Publishing's Hologram Problem: Readers Prefer Book Summaries Over Books

Robert Moor argues that publishing faces a 'holographic crisis' where readers increasingly consume summaries, AI-generated digests, and podcast interviews instead of actual books. He distinguishes between the 'book a writer writes' (the actual text) and its 'hologram' (the marketed version). Moor notes that serious nonfiction sales are declining as readers turn to cozy fantasy, citing publisher Jonathan Karp's observation of a 'sea change.' He points to Amazon's 'Ask This Book' AI feature and Tyler Cowen's integrated AI assistant for his book 'The Marginal Revolution' as examples. Moor recounts conversations with a literary agent whose clients tailor proposals for AI readers, and a Hollywood producer who caught a studio exec using AI to summarize a script. He references Jean Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulation' to frame the crisis, warning of a future flood of AI-written books. Moor's own book 'In Trees' is published by Simon & Schuster.