Dearest Gentle BookThreads,

It’s time for our weekly wrap up of book drama, discourse, and terrible behavior!

*Was on the preview

1 Some people were upset that The Hunger Games cast an Asian actor to play “the one character who's good at math.” Others pushed back that Wyatt doesn’t follow the same stereotypes we often see of Asian characters. He isn’t a walking calculator, generally, he’s an Oddsmaker. So far, I’ve only seen white creators weigh in, and would love to hear from more Asian readers how they feel about this. What I will say is that I think a diverse cast is generally a good thing. *And* discussing how stereotypes effect communities is important.

2* Cowboy romance may be trending, but will bookstores stock DIVERSE cowboy romances, or just cishet white stories? One BIPOC author with a traditionally published July cowboy romance came forward to share her disappointment that there was no retailer placement for her book. One way YOU, dear reader, can make a difference is by pre-ordering diverse books AND contacting your local bookstore to see if they will be stocking upcoming diverse books.

2.5 This conversation continued to develop over the week, with some authors sharing how they used social media to “move the needle” even without publisher support. Other authors shared that social media success can still rely on luck, as well as having the time and ability to make content for your campaign. Many authors with marginalized identities shared how that can affect their campaign’s success as well.

3 Amazon KDP announced that the royalty rate on print books priced at less than 9.99 will drop from 60% to 50%.

4* Authors have long used a software called “Vellum” to format their books before publishing. Now, a new, unrelated company, is coming out with “Vellum AI” which is an AI development platform. Don’t get these confused, if you see Vellum (without the AI) as part of a book's packaging, it is not cause for concern.

5 Cosmo announced that they are partnering with Sourcebooks to launch a publishing imprint, and the first book will be published in September! They say they will be working with both “debut authors and those with established fandoms”.

6* A popular author shared the narrator announcement for a book, and SOME people decided that that comment section is a great place to tell the narrator everything they specifically did not like about his voice. Weird behavior. If you were invited to someone’s house and then started telling them everything you disliked about it, that is your free speech right, and no one can arrest you, but if you don’t get invited over again, it’s because you’re rude.

7 One Threads user shared a study from BookBub that surveyed authors anonymously about their AI usage. Of 1200 authors, 45% use AI, and about 50% of them use it to write their books. Someone please tell me 1200 is a small sample size because yikes!

7.5 This does not mean you should be uploading books into AI checkers. Does anyone know if that feeds it into the AI database??

8* Once again, SOMEONE enthusiastically discussed how great it will be for audiobooks to come out that are voiced by AI instead of narrators. As a huge audiobook consumer, I hate this. I will quit an audiobook at 5% if they are even A LITTLE monotone. Audiobook narration is an acting performance, and as a trained actor, I cannot handle a bad narrator, much less a robot. (But what about the accessibility? Some people can’t read with their eyes, and should have access! HARD AGREE. There is already an accessibility tool available where your phone will read your screen, similar to an AI narrator! For free!)

9 The Fairyloot Trove sale had some drama when one user posted that they weren’t able to get everything they wanted in the UK sale, and were wondering if those books would be available in the US sale. Many US subscribers pushed back that this user would be taking from *their* sale. But others pointed out that the user does not live in the UK *or* US, and if tariffs had caused Fairyloot to stop working with the US, would US readers not also be trying to get books shipped from outside of the US?

10* A sapphic fiction author was exposed as a catfisher - he claimed to be a lesbian woman, but is in fact a man. Not a transwoman. A cis man. Allegedly. The evidence? Several art pieces that were shared by the author, saying they were recent drawings of herself, a 20-something woman, all of which had been shared years ago by the same man. While I think authors have the right to privacy and pen names, I don’t agree with people pretending to have marginalized identities that are not part of their lived experience.

That’s all for this week! I hope you had a fantastic weekend, and read something fun. If you’re looking for a new billionaire romance, I recommend Can’t Get Enough! As Ryan says, “When you read my books, you see women being loved outrageously.” 10/10 every time! (And if you don’t normally like billionaire romances, Mav might be the exception.)

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New issues every Monday, around 12 PST.

Xoxo,

Lady Whistlethreads 🫶🏻🫖