2023 was WILD (we do a recap today). That’s probably why we loved our cozy fantasy books last year (we tell you our favorites today, too). Follow/support/see us on our LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Warning: We swear a bit in this episode. As we said, 2023 was WILD. Our sources for this episode: - The independent romance author who faked her own death and then somehow things got worse? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/14/romance-novelist-faked-death-susan-meachen - Book bans continued to come in hard in 2023: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/20/1200647985/book-bans-libraries-schools - As of this writing, this is the latest in the Texan book-rating law: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/court-refuses-revive-texas-public-school-book-rating-law-2024-01-17/ - The Spine Collector, the spiritual impetus of this podcast, will be deported to a country that will have him: https://www.vulture.com/2023/03/book-thief-filippo-bernardini-gets-no-jail-time-deported.html - We’re in a new era of digital content. Separately (?) we’re in a new era of AI. We unpack it here: https://theinksink.substack.com/p/buzzfeed-falls-and-ai-rises - From WSJ: “Libraries Are the New Front Line in America’s Mental-Health Crisis” (https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/library-services-homeless-mental-health-e1f513b7) - Dolly Parton, America’s gem, expands her Imagination Library: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/92981-dolly-parton-s-imagination-library-expands-national-reach.html Want to pick up books from our storefront? You should! Bookshop.Org supports independent bookstores with every book sold. (Disclaimer: we also get a small commission when you buy from one of our links.) - Camp Damascus, the story of a queer woman reclaiming her mind, her love, and her community (by Chuck Tingle): https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781250874627 - All We Can Save, essays from women around the world who offer hope and encouragement in the fight against climate change (edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson): https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9780593237083 - The Song of Achilles, a soulful, beautifully written retelling of the Iliad from the perspective of Patroclus as he fights for his love, Achilles (by Madeline Miller): https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9780062060624 - Beware of Chicken, cozy journey through a fantasy land with farming, roosters, and mystical quests (by Casualfarmer): https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781039448094 - Swordheart, the hijinks of a suburban widow and her mystical guardian as they travel through a wild fantasy world (by T. Kingfisher): https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781039448094 00:00 Welcome back to the Ink Sink!03:22 Romance author says “JK, I’m alive!”06:07 Book bans keep rolling12:54 The Spine Collector Saga16:59 The new world of digital news23:38 Publishing jobs are growing26:10 Librarians are bada**30:42 Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library expands32:00 Favorite books: Swordheart34:03 Favorite books: Beware of Chicken37:23 Favorite books: Song of Achilles and All We Can Save41:58 Favorite books: Camp Damascus and Effin Birds45:16 Looking forward to Season 3!50:05 Thanks for listening! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

Enemies? Lovers? Marys? Sues? It's time for part two of our Ink Sink Tropefest! This is the second Holiday Replay episode for Season 2 as we prepare for Season 3! Find out how to keep up with us and support the show here: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Warning: We curse in this episode. We have FEELINGS about internet trolls. Listen to part one where we covered ⁠The Chosen One and the Three Witches⁠. In this episode, we cover Annie's favorite trope: Enemies to Lovers. We also cover one of the most maligned tropes in fiction: The Mary Sue. Check out our sources here: Some fan commentary from Reddit: ⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/ue11mp/mary_sue_isnt_real_and_she_cannot_hurt_you/⁠ Some fan commentary from Fansplaining: ⁠https://www.fansplaining.com/articles/mary-sue⁠ An academic study into Mary Sue characters: ⁠http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.xhtml⁠ A history deep dive from Smithsonian Magazine: ⁠https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/these-women-coined-term-mary-sue-180972182/⁠ The TV Tropes wiki: ⁠https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue⁠    Summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh: ⁠https://www.history.com/news/what-is-the-oldest-known-piece-of-literature⁠ A master list of enemies-to-lovers TV couples: ⁠https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/best-tv-enemies-to-lovers-couples⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

AI apps are taking my newsfeed by storm. Things like Midjourney and DALL-E (which make images) and ChatGPT (which makes text) are everywhere. Schools, businesses, and freelancers are all grappling with how to handle it. There are some wins, some losses, and some questions in the publishing business. Our sources for this episode: - AI roundup from the Morning Brew: https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/ai-is-creating-problems-publishers-human-authors - CNET pauses AI-generated articles: https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/cnet-pauses-publishing-ai-written-stories-after-disclosure-controversy,241859 - ChatGPT making fake citations: https://blogs.library.duke.edu/blog/2023/03/09/chatgpt-and-fake-citations/ - BuzzFeed doubles down: https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/buzzfeed-chatgpt/ - We covered the end of BuzzFeed investigations last year: https://youtu.be/MNRec-TVk6Y - Another measured take on AI, from the business side: https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/drama-angst-and-potential-abuse-dark-side-of-ai-for-the-publishing-industry/ - Breathtakingly annoying take on egg prices from WSJ: Just stop eating breakfast: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/cpi-report-today-january-2023-inflation/card/to-save-money-maybe-you-should-skip-breakfast-fSd6mz0miaAPhUFb2jgy - BuzzFeed News shuts down: https://www.axios.com/2023/04/21/buzzfeed-news-digital-media - Vice News Tonight shuts down: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/27/media/vice-news-tonight-canceled/index.html Follow/Support/Learn from our LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast 00:00 Welcome Back to the Ink Sink 01:47 The AI Juggernaut 14:08 Farewell BuzzFeed News 15:56 Thanks for listening! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

