Technology • Innovation • Publishing — Issue #218
Reminder: I optimized this newsletter for subscription. If you’re reading this on Medium (via website or email) or on my blog, please subscribe at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/ksandler1 for the best user experience.
Testimonial of the Week
Thanks, @melissarosati!
Please let me know what you think of my newsletter — I’d love to hear!
Also, there’s a story that Twitter is shutting down this platform by the end of the year. If so, I’ll be moving my newsletter to another, so stay tuned.
Important Items
Georgia Says A Fetus Is A Person. The Implications Are Terrifying.
There’s no way to discern between a natural miscarriage and an abortion. Meaning physicians and really anyone with the capacity for pregnancy could face investigation.
New York Magazine cut digital ads on abortion-related content so readers wouldn’t be tracked — showing the challenges publishers face post-Roe v. Wade — www.businessinsider.com
As emotions surged over the future of abortion, New York Magazine turned off digital ads on abortion-related content to protect readers from being tracked.
Killing with impunity: Vast majority of journalists’ murderers go free
RT @pressfreedom Fact: No one has been held to account in nearly 80% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index found, and governments show little interest in tackling the issue. #EndImpunity
Right-wing political propaganda posing as local news circulating across country — boingboing.net
Disinformation is a midterm elections threat that could keep millions of voters at home, analysts say — www.usatoday.com
HT @PENamerica Disinformation is spreading so fast researchers say it’s now powerful enough to swing US elections, including potentially the Nov. 8 midterms. Disinformation lies target communities of color to influence elections and spread to millions of people in seconds. #Disinformation
How Republicans Fed a Misinformation Loop About the Pelosi Attack — www.nytimes.com
Within hours of the brutal attack last week on Paul Pelosi, Republican officials and media figures began circulating groundless claims — nearly all of them sinister, and many homophobic — about what had happened.
Russia Reactivates Its Trolls and Bots Ahead of Tuesday’s Midterms
www.nytimes.com
Researchers have identified a series of Russian information operations to influence American elections and, perhaps, erode support for Ukraine.
Innovation
Ways to think about a metaverse — www.ben-evans.com
Your boss wants a metaverse strategy, but what would that be, and what does metaverse even mean? If we strip away the noise, what can we say about this, and what can we predict? Via @benedictevans #metaverse
Beijing announces two-year Metaverse innovation and development plan — cointelegraph.com
HT @ballmatthew Tencent had to shut down one of the two NFT platforms owing to declining sales and China’s regressive monetary policies.
Why Roblox is a metaverse marketing on-ramp — despite Web3 interoperability — adage.com
Roblox has become one of the biggest success stories of the metaverse. Yet despite it boasting more than 200 million estimated monthly users and brands flocking to it, there’s a growing debate over whether Roblox is technically even part of the metaverse.
Roblox and Parsons School of Design are creating a digital fashion course — www.theverge.com
A new course created by Parsons School of Design in collaboration with Roblox will teach students about fashion design in the metaverse. The gaming giant worked with faculty to create the 16-week class.
Worldbuilding, Pt. 1 — dirt.substack.com
The development of branching, persistent, immersive storyworlds is essential for everyone from novelists and filmmakers to brands and musicians, per @dirtxyz
Amazon: Coming soon to your eyeballs — techcrunch.com
Mojo Vision teams with Amazon to demonstrate how a feature like Alexa Shopping list might be utilized on a pair of smart contact lenses.
Amazon, Snap partner to let customers shop for eyewear in AR — www.zdnet.com
Amazon Fashion is partnering with Snapchat to reach the increasing number of customers who are shopping on their smartphones.
Solving for Innovation
A Recap of the @PageBreakConf by @brianoleary
Technology
Walgreens will use robots to fill prescriptions to free up pharmacists — www.marketwatch.com
HT @faris Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is turning to robots to ease workloads at drugstores as it grapples with a nationwide shortage of pharmacists.
AI-generated art sparks furious backlash from Japan’s anime community — restofworld.org
Dall-E might be the hot new thing, but outside Silicon Valley, fear and outrage are ramping up. via @restofworld #AI
CLIP Interrogator
HT @the_prepared We’re now used to seeing AI images generated from a prompt. These use contrastive language-image pre-training (CLIP). CLIP Interrogator reveals the inverse: Generates a prompt from image input. This might be useful to figure out what text to use to get images.
Meta is testing a way to mint and sell NFTs on Instagram — www.theverge.com
Meta is testing out a way to create and sell NFTs on Instagram, and expanding the options you have to feature “digital collectibles” on the platform. #NFTs #Meta
The Crypto Story — www.bloomberg.com
ICYMI Where it came from, what it all means, and why it still matters. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about crypto.
If TikTok Is Banned What Should Content Creators Do?
With US and Chinese tensions continuing to rise, does that mean TikTok could ultimately be banned in the United States? I believe the answer is yes.
Netflix With Ads Launching as Talks Continue With Studios Over Content — www.wsj.com
Netflix is introducing an ad-supported option for streaming in 12 countries. The WSJ reports that the platform has signed on blue chip advertisers for the launch, and hired new senior executives from the advertising industry to help grow the business.
Netflix Develops New Model for Show Creators: Creators get a fee each time intellectual property is remade.
Some creators aren’t happy with Netflix’s decision to insert ads into their content — especially when they are getting $0 in revenue share.
HT @sherman4949
Facebook’s Professional Mode for Creators Rolled Out Globally — www.adweek.com
The social network also introduced new ways to earn money from content.
Inside Twitter’s product roadmap under Musk — www.platformer.news
Twitter’s newsletter platform Revue, acquired in early 2021, is scheduled to close by the end of the year, and its Notes product has been paused.
Musk team working to reboot Vine this year — www.axios.com
Twitter’s new owner wants to try to revive the short-video service the company shut down in 2016.
