treat of AI insights into last-century sexuality topics.
But then I realised this was a WSJ article about the legendary global consultancy McKinsey, evidently facing an existential threat from AI, and realised this was TNPS op-ed fodder.
The Luddite Fringe, after all, is convinced the existential threat is already days from its end-game, and the publishing industry is living on borrowed time.
And here was the WSJ, vis MSN, with the headline: “AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’” Ned Ludd himself would have approved!
But a quick scan of the OP revealed something far more nuanced and insightful, and got the TNPS op-ed fangs salivating.
And no, using the word “nuanced” does not mean this was written by AI, although AI did help me tidy up the final draft with some subtitles, typos fixes and such like. And no, I didn’t lose any sleep about all those subtitle-writers and typo-fixers who lost their jobs through my cruel and heartless actions.
Okay, with that preamble preambled, let’s switch modes to deal with the very serious issue of the imminent publishing industry AI apocalypse, and what we can learn from McKinsey.
The McKinsey Model: Strategic Transformation Over Defensive Resistance
The McKinsey case study presents a compelling blueprint for industries facing AI disruption. Rather than viewing artificial intelligence as an existential threat to be resisted, the consulting giant has chosen to see it as – Luddite Fringe look away now! – “an existential good.” A fundamental transformation that, whilst challenging, opens doors to enhanced capabilities and new opportunities.
This mindset shift from defensive posturing (UK Publishers Association, take a bow!) to strategic embrace offers valuable lessons for the book publishing industry, which has historically been characterised by its resistance to technological change and its tendency to view innovation through the lens of threat rather than opportunity.
(AI denial note: “through the lens” was not a term invented by AI, so please don’t email to say you know I wrote this post with AI because of this or that word or phrase – it’s the English language, FFS!)
The Current State: Publishing’s Defensive Crouch
The book publishing industry’s initial response to AI has largely mirrored the historical pattern of resistance that has greeted every previous technological shift – from the printing press to digital publishing to e-books to streaming to AR.
Publishers, authors, and other stakeholders have primarily focused on:
- Copyright concerns and the protection of existing intellectual property
- Quality fears about AI-generated content diluting literary standards
- Economic anxiety about AI replacing human creativity and reducing opportunities
- Cultural preservation arguments about maintaining traditional publishing values
Whilst these concerns are not without merit, they represent a fundamentally defensive approach that leaves us in danger of missing out on the transformative potential of AI technologies.
Reframing the Narrative: From Threat to Renaissance
Okay, another AI-denial note here, after most of July had me batting away Luddite Fringe trolls who decided to give Nadim Sadek a break from the death threats and stone-throwing and direct their venom at TNPS. ‘Renaissance‘ is another word I stand accused of letting AI write for me, because no industry journalist would ever say that.
Except I first used the word renaissance here at TNPS in the very first post, back in 2017, when I also first mentioned AI, so my AI narrative long-predates ChatGPT and the public-AI era. And no, narrative is not an AI word either.
Now back to topic.
Just as McKinsey is evolving from a traditional consulting model to become a partner that combines human expertise with AI capabilities, publishers could reimagine themselves as sophisticated content orchestrators who leverage AI to enhance rather than replace human creativity.
Here’s how that might pan out. And a quick AI note again. When I reviewed my lists here on the penultimate drafting, that make this post begin to feel more like a text book than an essay, I was sorely tempted to ask AI to brighten it up with some colourful emojis along with the spell-check, grammar fixes and subtitles, but decided to go with the traditional white space approach.
So be warned, if a list of bullet points or numbered lists trigger our Luddite tendencies or our nervous tick, don’t read on.
If not, the lists that follow are here to remind us all that, even in the eye of the predicted AI apocalypse, there’s still plenty the industry can do to move forward with AI. The one thing we do need to accept is that things cannot stay as they were.
Publishers: Becoming AI-Enhanced Content Orchestrators
Traditional Model: Publishers as gatekeepers who select, edit, and distribute content through established channels.