Erotic cookbooks and romantic baking – finally we get to the meat of our cookbook obsession. (Okay, the puns stop here. We’re sorry.) Kali and Annie dive down into the history of cookbooks and then they take a look at the erotic cookbooks of the 1970s and the ways that writers use food to set the stage in popular fiction. This is the beginning of our series on cookbooks, we will absolutely do Part 2. So please send us your food literature obsessions to [email protected]. Warning: There is cursing in this episode. Servants in the olden days had some sh** to deal with. Some of our sources for this episode: ·       The Folger Shakespeare Library’s exhibit on consumerism in London in the 1500s-1700s: https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Consuming_Splendor:_Luxury_Goods_in_England,_1580%E2%80%931680 ·       The History of Cookbooks and Where We Are Today, UCLAHCI https://eatwell.healthy.ucla.edu/2021/03/08/the-history-of-cookbooks-and-where-we-are-today/ ·       A cool look into early cookbooks: The Library of Congress has a cookbook that was presented to Queen Elizabeth I, purporting to be from 1390, published in the 1700s: https://www.loc.gov/item/44031282/ ·       Apropos of nothing: Here’s a horror movie about Winnie the Pooh that was made as soon as Pooh got into the public domain. We’re pretty sure they did this just because they knew Disney couldn’t sue them for it? We are constantly in awe of the human race’s capacity for ridiculous things! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19623240/ ·       Using cookbooks to study genealogy and local history: https://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/2793/1/s07-2023-brannock-en.pdf ·       Food "fakelore" has been a part of cookbooks going back centuries: https://daily.jstor.org/the-fakelore-of-food-origins/ ·       A deep dive on cooking in anime: Why Anime About Food and Cooking Became So Popular: https://www.cbr.com/gourmet-anime-genre-about-food-cooking-eating-why-popular/ ·       Many cookbooks come from book packagers, which is a business you can hear more about in our episode about why you’re wrong about Goosebumps: https://theinksink.substack.com/p/book-packaging-why-youre-wrong-about ·       And yes, of course, we have a link to Anime with Alvin – a show where a chef recreates dishes from anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcLTe8MoAV4&list=PLopY4n17t8RAHz5OSGQP6I9z7UZqAZ4WW ·       Check out Quincy’s Tavern and support fellow podcast creators! https://www.quincystavern.xyz/ ·       And check out some of the themed cookbooks we talked about here: https://bookshop.org/lists/pop-culture-takes-over-cookbooks ·       Esquire's review of the 1961 Playboy cookbook: https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a21050/playboy-cookbook-food-15268930/ ·       A history of erotic cookbooks from Eater: https://www.eater.com/23160117/erotic-cookbooks-history-sexuality-playboy ·       What’s the Point of Food in Fiction? by Adam Gopnick: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/09/cooked-books ·       "This Wizard of the Cooking Stove": How P.G. Wodehouse Contributed to the Field of Gastronomy Through Anatole, the French Chef, in the Jeeves-and-Wooster Series: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ejfds/vol1/iss2/5/ ·       Romance Novels Are Increasingly Getting Hot and Heavy in the Kitchen by Bettina Makalintal: https://www.eater.com/23188870/summer-romance-novels-baking-cooking Are you ready to diversify your kitchen? See our list of cookbooks by marginalized authors here! https://bookshop.org/lists/diversify-your-kitchen   00:00 Welcome Back! 01:32 Corrections Corner 03:11 We’re Talking About Cookbooks! 06:37 The History of Writing Down Food Stuff 18:48 Where Do the Ladies Fit In? 23:26 Pop Culture Takes Over 31:33 Time for Some Erotic Cookbooks 40:12 Food in Romance and Pop Fiction 46:27 Kali Coda 47:06 Thanks for Listening! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

