Publishing analyst Carlo Carrenho kicks off the week with a review of the headlines from across the international publishing world.

By Carlo Carrenho, Contributing Editor

Among the week’s headlines: Mexico looks to give booksellers a break; AI leads the discussions at the Independent Publishers Guild’s Autumn Conference in London; a major Japanese publisher agreed to supply books to AI company Anthropic for scanning; China’s Supreme People’s Court grapples with AI and Copyright; a Swedish initiative looks to support audiobook publishers; and U.S.-based Yoto shows innovation in the expanding speakerbox market.

Mexico Gives Bookstores a Tax Break

El Universal reports that Mexico’s federal government has announced measures to support books, bookstores, and reading, including 50 million pesos ($3.0 million) from the Culture Ministry’s 2026 budget to acquire books and renew public library collections, with an upcoming call aimed particularly at independent and small and medium-sized Mexican publishers. Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel also presented a proposed zero VAT rate for bookstores, which could provide the sector with an annual fiscal benefit of up to 250 million pesos ($14.8 million). Separately, the Education Ministry reaffirmed the continued operation of the state-owned Educal bookstore chain, with more than 60 stores. Representatives of independent bookstores and publishing cautioned, however, that the measures do not yet amount to a comprehensive national policy for books and reading.

The zero VAT proposal needs some context: Mexican consumers already do not pay VAT on books, but bookstores and distributors currently operate under a VAT exemption rather than a zero-rated VAT regime. That fiscal distinction prevents them from recovering input VAT paid on their own expenses. Moving to a zero rate would allow them to claim those credits, reducing costs and improving margins. The proposal would apply only to companies deriving at least 90% of their revenues from books, effectively excluding larger general retailers. One criticism from the industry is that the measures do not address fixed book pricing, an issue particularly important to independent booksellers.

AI: Not Quite the Devil, Not Quite the Savior

The Bookseller reports that AI dominated discussion at the Independent Publishers Guild’s Autumn Conference, where new IPG research found that 76% of surveyed independent publishers were using AI in 2026, up from 42% in 2023. Based on 71 responses, 53% said they were confident or quite confident using AI tools, while about 39% were not very or not at all confident. Miriam Johnson of Oxford Brookes University said concerns have increasingly shifted toward copyright, environmental impact, reliability, and authors’ use of AI. Some 72.9% of respondents said they now have a formal AI policy.

It was about time the debate moved beyond the extremes. For too long, in today’s Manichaean world, AI in publishing has been portrayed as either the devil or the savior, when the reality is far more nuanced. The approach highlighted at the Independent Publishers Guild conference is therefore welcome: acknowledging the risks associated with AI while also recognizing the value it can bring. It is increasingly difficult to imagine an editorial product in the near future that is entirely untouched by AI, but that does not mean its creativity, ideas, and design cannot remain fundamentally human.

When Robots Want Books in Japanese

Nikkei Business reports that major Japanese book distributor Nippan entered into an agreement to sell large quantities of books to Anthropic. According to the report, which cites U.S. court documents from litigation over Anthropic’s use of books in developing its AI systems, Anthropic and other AI companies have bought physical books, removed their bindings, cut and scanned the pages, and converted them into digital data for AI training. The documents indicate that Nippan may have supplied books for this purpose, contrasting with U.S. distributors that have reportedly refused similar requests.

The real significance of the Nippan case is that AI companies are not looking only for English-language books to train their models. The search for book catalogs is becoming global, and this Japanese example shows how far that effort has spread. The case has prompted debate in Japan, but publishing expert Ryou Takano, writing on Hon.jp News Blog, raises an important distinction: if a wholesaler is legally entitled to sell books to a corporate customer, selling them to an AI company may not in itself be the central issue, even if some still object on ethical grounds. More importantly, Takano distinguishes between one-time use of books for model training and repeated “reference” use. In his view, training does not mean entire works are simply stored inside the model or reproduced verbatim, while “reference” use can involve copyrighted content being accessed repeatedly—making that the area where rights holders should be especially focused on compensation.