AI-Enhanced Model: Publishers as creative partners who use AI to:
- Expand discovery: AI-powered analysis of emerging trends, underserved markets, and reader preferences
- Enhance editing: Sophisticated grammar, style, and structural analysis that frees human editors to focus on higher-level creative guidance
- Personalise marketing: Targeted campaigns that match books with ideal readers more effectively
- Accelerate translation: High-quality initial translations that human translators can refine and perfect
- Optimise distribution: Dynamic pricing and availability strategies based on real-time market analysis
Authors: Creative Directors in an AI-Augmented Landscape
Rather than viewing AI as competition, authors could position themselves as creative directors orchestrating AI capabilities to enhance their storytelling and reach new audiences.
Expanded Creative Toolkit:
- Research acceleration: AI-powered research assistance for historical fiction, technical accuracy, and world-building
- Draft iteration: AI-generated alternative scenes, dialogue options, and plot developments to spark creativity
- Style experimentation: AI assistance in exploring different narrative voices and genres
- Series continuity: AI-powered consistency checking across long-running series
- Accessibility enhancement: Automated generation of audio descriptions, simplified language versions, and format adaptations
New Revenue Streams:
- Interactive storytelling: AI-powered branching narratives and reader-responsive content
- Personalised editions: Customised versions of stories adapted to individual reader preferences
- Educational partnerships: AI-enhanced study guides and educational materials derived from original works
- Multimedia expansion: AI-assisted adaptation of written works into screenplays, graphic novels, and interactive media
Translators: Cultural Bridge-Builders and AI Trainers
The translation community, perhaps more than any other segment, has viewed AI with suspicion. However, translators possess irreplaceable cultural and linguistic expertise that AI cannot replicate – knowledge that becomes more valuable, not less, in an AI-enhanced environment.
Elevated Role: From mechanical text conversion to cultural interpretation and AI training:
- Cultural consultancy: Guiding AI systems to understand cultural nuances, idiomatic expressions, and contextual meanings
- Quality assurance: Reviewing and refining AI translations to ensure cultural authenticity and emotional resonance
- Specialisation: Focusing on complex, creative, and culturally sensitive translations where human insight is irreplaceable
- AI training: Contributing expertise to improve AI translation systems, potentially earning ongoing royalties from enhanced AI performance
Narrators and Voice Artists: Masters of AI-Human Collaboration
Audio content is experiencing unprecedented growth, and AI voice technology is advancing rapidly. Rather than compete with AI, narrators can leverage it to expand their capabilities and reach.
Hybrid Performance Models:
- AI voice cloning for consistent series narration across multiple books
- Collaborative narration where AI handles exposition whilst humans perform character voices
- Multilingual expansion using AI to create versions in multiple languages with human oversight for cultural adaptation
- Customised performances where base AI narration is enhanced with human emotional intelligence for premium editions
Industry-Wide Transformation: The Network Effect
Educational Publishing: Personalised Learning at Scale
AI could revolutionise educational publishing by creating truly personalised learning experiences:
- Adaptive textbooks that adjust complexity based on individual student progress
- Real-time assessment and feedback systems integrated into learning materials
- Accessibility enhancements that automatically generate materials for different learning styles and abilities
- Language learning materials that adapt to individual pace and cultural context
Genre Innovation: New Forms of Literary Expression
AI enables entirely new forms of storytelling and literary expression:
- Collaborative fiction where readers influence story development through AI-mediated interaction
- Living documents that evolve based on reader feedback and engagement
- Cross-media narratives that seamlessly integrate text, audio, visual, and interactive elements
- Procedural storytelling where AI generates unique experiences within author-defined parameters
Global Market Expansion: Breaking Down Barriers
AI-powered translation and cultural adaptation could democratise and massively expand global publishing:
- Simultaneous global releases with high-quality translations available at launch
- Cultural localisation that goes beyond language to adapt cultural references and contexts
- Emerging market access by reducing the costs and barriers to publishing in multiple languages
- Reverse cultural flow enabling literature from smaller markets to reach global audiences more easily
The Human Premium: What Remains Irreplaceably Human
Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Wisdom
Whilst AI excels at pattern recognition and content generation, human creativity brings irreplaceable elements:
- Emotional authenticity born from lived experience
- Cultural insight and social commentary
- Moral complexity and ethical nuance
- Creative risk-taking and boundary-pushing innovation
Relationship Building and Community
The human element of publishing – relationships between authors and readers, the social aspects of book communities, and the cultural conversation around literature – remains fundamentally human territory.
