The biggest story of the last fortnight is a UK one. A self-publishing services company has stopped trading and left its authors chasing royalties and stock. Elsewhere, some publishers have been claiming more than their share of the Anthropic settlement money, Spotify has opened a free AI narration tool to American indie authors, and a new scam is promising authors a high place on Goodreads lists.
Here is what happened between 3 and 19 September, and what to do about it.
The Self-Publishing Partnership, a UK author services company, has ceased trading. Around 100 authors and 164 books are caught up in it. Authors report unpaid royalties and books stuck in the distribution system, and freelancers who worked for the company say they are owed money too.
The wholesaler Gardners is working with Softwood Books to keep affected titles available. The Alliance of Independent Authors has pointed to the risk of putting every part of a book’s publication in the hands of one intermediary. When that one company fails, everything stops at once.
What this means for authors: Ask three questions about any company that publishes on your behalf. Whose name is on the retailer and distributor accounts? Who holds the master files? Does the money come to you, or to them first? If the answer to any of those is “them”, you are relying on that company staying solvent. Casover works the other way round. We write the report and you keep the rights, accounts, files and royalties. Our author ownership checklist sets out what to check.
Source: Alliance of Independent Authors | Source: The Bookseller
Authors who filed a claim in the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement have been sent a claim number and PIN for an online portal. The portal shows who else has claimed on each book and what share they have asked for. Writer Beware and the Authors Guild both report publishers asking for too much. Some have claimed 100 per cent on in-print trade books where the default split is 50/50. Others have claimed a share of books whose rights went back to the author before 10 August 2022, where the publisher is due nothing.
The settlement administrator has confirmed that some publishers selected 100 per cent by mistake and says corrections are being made. On 17 September the window for sorting out disagreements was extended from 30 days to 60. Anything still unresolved goes to a court-appointed Special Master, and money for disputed books is held back until it is settled. The Alliance of Independent Authors reports that the first payments on undisputed claims are expected in November.
What this means for authors: If you filed a claim, log in and read the allocation for every title. Do not assume it is right. If a publisher has claimed a share it is not entitled to, dig out the reversion letter or contract, upload it through the portal and do it inside the 60 days. Nobody else is going to check it for you.
Source: Writer Beware | Source: Authors Guild | Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
Spotify has moved its Audiobook Creation Tools out of testing and opened them to self-published authors in the United States. An author uploads an EPUB, picks an ElevenLabs AI voice, corrects pronunciations and publishes. The first five audiobooks are free. The deal is non-exclusive, so the finished audiobook can be sold elsewhere, and Spotify says every AI-narrated title will be clearly labelled for listeners. It is English language only for now.
What this means for authors: UK authors cannot use it yet, but the terms are worth noting because they set a benchmark: free, non-exclusive and labelled. If a company offers you paid AI narration, or wants exclusivity in return for it, compare the offer with that. And decide book by book. A practical non-fiction title may do perfectly well with a synthetic voice. A novel that depends on character and accent may not.
Source: Spotify for Authors | Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
Scam emails are offering authors a high position on Goodreads Listopia lists in return for a fee. Lit Hub reported one that went to the author of a book about George Orwell. It opened “Dear George” and offered to promote Homage to Catalonia. Orwell died in 1950.
What this means for authors: Listopia lists are built from reader votes. Nobody can sell you a legitimate place on one. The same test applies to every unexpected offer of promotion: you did not ask for it, they want money up front and they cannot show results you can check. If all three are true, delete it.
Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
A 71-page study by economists at Secretariat Advisors concludes that consumer print sales fall by roughly 0.85 to 1.0 per cent for every one percentage point rise in the ebook share of public library collections. Adult fiction is at the top of that range. The study was commissioned by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, and it looks at the American market.
What this means for authors: Note who paid for it. Both bodies have argued for years that library ebook terms are too generous, so treat the findings as one side of an argument, not a verdict. For a UK indie author the practical points are different. You set your own library price through your distributor, and Public Lending Right pays you when your books are borrowed from UK public libraries, ebooks and audiobooks included. If you have not registered your titles for PLR with the British Library, that is money you are not collecting.
Source: Authors Guild | Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
Google Play Books has launched Expert Intelligence, an AI feature that lets a reader ask questions about a book they have bought. The answers are drawn only from that book. For now it covers traditionally published non-fiction, and Google says it built the tool with authors and publishers on a consent basis, with Authors Guild support. Authors can add their own notes, much like a director’s commentary. Amazon already offers something similar on Kindle. The feature may be extended to indie titles later.
What this means for authors: There is nothing to do today. When a retailer does offer this on your books, ask two questions before saying yes. Can you opt out? Is the text kept inside the feature, or used for anything else? Get the answers in writing.
Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
KDP asks you to declare AI-generated text, images and translations when you publish a new book, or edit and republish an existing one. That includes cover and interior artwork. Editing generated material afterwards does not change how KDP classes it. Using AI to refine writing or images you created yourself counts as AI-assisted, and that does not need declaring.
What this means for authors: Before your next upload, go through the book part by part: text, cover, interior images and any translation. Note how each was made and answer KDP’s questions accurately. You are responsible for meeting KDP’s content guidelines either way.
Source: KDP content guidelines
The Society of Authors has warned about scam emails that impersonate it or offer marketing and festival opportunities. The Society says its own emails come from its official domain.
What this means for authors: A convincing email proves nothing. Find the organisation yourself, contact it through its official website, and check both the sender and the service before you reply or pay anything.
Source: Society of Authors
The Booker Prize shortlist is announced on Tuesday 22 September. And The Bookseller’s FutureBook conference is moving to sit alongside the London Book Fair next year. FutureBook runs on 15 March 2027, with the fair following on 16 to 18 March at Excel London.
Source: The Booker Prizes | Source: Alliance of Independent Authors
Take one sheet of paper and write down three things for each of your books. Where the master files are. Whose name and email address are on every account the book depends on, including KDP, IngramSpark and your ISBN record. How the royalties reach your bank. If any answer is “my service provider has that”, ask them for it this week, while they are still answering the phone.
Writer Beware has tracked publishing scams, bad contracts and failing companies for more than twenty years. It names names and shows its evidence. Search it before you sign with, or pay, any company you have not dealt with before.
If the company you rely on most for your book closed tomorrow, what would you lose, and what could you still get at?
What is the one thing you could bring back under your own control this month?
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