Posts on Publishing

Publishers, authors, has your book been used to train an AI model without your permission?

Here’s one place you can look. https://github.com/psmedia/Books3Info I’ve placed on GitHub a list of some 85,600 ISBNs extracted from the Books3 dataset that was used to train Facebook’s latest model, LLaMA, launched Feb 24th.

Mar 5, 2023 - 3 min read

Marjorie Doggett - in three histories...

…or four really, since it is also a story of Singapore publishing… this based on a short speech I made at the launch of Marjorie Doggett’s Singapore: a Photographic Record, published by the Photographic Heritage Foundation, Hong Kong, with NUS Press, and supported by the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation.

May 16, 2022 - 5 min read

Singapore's national AI strategy takes aim at curriculum

Singapore has just announced its national AI strategy, comprising a series of ecosystem-strengthening moves, and major national projects in five key areas, one of which is right in the book publishing wheelhouse: education.

Dec 3, 2019 - 2 min read

Why we should move the Frankfurt Bookfair to Cannes...

Cannes combines three events in one. The biggest event is 1) the film market, which brings together buyers and sellers of films (and services like film finance and location support).

Nov 22, 2018 - 3 min read

Five Myths about Book Publishing

Social capital is the store of goodwill, mutual understanding and trust that helps societies thrive. While it is not easy to account for, social capital is a resource that needs to be deepened and diversified.

Oct 29, 2018 - 7 min read

50 Years of the Singapore Book Publishers' Association

From left to right, past Presidents of the Association: Patrick Chan, my predecessor as President, Khush Chopra, me, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng, Mrs N.

Sep 22, 2018 - 9 min read

Digital Publishing in Singapore: introduction & context

!!! NB: This report was originally piublished for the UK PA in 2012 INTRODUCTION “We still call it a ‘book’ fair…”, said the representative of the Frankfurt Book Fair to a recent meeting of publishers in the region.

Sep 22, 2018 - 11 min read

Blogging the Mauritius Book Fair

Today was the opening of the 10th Festival du Livres in Mauritius. This is the only book fair I know that’s always held out-of-doors: the weather is so good on this Indian Ocean island (20° S) that the festival is held in tents on the Port Louis waterfront.

Oct 7, 2018 - 3 min read

Kinokuniya Celebrating 30 Years in Singapore

Japanese publishers may not be too familiar to English-speaking readers (except for manga fans of course!), but Japanese bookseller Kinokuniya has done a very good job of entering new English-language markets with its multilingual bookshops over the last 20+ years.

Aug 11, 2018 - 3 min read