The #SmashWords sale has started! Lots of discounts and free books for the rest of December.
Browse all sale items here:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos
Mine are cosy-adjacent fantasy with romance, often queer, all 25% off:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer
For anyone tracking what's going on with generative AI appearing in the eBook software calibre, the calibre developer seems to be asking us to avoid his software:
In a GitHub issue about adding LLM features:
I definitely think allowing the user to continue the conversation is useful. In my own use of LLMs I tend to often ask followup questions, being able to do so in the same window will be useful.In other words he likes LLMs and uses them himself; he's probably not adding these features under pressure from users. I can't help but wonder whether there's vibe code in there.
Wow, really! What is it with you people that think you can dictate what I choose to do with my time and my software? You find AI offensive, dont use it, or even better, dont use calibre, I can certainly do without users like you. Do NOT try to dictate to other people what they can or cannot do."You people", also known as paying users. He's dismissive of people's concerns about generative AI, and claims ownership of the software ("my software"). He tells people with concerns to get lost, setting up an antagonistic, us-versus-them scenario. We even get scream caps!
Definitely read this whole thread about the eBook manager calibre adding AI slop to "chat with books", and why that's a horrible move that immediately destroys trust in calibre. Here are some highlights I especially appreciated:
Here, Calibre, in one release, went from a tool readers can use to, well, read, to a tool that fundamentally views books as textureless content, no more than the information contained within them. Anything about presentation, form, perspective, voice, is irrelevant to that view. Books are no longer art, they're ingots of tin to be melted down.
It is completely irrelevant to me whether this new slopware is opt-in or opt-out. Its mere presence and endorsement fundamentally undermines that stance, that it is good, actually, if readers and authors can exist in relationship to each other without also being under the control of a extractive mindset that sees books as mere vehicles, unimportant as artistic works in and of themselves.https://wandering.shop/@xgranade/115671289658145064
Ughhhh, et tu calibre?
New featuresRelease: 8.16.1 04 Dec, 2025; or here on their GitHub
- Allow asking AI questions about any book in your calibre library. Right click the "View" button and choose "Discuss selected book(s) with AI"
- AI: Allow asking AI what book to read next by right clicking on a book and using the "Similar books" menu
- AI: Add a new backend for "LM Studio" which allows running various AI models locally
The #SmashWords sale has started! Lots of discounts and free books for the rest of December.
Browse all sale items here:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos
Mine are cosy-adjacent fantasy with romance, often queer, all 25% off:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer
For anyone tracking what's going on with generative AI appearing in the eBook software calibre, the calibre developer seems to be asking us to avoid his software:
In a GitHub issue about adding LLM features:
I definitely think allowing the user to continue the conversation is useful. In my own use of LLMs I tend to often ask followup questions, being able to do so in the same window will be useful.In other words he likes LLMs and uses them himself; he's probably not adding these features under pressure from users. I can't help but wonder whether there's vibe code in there.
Wow, really! What is it with you people that think you can dictate what I choose to do with my time and my software? You find AI offensive, dont use it, or even better, dont use calibre, I can certainly do without users like you. Do NOT try to dictate to other people what they can or cannot do."You people", also known as paying users. He's dismissive of people's concerns about generative AI, and claims ownership of the software ("my software"). He tells people with concerns to get lost, setting up an antagonistic, us-versus-them scenario. We even get scream caps!
Definitely read this whole thread about the eBook manager calibre adding AI slop to "chat with books", and why that's a horrible move that immediately destroys trust in calibre. Here are some highlights I especially appreciated:
Here, Calibre, in one release, went from a tool readers can use to, well, read, to a tool that fundamentally views books as textureless content, no more than the information contained within them. Anything about presentation, form, perspective, voice, is irrelevant to that view. Books are no longer art, they're ingots of tin to be melted down.
It is completely irrelevant to me whether this new slopware is opt-in or opt-out. Its mere presence and endorsement fundamentally undermines that stance, that it is good, actually, if readers and authors can exist in relationship to each other without also being under the control of a extractive mindset that sees books as mere vehicles, unimportant as artistic works in and of themselves.https://wandering.shop/@xgranade/115671289658145064
The AI brand of #Enshitification has come for #Calibre.
https://www.howtogeek.com/calibre-has-finally-given-into-the-ai-trend
Anyone started a fork yet?
Anyone got a workflow for decrypting #Kobo #ebooks without Calibre? #ebook #ereader
Ughhhh, et tu calibre?
New featuresRelease: 8.16.1 04 Dec, 2025; or here on their GitHub
- Allow asking AI questions about any book in your calibre library. Right click the "View" button and choose "Discuss selected book(s) with AI"
- AI: Allow asking AI what book to read next by right clicking on a book and using the "Similar books" menu
- AI: Add a new backend for "LM Studio" which allows running various AI models locally
published book authors who have used a print-on-demand service: what is the current landscape like for printing physical books via amazon kdp/lulu/ingram/etc?
i'm reading so many very conflicting reports, especially now that some of these services are now using ML crap instead of human beings in their printing processes.
book details:
- 400 pages b+w
- color front cover
eKitabu Launches Children’s Imprint: Redefining African Publishing from Kenya to the World
Kenya’s eKitabu launches Maua Books, a new children’s imprint. After award-winning Mvua Press & inclusive KSL audio/theatre innovations, they redefine African publishing.
https://thenewpublishingstandard.com/2025/11/23/ekitabu-launches-maua-books-childrens-press/