Quality Curation and Aesthetic Judgement
Human judgement in matters of artistic merit, cultural significance, and literary value becomes more crucial, not less, as AI democratises content creation.
Practical Steps for Industry Transformation
For Publishers: Building AI-Enhanced Operations
- Invest in AI literacy across editorial, marketing, and operations teams
- Develop hybrid workflows that optimise the combination of human and AI capabilities
- Create new role definitions that leverage AI tools whilst preserving human creativity
- Build data infrastructure to support AI-enhanced decision-making
- Establish ethical guidelines for AI use that preserve author rights and reader trust
For Authors: Embracing Creative Partnership
- Experiment with AI tools for research, editing, and creative exploration
- Develop AI literacy to understand both capabilities and limitations
- Explore new formats enabled by AI technology
- Build direct reader relationships that can’t be replicated by AI
- Consider collaborative models that combine human creativity with AI capabilities
For Industry Organisations: Facilitating Transformation
- Provide AI education and training programmes for industry professionals
- Develop industry standards for ethical AI use in publishing
- Create collaboration platforms for sharing AI tools and best practices
- Advocate for supportive regulation that protects creators whilst enabling innovation
- Fund research into AI applications that benefit the entire publishing ecosystem
The Economic Renaissance: New Value Creation
Efficiency Gains and Cost Reduction
AI can significantly reduce the costs associated with:
- Editorial processes through automated grammar and style checking
- Translation services through AI-assisted translation requiring less human revision time
- Marketing research through automated market analysis and reader behaviour prediction
- Rights management through AI-powered contract analysis and royalty tracking
Revenue Expansion Opportunities
New revenue streams enabled by AI include:
- Personalised content services commanding premium prices
- Educational and corporate licensing of AI-enhanced materials
- Data insights services helping authors and publishers understand market trends
- Technology licensing of proprietary AI tools to other industry players
Market Expansion
AI can help publishers reach:
- Underserved demographics through personalised content and accessibility features
- Global markets through sophisticated translation and cultural adaptation
- New distribution channels optimised by AI-powered recommendation systems
- Cross-industry partnerships leveraging AI capabilities for adjacent markets
Overcoming Implementation Challenges
Skill Development and Workforce Transition
The industry must invest in:
- Comprehensive training programmes for existing professionals
- New hiring strategies that value AI literacy alongside traditional skills
- Career transition support for roles most affected by AI automation
- Continuing education to keep pace with rapidly evolving AI capabilities
Infrastructure and Investment
Successful transformation requires:
- Technology infrastructure capable of supporting AI tools and workflows
- Strategic partnerships with AI technology providers
- Gradual implementation that allows for learning and adjustment
- Risk management strategies for AI-related challenges
Cultural Change Management
Perhaps most challenging is shifting industry culture:
- Leadership commitment to transformation over preservation
- Open communication about changes and their implications
- Success celebration of early AI adoption wins
- Community building around shared learning and experimentation
The Competitive Advantage of Early Adoption
Companies that embrace AI transformation early – as McKinsey has done – position themselves to:
- Capture market share from slower-adapting competitors
- Attract top talent excited by innovative work environments
- Build proprietary advantages through AI expertise and data
- Shape industry standards rather than merely responding to them
The publishing industry faces a choice: follow McKinsey’s lead in embracing transformation as opportunity, or risk being left behind by more adaptive competitors and new entrants unburdened by traditional approaches.
Writing the Next Chapter
The McKinsey example illustrates that AI disruption need not be an ending but rather the beginning of a new chapter – one where human creativity is amplified rather than replaced, where efficiency gains fund creative risks, and where technology serves to democratise rather than diminish the power of storytelling.
The book publishing industry stands at a crossroads. It can choose the path of resistance, viewing AI as a threat to be minimised, or it can choose the path of strategic transformation, viewing AI as a tool for renaissance and renewal.
The choice will determine not just the industry’s survival, but whether it thrives in an AI-enhanced future where the power of human storytelling is amplified rather than diminished, where creativity is democratised rather than gatekept, and where the fundamental human need for narrative is served more effectively than ever before.
The story of publishing’s AI transformation is yet to be written. The question is: who will write it, and how will it end?
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.
