Thad McIlroy is author of The AI Revolution in Book Publishing – and the most strategic thinker I know on where AI and books collide.

He knows the big publishers and also tracks more than 1,800 startups in the space (including 350 in AI).

In this conversation Thad breaks down the“original sin” of AI in publishing—and why it’s driving so much fear and anger across the industry.

We talk about why publishers are, in his words, “constipated by copyright,” and how that same mindset crippled them during past tech waves—from Amazon… to Kindle… to the Google Books project.

He shares a wild story of an author who made over $100K by quickly creating 200 books using AI.

He also lays out his simple “15% framework” for publishers and calls out one common approach from publishers as “pathetic.”

He explains John Grisham’s AI pushback (he’s banning it) is a bad move for the Big 5 publishers.

And for those of you building startups in this space, he lays out what he calls the “Manifest Destiny” of publishing—and how AI could finally make that a reality

Make sure you stick around for the final question—Thad's story about his dad came out of nowhere (and got me weepy).

Special thanks to Zach Stewart at the Canessa Art Gallery on Montgomery Street in SF (right at the heart of AI) for connecting Thad and me.

Please enjoy my conversation with Thad McIlroy.

Thx!
Rob