What Book Editors Really Think About Publishing’s Future

Earlier this year a group of publishing professionals sat down together for a webinar that a lot of people in the industry needed to hear. The conversation was honest. It covered real concerns and real opportunities. And the people in the room were not cheerleaders for technology. They were editors and project managers and executives who work with books every single day.

The webinar was called AI and its Opportunities in Publishing Operations. It was part of a semi-annual series put together by Westchester Publishing Services and co-hosted with Publishers Weekly. What came out of it is worth paying attention to if you are an author or anyone else who cares about where the book industry is headed.

What the Publishing Industry Actually Knows About AI Right Now

How Many Publishers Are Actually Using AI

The webinar opened with data that grounded the whole conversation in reality.

Jarin Pintana, a project manager with the Green Book Alliance, walked through findings from a 2025 survey on AI use across the North American book industry. The survey was conducted by the Book Industry Study Group and what it found was genuinely interesting.

Just under half of the people surveyed said they were already using AI in some form. The tasks they used it for most often included administrative work data analysis, marketing editorial tasks and metadata management. Larger companies reported the highest levels of use.

What the Industry Is Most Worried About

But here is the part that deserves attention. Even with that level of adoption the concerns are significant. The three biggest worries the industry expressed were about controlling copyrighted materials, the risk of AI generated content flooding retail spaces and a lack of transparency from authors about whether they used AI in their work.

Librarians in the survey also pushed back. They said the pressure to carefully evaluate every piece of content before putting it into circulation has become a real burden.

Pintana put it simply. The industry is adopting AI potentially faster than it is becoming comfortable with it. That is an honest and important observation.

What AI Is Actually Doing Inside Publishing Companies

AI Is Already in the Room Whether You Notice It or Not

George Walkley, one of the leading voices on how artificial intelligence affects publishing, picked up where the survey left off.

He made a point that felt true to a lot of people in the room. Much of the time people are now using AI without really thinking about it. It has been built into tools and platforms so quietly that the decision of whether to use it has already been made for many workers before they ever arrive at their desk.

Walkley also brought in a global perspective. Surveys of the Latin American book market show a far higher proportion of AI users compared to North America. Usage varies considerably depending on where in the world you are and what kind of content you are producing.

Why Publishing Companies Need Clear AI Policies Now

His most important point though was about policy. Most publishing companies do not have one when it comes to AI. That absence creates a problem. When there is no clear guidance people make their own decisions. Some of those decisions will be good. Others will create problems that companies have to deal with later. Walkley argued that open communication and clear policies are not optional at this point. They are necessary.

He also addressed something that authors and publishing professionals worry about more than almost anything else. He said that in his experience working with more than three hundred publishers AI is not taking away jobs. He described it as a hand rather than a brain. It can help complete tasks that humans define but it should not be the one deciding what those tasks are in the first place.

How Technology Can Support the People Behind the Books

Making Work Human in a World Full of Automation

David Stafford who leads consumer experience at Dropbox brought the conversation to a practical level.

His core idea was about making work human. Technology should serve the people using it. It should simplify things. It should make communication easier and make it possible for teams to do more without burning out.

He pointed to how a platform like Dropbox gives people a clear and tangible way to make data easier to access, easier to store and easier to share. That kind of clarity around non-creative tasks can actually reduce anxiety in the workplace because people understand what the tool is doing and why.

Protecting Creative Rights While Embracing New Tools

His closing argument was about protection. AI creates new opportunities to keep working together as industry professionals and as technology providers. But that work has to protect the creative industry. Intellectual property rights have to be maintained. That is not negotiable.

The Hard Questions the Industry Is Still Working Through

Environmental Costs AI Resistance and Content Vetting

The webinar ended with an open question and answer session that got into some of the more difficult territory.

The panelists talked about the environmental costs of AI which rarely get mentioned in conversations about publishing. They addressed what happens when employees push back against new technology and how managers should handle that. They talked about the growing responsibility of librarians and booksellers to evaluate content before it reaches readers. And they were direct about the need to fact-check AI outputs because the technology makes mistakes that can look convincing.

The Case for Thoughtful Experimentation

All three speakers encouraged experimentation. Not reckless adoption but thoughtful testing to figure out where AI genuinely helps and where it creates more problems than it solves.

Stafford gave what might be the best piece of advice from the entire event. Focus on the specific workflow you are trying to improve. Think about where you want to drive efficiency. Consider how AI can help a smaller team do more without losing what makes their work worth doing. And above all protect human creativity and human judgment because that is what the whole industry is built on.

What This Means for Authors Working With a Publisher Today

The Right Publishing Partner Makes All the Difference

The conversation from that webinar points to something every author should understand going into a publishing relationship in 2026.

The best publishers are not ignoring AI and they are not handing everything over to it either. They are thinking carefully about where it helps and where it does not. They are building policies. They are protecting the rights of the authors they work with. And they are keeping human judgment at the center of every important decision.

Why Rockefeller Publishing Puts Authors First

At Rockefeller Publishing that is exactly how we approach our work with authors across the United States. The tools we use exist to serve your book and your vision. The decisions about your work are made by people who understand publishing and who take the responsibility of representing your ideas seriously.

If you are looking for a publishing partner who thinks carefully about these things we would like to talk.

Explore how modern authors are using AI to publish smarter. Visit our website now.