This week, we’re looking through trends, tools, and new words! Warning: We do curse in this episode. We amuse the s*** out of each other. Stalk us wherever you scroll: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Notes: Friends clip of Phoebe getting sick and having a sexy voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXBOQAkrHAo The episode of Freakonomics on how horrible meetings are: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/season-9-episode-20 New words from Dictionary.com: https://www.dictionary.com/e/new-dictionary-words-fall-2023/ A viral roundup of famous nepo babies from Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/what-is-a-nepotism-baby.html Our episode on the rise of AI in digital media: https://youtu.be/icUnI1AgL1A Jordan Peterson adds another problematic thing to his list of problematic things: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/01/society-of-authors-calls-use-of-bad-reviews-for-book-blurbs-morally-questionable In our episode on the “fall” of English majors, we talked about a bookstore that was sticking it to haters by printing one-star reviews on t-shirts: https://youtu.be/T_UFw1qwsVc Read the article from Vulture that’s getting the bookish corners of the internet to roll their eyes: https://www.vulture.com/article/fanfic-romance-reylo-publishing-trend.html Elsewhere, Mashable rounds up some novels featuring social media: https://mashable.com/article/tech-fiction-books-novels-sillicon-valley-startups Millie Bobby Brown wrote a book. Or did she? https://todayinbooks.substack.com/p/millie-bobby-browns-novel-isnt-great And if you have any funny publishing stories or meeting stories to share with us, please do! Email us at [email protected]. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

Fall down the rabbit hole with us as we figure out how to tell if what we see on the internet is true. Plus, we hunt the bushes for Wikipedia editors (and Batman). You can follow, subscribe, and support us here: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Warning: We swear in this episode. We REALLY don't like online misinformation. Some of our sources: Our episode on fact-checking: https://youtu.be/c-eS6lS584w Be careful about journal studies. There are best practices for looking at those: https://journalistsresource.org/health/two-studies-examine-preprints/ Some journalists don’t look at peer-reviewed scholarly work for their stories: https://journalistsresource.org/home/user-survey-journalists-research-habits/ Ground News: https://ground.news/ The Associated Press: https://apnews.com/ AI fact-checking tools from Journalism Tools: https://journaliststoolbox.ai/ai-fact-checking-tools/ Tineye: https://services.tineye.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

What is behind the “good guy” trend in romance novels? We’ll tell you who Fabio blamed on Fox News. Yes. Fabio. On Fox News. We want to hear from you about it. DM us or leave a comment on your favorite podcast app: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Warning, we use strong language in this episode. We have big feelings about social media browsers. This week’s sources: • Fabio goes on Fox News to rant about healthy relationships in modern romance. Guess what, blame Biden! https://themessenger.com/entertainment/fabio-the-book-cover-italian-stallion-thinks-the-publishing-industrys-portrayal-of-masculinity-is-hogwash-he-couldnt-be-more-wrong • Unexpected uses for AI: cutting through people’s biases: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/books/old-books-out-of-print-open-road.html • Totally expected uses for AI: Creating fraudulent books: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/09/amazon-removes-books-generated-by-ai-for-sale-under-authors-name • This year’s Digital News Report had some interesting insights: https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/5-publisher-insights-from-the-reuters-digital-news-report-2023/ • Celebrating marginalized peoples in publishing: Congrats to all our comic faves! https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/92839-beaton-liu-takeda-win-graphic-novel-eisners.html If you want to support marginalized peoples in publishing, we recommend buying their books! You can check out our book lists here: https://bookshop.org/shop/theinksink --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

Welcome back! This week, we dig into some existential book problems: book bans and book excess. How do all these issues affect diverse voices? We’ll talk about it. Warning: Annie curses in this episode, she can't pronounce "horror." Our sources for this episode: · Pritzker (who doesn’t have a starched collar) officially signed a law to force libraries to comply with new regulations that should make it harder to ban books: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/12/us/illinois-public-libraries-schools-book-bans/index.html · Responses from some librarians: https://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/town-hall-should-state-cut-off-funding-to-those-who-ban-books-local-librarians-weigh/article_3df07d1b-c3fb-5f89-ac23-55241797a645.html · Meanwhile, media jobs being cut left and right: https://www.axios.com/2023/06/13/media-job-cuts-record · Our episode on the new era of digital media: https://theinksink.substack.com/p/buzzfeed-falls-and-ai-rises · Book jobs aren’t safe either: https://fortune.com/2023/07/18/penguin-random-house-buyouts-editors-book-publishing-layoffs/ · One major problem with the book business: excess and lack of planning: https://news.yahoo.com/photo-publishing-company-pile-brand-040000727.html · KKR buys S&S: https://slate.com/business/2023/08/simon-schuster-kkr-private-equity-publishing-consolidation.html · Our episode on the slow death of local news: https://youtu.be/wXKAPMCHx_E We recommend supporting diverse authors by buying their books! Here are some collections: · Books by trans authors (from The Mary Sue): https://bookshop.org/lists/books-by-trans-authors-the-mary-sue · Books by breakout Latina authors (from Refinery29): https://bookshop.org/lists/books-by-breakout-latina-authors-r29   Follow/Listen/Watch/Troll: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