No AI Infringement? China Wants to See the Training Data

China’s Supreme People’s Court has issued new guidance on AI-related disputes, including copyright and other intellectual property issues. The opinion states that courts assessing copyright infringement by AI-generated content should consider factors including the type of AI service, training data sources, the parties’ involvement, preventive measures, and profits when determining liability. Developers claiming non-infringement should provide information on training data, training records, and model operation. The guidance also says users who knowingly generate substantially similar content based on an existing work may be held liable, and it addresses open-source software, patents, technology contracts, and data use.

The key point is that AI regulation is not only a Western debate. Governments and courts around the world are grappling with the same questions, and China is no exception. Particularly striking is that developers claiming non-infringement are expected to provide evidence that could include strategically sensitive proprietary information, effectively placing a significant evidentiary burden on them. That is exactly the kind of requirement major AI companies in the West would likely go to great lengths to avoid.

Frankfurt Might Get Loud

The Frankfurt Book Fair has announced its Frankfurt Audio program for 2026, highlighting a new Audio Business Center in Hall 4.1, while audiobook and podcast programming will take place in Hall 4.0. Nine exhibitors will be making their Frankfurt debut, including ElevenLabs, INaudio, and ElredoVoice. The professional program includes Spotify, tonies, Audible, BookBeat, Pozotron, Pocket FM, and Arabookverse, with sessions covering global audio trends, emerging markets, technology, and audiobook growth in Europe.

It should come as a relief to audiobook professionals that the new Audio Business Center is moving to Hall 4.1, one of the fair’s most central locations, rather than remaining on the periphery. The arrival of more first-time exhibitors also reflects audio’s growing role in publishing. Three other developments are worth highlighting: a new white paper on AI in audiobook production, based on interviews with more than 85 industry professionals; the Audio Publishers Association networking reception, which this year will take place inside the fairgrounds on Thursday at 5 p.m.; and The Global 50 CEO Talk, traditionally a draw for the fair’s C-level audience, which will feature the CEO of tonies on Wednesday at noon.

Kids Screaming? Yoto Adds an Emergency Button

In the speakerbox market, not everything is coming out of Germany. U.S.-basd Yoto announced fourth-generation versions of its Yoto Player and Yoto Mini, updating its screen-free audio devices with faster processors, 64GB of storage, and a programmable button that gives children cardless access to selected audio. “This isn’t just a new product, it’s a new platform—we’ve upgraded everything under the hood,” said Ben Drury, CEO and co-founder of Yoto. In the U.S., the Yoto Player 4th Gen is priced at $149.99 and the Yoto Mini 4th Gen at $109.99. Yoto says its catalog now includes more than 1,000 titles from partners including Penguin Random House, Universal Music Group, the BBC, Mattel, and the Roald Dahl Story Company.

Yoto has emerged as a strong competitor to Tonies, and this launch underscores that position. Particularly notable is the emphasis on the programmable button, which lets parents set up a list of content that children can access directly, without searching for cards. Given how often young children want to hear the same stories or songs repeatedly—and how easily physical cards can go missing—the feature could prove especially practical for families. The next interesting step would be to see Yoto and other speakerbox companies expand more seriously beyond Europe and English-language markets.

Buy a Phone, Fund a Book

The Swedish Publishers Association reports that audiobook publishers that produced and sold titles in Sweden in 2024–2025 can now apply for private copying compensation, with just over SEK 17 million ($1.8 million) available for distribution through Copyswede, the Swedish collective rights management organization. The system, based on EU rules permitting consumers to store copyrighted content for private use provided rights holders receive reasonable compensation, is funded through levies collected from manufacturers and importers of devices and media capable of storing audio or moving images, including USB drives, hard drives, mobile phones, tablets, CDs, and DVDs.

This is an interesting way to compensate content owners for private copying that will inevitably occur, particularly as digital formats account for such a large share of Swedish publishing revenues. In practice, buying one of these devices means paying a little toward content as well—an approach other markets might consider. The compensation rates proposed by the government can also be adjusted through negotiations between the electronics industry and content owners.

India Proves Its Place in Publishing’s Top Three

Publishing Perspectives reports that India’s book publishing market is projected to reach $21 billion by 2030–31, according to the India Book Market Report 2026–30 from NielsenIQ BookData and the Federation of Indian Publishers. The report ranks India as the world’s third-largest publishing market, behind the U.S. and China, with print books estimated at $10.1 billion, digital publishing at $700 million, and scholarly journals at $500 million. Employment in printing and book publishing was estimated at about 375,500 people in 2025. Education remains the market’s foundation, with growth also coming from trade, children’s publishing, professional learning, Indian-language publishing, research, and lifelong learning.

