Time for a Change

Hello Dear readers and friends

It has been a while, although the time has flown by in the blink of an eye. Spring is around the corner and the clock is going forward this weekend. As the season makes changes, so have I. You can’t have failed to notice that I have changed the name of the newsletter (again) my apologies if this has confused anyone. I intend on sticking with Book Cafe and I give you permission to give me grief if I attempt to change it again. I hope you like it. I have a YouTube channel with the same name. If you are interested, you can find the new channel here: Book Cafe YouTube Channel and a video below

I also have a new website you can find it here if you are curious to see the new look: Website

In the months I have been absent from this newsletter much has been going on in the publishing industry, and certainly not for the better. Much of the woes have been concerning AI and the unauthorised use of books in training AI, particularly Meta’s use of data from the book pirate site, LibGen. Yes, one of my books was on that site (I’ve had all of my books pirated over the years). As you can imagine I was none too pleased with Meta. No doubt, there will be many lawsuits filed.

AI seems to be very much a marmite subject for many. I can understand both sides of the argument. For me, AI is a tool to be used to assist, not replace.

I did toy with the idea of moving my newsletter from Substack, but after seeing the awful messes that multiple social media platforms are creating, I had second thoughts. Substack is a one-stop shop for newsletters, chats and Notes (which is a less toxic version of Twitter/ X) hopefully it stays away from the toxic cesspit Twitter has become over the years.

Book Cafe will remain a bi-monthly newsletter with an occasional extra if the need arises.

Some of you may know that I have been experiencing health issues for several years, of which there still is no resolution. I have felt as if it’s been increasingly declining this past year or so. Therefore, I came to the painful decision that I would have to take a step back from writing and some other commitments until next year. I hope that I will have had a diagnosis and appropriate treatment by then. I intend to commit to sending out a regular newsletter and posting YouTube videos, as it’s not something I will be doing every day. My apologies to those who are patiently waiting for the publication of Pipes and Prejudice, let me assure you it will be worth the wait.

I will stop here as I wanted to keep this brief. Until the next time.

Kindest regards

Paula