Category: Publishing Controversies
HarperCollins and the Reading Crisis. Identify the Real Culprit. Blame the Parents. Sell More Phonics Books
HarperCollins named the reading-for-pleasure paradox — then sold parents the phonics workbooks causing it. Publishing’s biggest conflict of interest, examined.
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Malaysia Rewrites Its Book-Banning Rules. And Reminds Us The West Has Them Too
Malaysia’s Home Ministry moves to reform its book-banning process. A reminder that every country censors — the question is how transparently.
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Netflix, Manga, AI and the Publishing Industry’s Ministry of Truth
From comics to Netflix to AI: how publishing’s cycle of panic and embrace tells us everything about the industry’s future. A TNPS deep-dive.
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TNPS 2025 Story of the Year Part 6: The RODE Revolution: Why the Easiest Time in History to Create Is Also the Best Time to Be a Publisher
Why AI makes human curation the future of publishing.
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TNPS Analysis: Four Moves, One Strategy: What Harlequin’s AI Microdrama Deal Is Really About
Harlequin’s Dashverse deal is the fourth act in a deliberate AI pivot. TNPS traces the strategy – and what it means for every publisher with a back-catalogue.
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When “Cease and Desist” Means “Cease and Think Twice”
A Medium post by Carl Müller Frøland raises important questions about how broad, unspecific legal threats can function as prior restraint – silencing criticism before it reaches the public domain.
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TNPS 2025 Story of the Year Part 5: From Understanding to Action – Your Publishing House’s AI Roadmap
Your publishing house’s AI roadmap: slush pile triage, translation, metadata, narration. Freemium tools, real ROI examples. Start tomorrow morning.
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Shy Girl, Big Questions: What The Hachette-Ballard Affair Tells Us About Publishing’s Unpreparedness For The AI Age
Hachette has cancelled Mia Ballard’s contract for Shy Girl over alleged undeclared AI use. TNPS examines what the case reveals about acquisition failures, unreliable detection tools, and the contract gaps nobody has closed yet.
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The Convenient Villain: AI, Job Losses, and the Art of the Blame Shift
AI is the publishing industry’s latest scapegoat. But UK author incomes collapsed long before ChatGPT existed. The real villains are hiding in plain sight.
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Academic Publishers Win Another Anti-Trust Law Suit
US federal judge dismisses antitrust lawsuit against Elsevier, Springer Nature and other major academic publishers, ruling that industry practices do not constitute illegal collusion under Sherman Act.
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TNPS 2025 Story of the Year Part 4: Taking AI’s Harshest Critics Seriously – Why Nadim Sadek’s Engagement With Sceptics Matters
Bender, Cave, Marcus, Gebru, Lanier: engaging AI’s harshest critics strengthens the case for thoughtful collaboration. Why their concerns matter—and where they overreach.
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UK Publishers Association Demands Geo-blocking of Oak Academy Amid New Export Strategy
The Publishers Association backs the UK’s new £40bn education export strategy but demands Oak National Academy be geo-blocked to protect commercial interests.
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