This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Onyx Storm Soars to the Top of the Charts
The numbers are in and they’re wild. Beyond the anecdotal evidence of people camping out in freezing temperatures and flooding Targets pointing to the success of the third book in Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series, Circana Bookscan reported that Onyx Storm sold 1,288,300 hardcovers in its first week. The deluxe edition sold 1,109,783 print copies alone–sprayed edges truly reign supreme. Circana, which provides sales tracking and data for publishing, said, “These sales results also make ONYX STORM the fastest-selling adult title in the history of Bookscan, since we started tracking books in 2004.” We thought the Hoover fandom was next level but, for now, Yarros wears the crown, and while I’m not part of said fandom I will always favor one that cosplays. The Empyrean series is elite among the undeniably popular romantasy genre, which saw a stunning 30 million print sales last year. Those numbers tell no lies–the genre remains the It Girl in publishing.
Authors Guild Certifies Human-Authored Books
The U.S. Authors Guild will distinguish human-written works from those authored by AI with a certification. “Human Authored” will house a listing of publicly accessible certified texts, though the distinction is currently reserved for Authors Guild members and texts written by a single author with plans to expand beyond those parameters. Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said, “The Human Authored initiative isn’t about rejecting technology — it’s about creating transparency, acknowledging the reader’s desire for human connection, and celebrating the uniquely human elements of storytelling.” Authors who use AI-powered spell check and grammar tools are still eligible for certification. It’ll be interesting to see if this certification takes off with writers and publishers and starts appearing on books.
I don’t say this to trivialize the real and troubling impact AI has on creative works of all kinds, but I can’t help but think of the movie Desk Set as the world of artists and writers contends with its own “Emmy,” (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch the movie–you won’t be sorry) working to articulate the importance and uniqueness of human effort and strike a balance with new technology. In the classic rom-com everything was tied up neatly with innovators and the human computers who thought they were being made irrelevant happily working side by side, but reality is more complicated and friction remains.
Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan Walk Into a Bar…
In news straight out of the randomizer, Jake Gyllenhaal will star in an M. Night Shyamalan-Nicholas Sparks collab. When I hear Sparks’ name, I think of a young, white couple holding each other in the rain…but now they see dead people? This is actually not an adaptation, in case you were triple-checking Sparks’ catalog, but two wildly different writers of different formats taking a single story and making it their own. Shyamalan and Sparks came up with the story together, but will obviously be taking it in different storytelling directions, with the former taking his version to the screen and the latter taking his to the page. Sparks’ production team will even be joining Shyamalan’s for the film. I’m actually quite tickled by this idea and might have to do a side by side when (and who knows when because it’s not yet attached to a studio) both come out.
How I Genrefied My School Library and What I Learned Along The Way
As an outsider who most certainly considered being a librarian while trying to figure out a career path in my youth, I love learning new things about and am still fascinated by librarianship. If that resonates, take a journey with one high school librarian who decided to organize the fiction section by genre to help students find the books they wanted and needed (spoiler alert: it’s a Big Process).
The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers!