2023 in Books: Cooling Sales, Legal Battles, and Rising Censorship

Top-selling author Colleen Hoover continues reign, AI faces lawsuits, and Simon & Schuster sold to private equity firm amid diversity clashes.

Book publishing in 2023 was marked by cooling sales, rising conflict, legal action, protests, and censorship.
Colleen Hoover, without releasing a new book in 2023, remained the country's top-selling author, with three of her novels among the top 10 sellers.
ChatGPT, an AI, faced numerous lawsuits from authors and the Authors Guild, alleging it is a 'massive commercial enterprise' reliant upon 'systematic theft on a mass scale.'
Simon & Schuster, a corporate-owned publisher, was sold to the private equity firm KKR after a federal judge halted Penguin Random House's acquisition of it.
The publishing industry's push for more diverse books clashed with a surge in bannings and attempted bannings, reaching levels not seen in decades.