As one of the world’s largest English-speaking countries, India is always an important publishing market to see properly measured and studied. It is particularly striking that this report places India on the podium of the world’s largest publishing industries, behind only the U.S. and China, underscoring the scale of publishing in Asia. The digital figure is also notable: at roughly $700 million against a $10.1 billion print market, digital publishing represents about 6.5% of the combined print-and-digital book market.

Publishing Has More Than Four Addresses

BusinessMirror reports that the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), which runs September 9–13, is expanding its international presence with several new and returning participants. The Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand is presenting a Thailand Book Pavilion featuring titles from 10 of its roughly 450 member publishers, while the Embassy of Sweden in Manila, together with Fully Booked Philippines, is making its debut with a “Read Sweden” booth. Germany is also participating for the first time with a pavilion featuring the Frankfurter Buchmesse, while Norway is returning for a fourth year. Spain’s Cervantes Institute is taking part, and India is also maintaining a presence.

With so much attention focused on the world’s largest book fairs, it is easy to overlook events in emerging markets such as the Philippines. But the growing international presence in Manila—from European as well as Asian publishing organizations—shows that the global book trade does not live by Frankfurt, London, Bologna, and Guadalajara alone. The increasing visibility of fairs such as MIBF is a useful reminder of how much publishing activity is taking place beyond the industry’s traditional major gatherings.

What Else Caught My Eye

A hip library. Penguin Random House will bring books to Shakira’s 12-concert Madrid residency with a literary space featuring author talks, audiobooks, a bookshop and titles selected by the Colombian singer. In PublishNews Spain.

A listening muscle. A U.S. experiment found that gym-only audiobook access initially boosted visits by 51%, showing the power of bundling. In Silicon Canals.

An un-Swedish bookshelf. Sweden’s Schools Inspectorate found shortcomings at 37 of 40 inspected schools, including locked libraries, minimal staffing and even one “library” made up of three corridor bookshelves. In Boktugg.

A literary ruby. Brazilian publisher Companhia das Letras, now part of Penguin Random House, is celebrating 40 years, with 21 imprints, 9,000+ titles and around 400 new books a year. In Publishing Perspectives.

A textbook axis. Chinese and Russian publishers are deepening cooperation in educational publishing, including textbook development, translation, distribution and digital services. In China Publishing & Media Journal.

A suspect catalogue. Latvian security services searched four Mnogoknig stores, which sell Russian-language books, over suspected EU sanctions violations. In Meduza.

A polyglot storyteller. GoRead, launched by Storytel founder Jonas Tellander and partners, now supports nine languages, AI translation and AI-narrated audiobooks. In Boktugg.

The writer of this column still remembers a chance encounter that publishing brought his way. Years ago, while working as an editor, he needed a plastic jacket for a book and found only one São Paulo printer able to make it: Cromocart, the family company of Luiz Schwarcz, founder of Companhia das Letras. During a visit, Luiz’s mother proudly mentioned that her son had also started a small publishing house and told him about its beginnings. By then, Companhia das Letras was already a giant of Brazilian publishing.

The writer of this column has never set foot in a gym, and no amount of audiobook bundling is likely to change that. The Frankfurt Book Fair, however, usually gives him a decent workout, especially in recent years, when the audiobook area and the Brazilian collective stand seemed to sit at opposite ends of the fairgrounds. With much of the audio business concentrated around Hall 4 this year, he is hoping for a little less cardio.

He will have plenty to keep him busy in Frankfurt anyway. This year, he will moderate the Global 50 CEO Talk, presented by Bookwire, with Tonies CEO Tobias Wann as the main guest. He is especially looking forward to discussing one of the most fascinating stories in children’s audio, bringing together publishing, technology and physical products. The session takes place Wednesday, October 7, at noon, as part of the Publishing Perspectives Forum. Despite the moderator and his strong Brazilian accent, it might just be one of the fair’s best events—perhaps even worth delaying or skipping lunch.