Plot Twists & Paychecks: Publishing News June 24, 2026
Google Play Preorders, AI Licensing, New Discovery Channels, and the Future of Author Visibility
This week in publishing news: Google Play Books removes a big barrier for indie authors, AI book licensing begins moving from theory to reality, ALLi launches a new bookstore for indie authors, Spotify continues experimenting with cross-format discovery, and authors learn that some AI copyright class actions may not include as many writers as expected.
Taken together, these stories point to a larger trend: publishing is increasingly becoming a battle over discovery, rights, and reader relationships.
📌 Google Play Books Launches Contentless Preorders
What Happened
Google Play Books now allows publishers and authors to set up preorders before uploading final ebook files.
Previously, authors needed to provide substantially complete files before making a title available for preorder. The new system brings Google Play more in line with retailers such as Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Why It Matters
This removes one of the biggest friction points for wide authors on Google Play.
Preorders allow authors to:
- build launch momentum earlier
- coordinate marketing campaigns
- bank sales before release day
- generate visibility across retailers
Until now, Google Play lagged behind other retailers in preorder flexibility, so it's good news to see them moving in this direction.
Book Coach's Take
If you're publishing wide, you can now add Google Play to your preorder strategy.
As always, it's typically faster and easier to distribute your books via a distributor such as Ingram Spark, but for indie authors, uploading directly to the major platforms like Amazon, B&N, Google Play, and Apple will allow you to maximize your income.
One of the easiest ways to increase launch-day sales is to give readers multiple places to preorder.
Sources:
https://indiepublishingnews.com/contentless-preorders-google-play-books/
https://support.google.com/books/partner/answer/2364635
📌 AI Licensing Moves From Theory to Reality
What Happened
For the past two years, most conversations about AI and publishing have focused on lawsuits.
But we're beginning to see another path emerge: licensing.
Educational (business, self-help) publisher Wiley reported strong fiscal 2026 results, with AI licensing revenue contributing to their growth. At the same time, Dutch publishers and distributors have launched Bookpact.ai, a new platform that allows publishers and authors to selectively license books to AI companies for uses such as training, translation, summarization, and search.
Rather than having AI companies scrape content without permission, the platform creates a mechanism for rights holders to opt in and negotiate terms.
Why It Matters
This may be our first real glimpse of what an AI licensing economy looks like.
Until now, the debate has largely been framed as:
- authors versus AI companies
- publishers versus AI companies
- lawsuits versus settlements
But licensing introduces a third possibility: Compensation.
Instead of fighting over whether content was used, rights holders can potentially decide when, how, and under what terms their work can be licensed.
Book Coach's Take
My biggest concerns re: AI licensing is that authors will not be fairly compensated for their works - in particular, the loss of sales all authors are already experiencing as readers and bookstores are inundated with AI regurgitations of our creative work.
Keep an eye on licensing developments.
The future financial impact of AI on publishing may ultimately come less from courtroom victories and more from licensing agreements.
The authors who understand how rights work—and who retain control of those rights—may have more opportunities as this market develops.
Sources:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/100650-ai-research-drive-gains-at-wiley-in-fiscal-2026.html
https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/06/dutch-publishers-launch-opt-in-ai-licensing-platform/
https://bookpact.ai/
📌 ALLi Launches the Indie Author Bookstore
What Happened
The Alliance of Independent Authors has launched the Indie Author Bookstore, a new initiative designed to increase discoverability for self-published authors.
The platform gives readers another place to browse and discover independently published books while highlighting titles from ALLi members.
Why It Matters
Discovery remains one of the biggest challenges facing authors.
The Authors Guild recently reported that only 25% of readers purchased a new book or audiobook last year.
That means authors need more pathways to help readers find their work.
Book Coach's Take
Will this become the next Amazon?
Probably not.
But discovery doesn't require a platform to be huge.
Sometimes niche channels deliver highly targeted readers.
The Indie Author Bookstore is worth watching.
Source:
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/alli-blog/
📌 Spotify's Page Match Feature Highlights the Future of Discovery
What Happened
Spotify continues expanding Page Match, a feature designed to help listeners move between audiobook and print formats.
The initiative is part of Spotify's broader partnership with Bookshop.org and reflects a growing effort to connect audiobook discovery with print-book purchasing.
Why It Matters
Readers increasingly consume books across multiple formats.
A reader may:
- discover a title through audio
- purchase a print edition
- recommend the book to a friend
- buy additional books by the same author
Discovery no longer happens in a single format.
Book Coach's Take
Think beyond format silos. The audiobook listener who discovers you today may become your print reader tomorrow. Readers buying one book in multiple formats is a huge win for authors.
The rub? In order to sell multiple formats, you have to have multiple formats. Get your work into audiobooks, multiple print formats, and translations as soon as you're able to, and multiply your revenue for each title.
