Maybe it’s just me, but the first week of the year feels like a bit of a slow start as we shake off the dust of the holiday season. The pace of book-related news has certainly felt that way this week.

We had our first round of 2023 releases on January 3rd, and the HarperCollins Union remains on strike without much in the way of news. Readers are setting their bookish goals for the year and basically every outlet is talking about how to support your resolutions for 2023. Prince Harry and his upcoming memoir are basically everywhere, which is funny given the whole “we’re leaving the royal family to step out of the spotlight” of it all. 

The start of the year may be slow, book-news wise, but things are still happening. Here are a few stories from the week that grabbed my interest!

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Apple Books Launches AI Narrated Audiobooks

According to The Verge, Apple books has begun using text-to-speech AI narration for some of their audiobook titles. Apple claims the use of these non-human narrators will help make audiobook creation accessible to all, since it is lower cost and less time consuming. And while it’s true that indie publishers and authors may not be able to afford the production of traditional audiobooks, I can’t help but feel uneasy about the possibility of artificial narrators putting real humans out of work. 

In general the talk around AI art and writing makes me anxious, so I can’t say I’m cheered to see yet another story about AI being used in the place of people who need the income. If you want to know more about Apple’s take on the project, the Verge goes into details in their article.

(Source: Book Riot News newsletter)

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First Look at Young Lady Danbury in Bridgerton Prequel

The Bridgerton content on Netflix continues, this time with a prequel that focuses on Queen Charlotte. On January 1st, Hollywood Reporter featured a first look at young Lady Danbury, who will also feature in the series. 

It appears the series will feature both the younger and more familiar versions of the characters, as the actors from the original series are set to reprise their roles. The series is set to release sometime this year, though I haven’t yet seen any specific announcement of when, exactly, it comes out. 

(Source: Book Riot News newsletter)

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Barnes & Noble Is Going to Host a BookTok Festival

Given the way the tables are laid out to highlight BookTok darlings in any Barnes & Noble I’ve visited lately, I wasn’t too surprised to see the company really leaning in to this social media phenomenon. According to Publisher’s Weekly, Barnes & Noble will host a BookTok festival called BookTok Con at their flagship location on February 4th. There will be publisher booths, author panels, book signings, and plenty of giveaways from publishers.

Personally, I spent all of 48 hours with TikTok installed on my phone and spent most of it asking, “But how do I find BookTok?”. Even so, this festival sounds like a fun experience for book lovers and I look forward to hearing about how it goes. If you’re less afraid of crowds and New York City than I am, you can find ticketing info at Eventbrite. 

I’m honestly pretty impressed with the ticket options for this event, which really let book lovers choose their own adventure with a variety of price points based on which panels and events you want to attend. 

(Source: Book Riot News newsletter)

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That’s it for Book News Corner for this week! I’ve really enjoyed dipping my toe back in to the book news world after things were so slow over the holidays. 

Did you come across any interesting book news that I missed?