Spines raises $64 million as AI publishing run rate hits $50 million

Spines is one of a growing number of hybrid publishers that combine upfront author fees with a share of royalties, a model that sits between traditional publishing and self-publishing. The company says its AI agents can handle editing, cover design, translation, audiobook production and marketing, cutting the time from manuscript to store from many months or more than a year down to just weeks. That speed and lower cost may appeal to authors who have struggled to get traditional deals. Spines also reports royalties monthly rather than the twice-yearly or annual statements common in the industry, and is working toward weekly and eventually real-time reporting, according to Niv. The company says it has published more than 8,000 authors to date, accounting for some 12,000 titles, with roughly 400 new writers signing up each month. Niv argues the agents can do some jobs better than the freelancers authors typically hire, citing cover design as an example where the AI reads the manuscript and researches retail categories. Still, some aspects of Spines' use of AI may raise copyright issues, particularly around AI-designed book covers, since U.S. courts and the Copyright Office have held that images made entirely by AI can't be copyrighted. Niv said Spines licenses the image-generation tools it uses and passes a license on to authors.