How Marketers can Engage Music Fans on Twitch — www.adweek.com
At any given moment, some 2.5 million viewers are watching streamers on Twitch, where music is one of the fastest growing categories on the service. How can marketers effectively engage this growing audience of music fans?
Amazon to Unveil Daily Talk Shows on Sports
In its effort to become a full-time destination for sports, Amazon will have its own lineup of daily talk shows from morning to night
Amazon Music’s library of songs and podcasts is now free for Prime subscribers
Amazon Music’s entire library is now free for Prime subscribers. Amazon is also removing ads from a large selection of podcasts including the entire Wondery catalog if you’re a Prime member.
Unfulfilled: Amazon and the American Retail Landscape
The American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics have released a new report called Unfulfilled: Amazon and the American Retail Landscape that details the negative impacts that shopping with Amazon has on communities.
Publishing & Media
TikTok is boosting the literacy rate among young readers
Via @goodereadermike
TikTok Works for All Authors and Genres — annerallen.com
HT @craicer Tiktok is where social media marketing is really working. True crime author Sue Coletta gives a very convincing argument for taking the plunge, no matter what your genre or target demographic. #BookTok
Kickstarter For Authors
HT @thecreativepenn #bookmarketing #selfpublishing #crowdfunding
Ingram Launches Advertising Platform
Ingram Content Group’s Ingram iD is a new advertising platform designed specifically for book publishers. #BookBiz
The book ban movement has a chilling new tactic: harass teachers on social media — www.technologyreview.com
Educators who stand up to conservative activists are being harassed and called “groomers” online, turning them into potential targets for real-world violence.
Angry right-wing moms are trying to have librarians arrested by “constitutional sheriffs.” — slate.com
The six-week investigation resulted in a 74-page report that concluded “no crime occurred.”
The Right-Wing Mothers Fuelling the School-Board Wars — www.newyorker.com
Moms for Liberty claims that teachers are indoctrinating students with dangerous ideologies. But is the group’s aim protecting kids — or scaring parents?
The school library used to be a sanctuary. Now it’s a battleground — www.cnn.com
RT @ALALibrary “Sitting on the sidelines and sympathizing with lambasted librarians is not enough. Community members must take action to pin book banners to the mat. Otherwise, the First Amendment will be down for the count.” Martha Hickson #UniteAgainstBookBans
Spotify waging media war against Apple
Spotify clearly is irked at Apple for not allowing it to sell audiobooks via the Spotify iOS app hosted on the Apple App Store. Via @iamsovy
What are Apple’s audiobook rules, anyway?
www.theverge.com
Apple banned Spotify from emailing a link to buy an audiobook, but Amazon does much the same thing. Spotify doesn’t know why Amazon’s system gets a pass.
NPR launches a paid podcast bundle, hoping to convert a national audience into local donors
MT @risj_oxford @NPR has launched a paid podcast bundle giving subscribers access to bonus content, ad-free episodes, and other perks from podcasts such as @planetmoney and @nprfreshair. To join NPR+, listeners must pay $8/month or $96/year to their local station
What we can learn from how digital publishers in the Global South approach platforms
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
New York City now requires salary ranges in job posts. Here’s which media companies are complying, and which aren’t
www.niemanlab.org
“$15/hour to $125,000”?
Resources & Opportunities
Indie Bookstores You Can Shop At From Anywhere — bookriot.com
No local indie near you? No problem! These independent bookstores across the U.S. offer online ordering and will ship anywhere.
Free National Book Awards Teen Press Conference
RT @nationalbook The Teen Press Conference is a free, virtual event featuring the #NBAwards Finalists for Young People’s Literature, and hosted by past #NBAwards Finalist Rita Williams-Garcia (@OneCrazyRita). Register for the livestream on our website!
OpenBooks — UK Publishers Association — www.publishers.org.uk
RT @PublishersAssoc We are delighted to support OpenBooks — a new initiative to reach the next generation of book industry talent. Find out more about this new series of upcoming free, accessible online events. #OpenBooks
Penguin Random House UK & Creative Access
opportunities.creativeaccess.org.uk
MT @_CreativeAccess Love books & want to make a career out of it? Join @_CreativeAccess & @PRHCareersUK for this #WorkInPublishing week! Register here for an all-star webinar on November 15 from 5.30–6.30pm & learn about the variety of careers on offer. #teamPRH
@inkyelbows Agents kidlitYA NEW list on Twitter — twitter.com
RT @inkyelbows *Updated* My list of Kidlit/YA agents on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/lists/897469523497975808/… Do your research before submitting to check for legitimacy & guidelines. Also see @victoriastrauss’s Writer Beware tips: https://sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/agents/
Wesleyan Distinguished Writers in Residence
HT @rgay Wesleyan has a great one-year residency that pays $150,000 plus a $30,000 housing stipend.
PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
MT @PENamerica Apply by 11/8 for the 2023 PEN/Robert J.Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. 12 winners will receive $2,000 each and their stories will be published in the @CatapultStory anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America/Dau Prize.
Women’s Leadership Accelerator
MT @JSchofieldTrust An exciting opportunity for women working in digital journalism: @ONA Women’s Leadership Accelerator is a year-long intensive programme of mentoring, discussion & learning designed to supercharge newsroom leadership & management skills. Apply by 10 Nov.
Don’t be scared to talk about disabilities. Here’s what to know and what to say
HT @creativemorning Do you find yourself avoiding conversations on disabilities? Worried you’ll offend a disabled friend? A disability rights activist shares ways to be a better ally and to destigmatize disability in America. #teamPRH
Use code VOTE22 for 50% off (up to $10) your ride to the polls on Election Day from @lyft — works for Citibike too! #RollToThePolls #RidesToThePolls
