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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Yes, it felt like a very tabloid approach to a nuanced story.

George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Too kind 🙏

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

…a robust work level identifier could potentially have helped with identification and disambiguation of titles in the settlement.

For the books business, there’s a real sense of the road not taken.

I’m not even getting into the lack of universal public ISBN data, that’s a rant for another day.

George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Among many other things, DY cared about standards, processes and data. I remember discussing ISTC with him. It struck me as a great idea with ferocious implementation challenges.

But looking at the vast amounts of potentially inconsistent data in Bartz v. Anthropic, I’m struck by how much…

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

I say ‘was’. ISTC was published as an ISO standard in 2009. The organisation responsible for it closed in 2017, no one would take responsibility for it, and it was withdrawn in 2021.

I went to a few meetings about this back in the day at the behest of David Young, that peerless publishing CEO.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Simplifying again, the ISTC was an attempt to make sense of that: a work level identifier that would be genuinely unique to each book. So for any given ISTC you’d be able to see all the associated ISBNs. Or query an ISBN to determine the parent ISTC.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...

International Standard Text Code - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Simplifying massively, you would normally expect to see one ISBN per publisher per format. So if you have a US publishing deal, different ISBNs for hardcover, softcover, ebook, audio. If you have a UK deal as well, perhaps another four. Plus every other language the book is published in.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

This will be meaningful to a few dozen people, but thinking about this in the context of the late ISTC standard.

If you’re not deep in publishing standards conversations, you wouldn’t have heard of it.

You have probably heard of ISBNs—10 or 13 digit identifiers for books.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

…including US copyright registration, date criteria and beneficial ownership where rights are sublicensed. Don’t envy the settlement administrator their work: making sense of data and contracts across nearly half a million in-scope works will be fiendishly complex

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 2d

Very good webinar today organised by @publishersassoc.bsky.social and @independentpublishersguild.com on the proposed Bartz v. Anthropic settlement, with an informative presentation and Q&A with publisher class counsel Oppenheim & Zebrak. Key questions from publishers on eligibility criteria…

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 3d

I’m so sorry for your loss Mark. My father passed this summer so I can imagine some of what you’re experiencing. I’m glad there are stories and laughter with the tears. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 5d

Just started a non-fiction book and the epigraph to the first chapter misattributes a Rebecca Solnit quote. Amazing to me that neither author nor editor spotted it. Instant credibility loss.

A page from the first chapter of the book The New Political Capitalism misnaming Rebecca Solnit in its opening quote.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 7d

A hugely important update for authors and publishers: you may not be eligible, it's a defined list of titles based on US copyright registration and date eligibility, not everything in LibGen. But take five minutes to be sure 👉

Independent Publishers Guild @independentpublishersguild.com · 7d

If you think you are entitled to a share of the $1.5bn class action settlement with AI firm Anthropic in the US, you can now file a claim.

The settlement website has all the info including a searchable database of eligible titles, claim forms and FAQs www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
#booksky

ANT Homepage | ANT

www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 7d

I really like the Tomtoc Navigator-T66: great build quality, has a passthrough strap for a suitcase, available in 28l and 40l options, storage is well thought out and accessible. The 40l is too big for a daily driver, but I can do a week of business travel without checking bags.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 7d

Oh, well played 👏

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Reposted by George Walkley

David Barnett @davidmbarnett.bsky.social · 8d

It's the perfect time of year to investigate ROADS TO WITHERED HILL, the immersive audio experience developed by @tomabba.studio to accompany my folk horror novel. It's free and you just need to plug yourself into your phone and go for a VERY unsettling short walk.
discover.witheredhill.place

Roads to Withered Hill

discover.witheredhill.place

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 8d

Look forward to reading that. I didn't make the obvious macro point yesterday, but playing it in 1990/91, war in Europe seemed a diminishing possibility and the Pax Americana more certain, now those positions are reversed. And thanks for the reply!

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

ChatGPT not only translated it but proposed an idiomatic usage. I'm thinking of having "Noch ein Punkt auf meinem Scheißeberg" put onto a t-shirt.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

The tone seems darker and more realistic: mechanics like pushing rolls at the risk of physical or psychological trauma, or trade-offs on experience and empathy feel very different to the original game.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

Really enjoyed the piece—thank you. Having played T2K 2e quite uncritically back in the day, and 4e much more uncomfortably this year, I'm interested if you have any thoughts on the Free League reboot. Contra to some of the reactions to 1/2e, 4e certainly feels tonally more European, nuanced to me.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

Interestingly there's a lot of rural/folk horror on market at the moment: just browsing the latest Wyrd Science at lunchtime, Through the Hedgerow (rustic fantasy) and The Terror Beneath (Machen-inspired). There are obvious points of differentiation from those but would be good to discuss some time.

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

😀 Actually adding @tomabba.studio this time...

George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

Those are really super, sinister minis. Funnily enough I just caught up with @tomabba about our thing and sending something to your agent this afternoon, but there's still time for us to pivot to a TTG...

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

Lunchtime reading: issue 7 of @wyrdscience.bsky.social, which just arrived. Might be the best yet. Features on Rick Priestley, Undaunted and Cold War RPGs, an excellent column from @jameswallis.bsky.social and much more. If you like tabletop games and you haven’t subscribed, you’re missing out.

Issue 7 of the tabletop games magazine Wyrd Science

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George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 9d

Small world indeed. Issue 7 just arrived and I’ll be doing a more general post about it—but it’s superb as ever.

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