This week, we talk about good news out of bookstores and student newspapers. Plus, what’s up with publishers versus libraries? Warning, we do some cursing in this episode. Small dogs can be VERY violent. Check us out on FB/IG/YT: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast - Some good news: more bookstores! https://lithub.com/good-news-there-are-more-bookstores-in-the-us-this-year-than-last - The ongoing Internet Archive debate: “Information wants to be free” or “information wants to be profitable” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/13/business/media/internet-archive-emergency-lending-library.html - Heck yes, student newspapers! https://mailchi.mp/poynter/3m735bk8za?e=e5489eccb5 - At this point, they're trolling us, right? https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/92897-judge-finds-revived-amazon-e-book-monopoly-suit-should-proceed.html - The new president of poetry: https://lithub.com/the-academy-of-american-poets-has-named-its-first-latino-president/ - Dolly expands her Imagination Library with new commitments from Alabama and Washington: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/92981-dolly-parton-s-imagination-library-expands-national-reach.html Check out the books we talked about this week*: - Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle: https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781250874627 - Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781250313225 - Yellowface by R. F. Kuang: https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9780063250833 - Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9781632157096 * If you buy a book from one of our links, we earn a commission. But more importantly, a portion of every purchase through Bookshop.org goes to support independent bookstores. Thank you! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support

Books like Gossip Girl, Goosebumps, and Star Wars novelizations all come from the same industry. Today, we dive into the controversial “book packaging” business. But first, you can subscribe, support, and snoop on us wherever you get your socials and podcasts! https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast Warning, we do some cursing in this episode. We talk about things you should NOT say to an eight-year-old. Our sources for this episode:  Oh yes, the Two of a Kind books were real. With titles like “How to Flunk Your First Date,” how could eight-year-old Annie resist? https://www.fictiondb.com/series/mary-kate-and-ashley-two-of-a-kind~15612.htm A brief look at how James Patterson runs his factory: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10711191/James-Patterson-how-the-bestseller-factory-works.html If you want to know more about Kaavya Viswanathan and her disastrous deal with Alloy (plus a good dive into predatory contracts), you can listen to this episode of the Missing Pages podcast: https://podglomerate.com/shows/missing-pages/kaavya-viswanathan-the-untold-story/ Our AI episode has some good information on the possible future of freelance-written books: https://theinksink.substack.com/p/buzzfeed-falls-and-ai-rises John Barlow described his failed attempt at becoming a writer for a book packager in an article he published in Slate in 2006 when Kaavya Viswanathan was first everyone’s darling, and then a cautionary tale against plagiarism.: https://web.archive.org/web/20120128044104/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2006/04/i_coulda_been_a_pretender.html In an article published by the International Herald Tribune in 2006, Motoko Rich and Dinitia Smith also discussed the scandal and added a little more context around book packaging and the company that worked with that young author: https://web.archive.org/web/20070127045606/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/27/news/pack.php A more recent article in Bustle from 2017 seconds the direct comparison to workshopping ideas in a writers' room for movies and traditional authoring:  https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-book-packaging-its-ideal-career-path-for-ambitious-readers-66339 An interview with Matt Baehr, Executive Director of the Book Manufacturing Institute, in which he discusses why publishers use book packagers, and it’s essentially the reason any major group outsources: specialty work that they don’t have, nor desire to have, an in-house team for: https://whattheythink.com/video/115149-trends-book-manufacturing/ So what are the issues with BP? Sabaa Tahir in Anonymous Author breaks down some of them, and it’s largely the same sort of issue you might have read about in (again) the film industry. https://sabaatahir.medium.com/anonymous-author-2da5e017d3a6 The NYT published a piece as an obit of Paul Steiner, an immigrant who opened Chanticleer Press, regarded as the first book packager in the United States, as a branch of a London-based packaging company: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/nyregion/paul-steiner-who-popularized-coffee-table-books-dies-at-83.html Chanticleer Press published its first book in 1807, according to Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Chanticleer_Press Annika Barranti Klein with Book Riot dug into the history in an article from July 2022: https://bookriot.com/the-stratemeyer-syndicate/ Of the first four Nancy Drew novels, which have gone on to sell more than 70 million copies according to Penguin Random House: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/NAD/nancy-drew You won’t find more from this particular packager because following the death of the Stratemeyer immediate family, it was ultimately sold to Simon & Schuster. https://abpaonline.org/find-book-producer/ Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/inksinkpodcast#checkoutModal Check out all the books we talk about on our Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theinksink --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support