The state of publishing right now

[flipper@mastodonapp.uk]

@lcamtuf looks like most of, I'm just going to take a wild guess is, North America is inside the Arctic Circle. But given the north pole is somewhere in the Pacific, I guess it's ok.

[trouble@masto.ai]

@lcamtuf why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why...

[nousersmanual@social.vivaldi.net]

@lcamtuf you got me looking at it now. All of the real reviews are on Amazon are pointing out how it is not the same book advertised. I looked at the author's page and its just blank.

[dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz]

@lcamtuf
Titles not being copyrightable is the right way to go, but it sometimes leads to confusion.

[nousersmanual@social.vivaldi.net]

@lcamtuf also one review mentions that every chapter is chapter 6.

[lcamtuf@infosec.exchange]

@nousersmanual Normally, you have to pay extra if you want to have multiple Chapters 6

[lcamtuf@infosec.exchange]

@flipper I think this explains the whole affair with Greenland

[flipper@mastodonapp.uk]

@lcamtuf which seems to no longer exist. Details.

[lahosken@hachyderm.io]

@lcamtuf YY UR YY UB IC UR YY 4ME

[davidnielsen@mastodon.social]

@lcamtuf it’s a shame, well researched books like that would be great.

[edcates@mastodon.social]

@PeterLG @lcamtuf Nightmare fuel.

[mick@cosocial.ca]

@lcamtuf cursed owl

[msbellows@c.im]

@lcamtuf @nousersmanual Look, it's still better than Trump. He's had multiple Chapter 11s.

[jargoggles@kolektiva.social]

@lcamtuf
A family member bought a potty training book for my toddler and it was definitely AI slop. When we told them about it, they were very sorry. The title was very similar to a popular potty training title, so it was an easy mistake.

It's really infuriating that someone would make this. They clearly thought it was no big deal, they'll slop out a silly book about going to the bathroom. But potty training is a serious developmental moment for a child. They need lots of reassurance, patience, and understanding.

[eljorgeabides@mastodon.world]

@lcamtuf

The amount of Instagram ads I see peddling all this shit is insane. Every single ad.

[jargoggles@kolektiva.social]

@lcamtuf
Yeah, it's terrible. The fact that they're targeting children pisses me off to no end.

[electric_gumball@mastodon.social]

@jargoggles @lcamtuf
..but not surprising, just look at the amount of absolute rubbish youtube pushes at kids

[datum@zeroes.ca]

@lcamtuf No alt text so can't boost but do love the falling cat with "flexible spine" and three back legs.

[binks@kind.social]

@lcamtuf For what it's worth, the way amazon does "best seller" lists is so ridiculously specific (so they can technically have literally THOUSANDS of books listed on their site as best sellers of different categories) that it means almost nothing. There are barely 100 books in /total/ in the category this is winning, and 10 of them are this same book at different levels with different printings. So not quite as dire as if it was /actually/ selling well.

[lcamtuf@infosec.exchange]

@Binks Sure, but as a seemingly-mostly-human book author, you know, I wouldn't mind that