Publishers turn to AI for rejections and cover copy as staff push back

The email telling a writer no may have been written by a machine.

In an exclusive published on 9 October, Wired reported that staff inside major book publishers say artificial intelligence tools are now doing everyday publishing jobs. The account centres on large language models, software trained on vast amounts of text to produce human-like prose.

Workers at three major houses told Wired that those models are being used for publicity material, cover art, back-cover copy and emails. Wired named Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster as houses using AI tools in-house, according to a summary published on 13 October by Publishers Marketplace. Staff spoke on condition of anonymity.

Agents noticed first. Earlier this year, literary agents, the intermediaries who submit manuscripts to editors, began to suspect that specific editors inside the Big Five, the five largest trade publishing groups, were using AI to write rejection letters. Literary agents have since told Wired that editors have been using large language models to generate those rejections.

A separate dispute concerns monitoring. Employees at Simon & Schuster are circulating an open letter objecting to the potential use of AI software to track their work, Publishers Weekly reported on 7 October. Staff protested the company's potential adoption of Skan AI productivity tools.

That software is described as capable of monitoring employees. A Simon & Schuster representative identified as Greeley said it is intended for workflow improvement, according to Publishers Marketplace.

What makes this stand out is the clash between product and process. Publishing still sells books on author voice and editorial judgement. The daily labour behind them, from cover briefs to marketing copy to the short note that declines a manuscript, is now part of a dispute over where machines should stop.