Welcome to the thirty-ninth book review of fifty-three. As you know, I used to provide freelance book reviews to several review companies. It was a great experience that introduced me to new authors and their wonderful books. Each week this year, I’m opening my Weekend Coffee shares with a link to a review I’ve provided. Reviews are three stars or higher. The genres range from picture books to fiction and nonfiction titles.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
The author is Matthew Perry
Published in June 2024
The publisher is Flatiron Books
Available in Audiobook, eBook, Hardcover, and Paperback (272 pages)
Actor Biographies (Books) | Entertainer | Memoir (Books)
Happy October!
If we were having coffee, I would start by sharing that one or more of the stores that carry my books have changed their AI policy. The Funny Side book cover has an AI-generated image (the family). The result is that certain stores will no longer carry it because of the AI image. So, I have been updating my cover. Here is the original cover and the version it is being updated to. There’s no change to the content of the book and no change to any of my other titles.
If we were having coffee, I would share a couple of pictures from last weekend’s adventures after virtual coffee. The apple is from a chocolate shop that we visited. I was drawn to it because it has a fairy-tale vibe. We also visited a couple of local wineries and a cider place. It was a lovely adventure.
If we were having coffee, I would share that my 365 days of sharing mindfulness photographs is ending soon. As of today, I shared photo 313 on my social media platforms. It’s been a great daily exercise for being in the moment.
If we were having coffee, I would share that my weekend is busy: a book signing event and an Akashic Records course. Please leave a link to your coffee share, and I will stop in as soon as I get a free moment.
By Shari Marshall (2026)
313 mindfulness photographs is pretty awesome!
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It has been a great way to remind myself to stay present. Thanks for stopping in, Maria.
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Regarding the bookstores who are insisting on no AI content – sigh . . . . . . My wife and I both appreciate the intent but think this policy needs to be tweaked to allow an image to be used in this manner. No book buyer want AI junk content, but a cover image seems to be a harmless use of a good tool. Are they going to claim that AI should not be used in any way to create our content: research, grammar checking, verb tense validation. . . ?
Do these same stores use AI for anything themselves: Ads, market research or inventory management or are they ignoring the cost savings of running their business because AI-as-a-tool has somehow become poison?
Sigh . . . Sorry to hear that you now need to blow time and money to solve a non-problem.
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Hello, Gary! So, happy you stopped in. I miss chatting with you during coffee share.
The world of AI is wild right now. In the case of this book cover, I had been feeling the need to update it anyway. Not for AI reasons, but because I felt that the vibe it was giving off wasn’t matching the book’s content or my target audience. So, this AI policy change gave me the push I needed. However, I agree that the policies maybe shouldn’t be an across-the-board NO AI content, but maybe a percentage of the cover can use AI or something like that. It’s hard because I don’t like the idea of artists losing work to AI. On the flip side, AI is affordable and easy to access for indie authors. It’s a tough one.
Do you have a coffee share this week?
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I hope you have a great time at your book signing event and enjoy your weekend course. Thank you for joining in the Weekend Coffee Share link-up.
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