Source:
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-02-05/bookshop-partnership-page-match-announcement/
📌 AI Copyright Class Actions May Exclude Many Indie Authors
What Happened
Several ongoing AI copyright lawsuits have generated excitement among authors hoping to participate in potential settlements.
However, many of these class actions use surprisingly narrow eligibility requirements, only covering authors whose copyrights were registered in the U.S. Copyright Office within a certain time frame, among others.
Depending on the case, exclusions impact:
- Your book was not downloaded by Anthropic from LibGen or PiLiMi. Anthropic downloaded from LibGen in June 2021 and in July 2022 from PiLiMi (the books they did not already have from Libgen). If you found your books on LibGen through The Atlantic website, that just means it was on Libgen at the time the data was downloaded in 2025; it does not mean it was on LibGen in June of 2021 and even if it was, that it was downloaded by Anthropic;
- Your book was not published with an ISBN or ASIN; or
- Your book was not registered with the Copyright Office (1) within five years of publication and (2) either before Anthropic downloaded it or within three months of publication.
- authors whose books were not included in specific training datasets, but were scraped from other datasets
Why It Matters
Many authors assume that if a lawsuit succeeds, they'll automatically benefit.
That is not the case. What is the case is that many, many more lawsuits are coming and it's a good idea to protect your rights in every way that you're able to.
Here are some of the authors vs AI lawsuits currently on the docket:
| Case | Court / venue | Filing date | Can authors still join or opt out? |
| Bartz v. Anthropic | U.S. District Court, Northern District of California https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69058235/bartz-v-anthropic-pbc/ | 2024 | No new join option for the class; opt-out deadline has passed anthropiccopyrightsettlement+1 |
| Shakespeare et al. v. Anthropic | Filed in federal court; public summaries identify it as a new separate suit https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/shakespeare-v-anthropic-100-authors-sue-ai-giant |
June 2026 | It is a separate lawsuit, so plaintiffs are already in the new case; it is aimed at authors who opted out of the settlement lunch.publishersmarketplace+1 |
| Authors Guild v. OpenAI & Microsoft | Federal court in New York https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67810584/authors-guild-v-openai-inc/ |
2023 | No class join/opt-out posture identified in the public roundup; it is an active lawsuit rather than a settlement notice |
| Alter v. OpenAI & Microsoft | Federal court in New York https://www.bakerlaw.com/alter-v-openai/ |
2023 | Same as above: active litigation, not a class settlement process |
| Basbanes v. Microsoft / OpenAI | Federal court in New York https://www.bakerlaw.com/alter-v-openai/ |
2023 | Active litigation; public roundup does not indicate a join/opt-out process |
| Huckabee v. Bloomberg | Federal court https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67890942/huckabee-v-meta-platforms-inc/ |
2024 | Active case; no public join/opt-out process noted in the roundup |
| Meta book-training cases | Northern District of California | 2023–2024 | Active litigation, not a settlement class based on the public summary |
| Google book-training cases | Northern District of California | 2024 | Active litigation, not a settlement class based on the public summary |
| Databricks cases | Northern District of California | 2024 | Active litigation; no join/opt-out status noted in the roundup |
| NVIDIA-related cases | Northern District of California / tracked in AI case lists authorsguild+1 | 2024–2025 | Active litigation; no class-opt-out process noted in the public trackers bakerlaw+1 |
Book Coach's Take
If you're following AI litigation (and you should be), don't assume you're automatically covered.
Review eligibility requirements carefully before making assumptions about future claims or settlements. Protect yourself and register your book's copyright as soon as possible, and consider joining Authors Guild and other organizations that are regularly pursuing these claims on behalf of their members.
The details of your eligibility in these cases will ultimately matter more than the headlines.
Source:
https://authorsguild.org/news/anthropic-settlement-search-works-list-and-file-a-claim/
https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/shakespeare-v-anthropic-100-authors-sue-ai-giant
https://authorsguild.org/news/ai-class-action-lawsuits/
Final Take
My biggest takeaway this week is this:
The publishing industry is that AI lawsuits will continue for several years to come, but as authors, we're already seeing the impact of our books being stolen by AI companies.
The fallout from this theft continues to reverberate throughout the industry, with distributors and retailers being inundated with AI slop, the sticky byproduct of the theft that has made human-written books harder for readers to discover, made book ads less effective, and caused price increases for services such as Draft2Digital who began charging maintenance fees for the first time to deal with impact of the onslaught of AI-produced books on its storage and distribution capacity.
But there are also some bright spots. Audiobook sales are up. New independent bookstores are opening and thriving. And libraries are still buying books.
In other words, there's still some good news in publishing. Particularly for indie authors.
Related: Should you still distribute your books via Draft2Digital?
This article is part of the weekly Plot Twists & Paychecks publishing news series. https://author.coach/pages/publishing-news
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