Will a Publisher or Reviewer Steal my Ideas?

By John Bond

“Will a publisher steal my book idea?”
“Will a peer reviewer steal my ideas (data, theory, conclusions, etc.)?

In my Publishing Consulting practice over the last ten years, I get some of the same questions asked over and over again. Common ones are, “Do you know a journal that is interested in my paper on XYZ?” “Do I need an agent to get published?” Or, “Are people still reading books?

I’d gladly address these, but this blog post installment is about the two questions at the top. “Will someone steal my work?” is the easiest way to boil them both down.

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Bartz v Anthropic Settlement: Updated TAA Guidance for ‘Meet & Confer’ Process

Since the claims notices went out at the beginning of September, TAA has been speaking with authors and the claims administrators involved in the Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement to better understand this phase of the process. All claimants, whether “educational” (textbook) or “non-educational” (trade and academic) have received these notices. You need to log in to the portal and confirm or change what is there to have “participated” in this stage of the process and preserve your claims.

TAA updated its guidance on September 25. Learn what you need to do for undisputed and disputed claims, next steps for all claimants, special guidance for authors who want to negotiate their publishers’ percentage allocation, and when to expect payments.

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TAA Member Makes Gift in Support of TAA’s Efforts to Guide Authors in the Bartz v Anthropic Settlement

A big thank you to anatomy and physiology textbook author Kenneth Saladin for his donation of $15,000 in support of TAA’s efforts to guide authors through the Bartz v Anthropic settlement process.

“Thank you so much for TAA’s immeasurably helpful information on how we authors can advocate for a just apportionment of the Anthropic settlement,” he said. “I think most of us would be lost without this, particularly since counsel for the class cannot represent or advise any one of us as individuals. It’s probably more than I stand to get in settlement even for my eligible books, but fighting for principles is more important to me than fighting for money. Anthropic isn’t the last AI battle that authors will have to fight, but it will help lay the groundwork to perhaps make others a little easier.”

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Bartz v. Anthropic Settlement Next Steps: Authors Share Their Arguments

Two TAA members whose works are included in the settlement have generously shared their arguments in support of their settlement percentage allocations. We have added links to the downloadable PDFs on our guidance page, “Contract Considerations for Authors in Anthropic Settlement Process” (available to TAA members only). Both authors, who will remain anonymous, hoped that sharing their arguments would help other authors in developing their own. We are thankful for their support of other authors whose works are included in the settlement!

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When A Revision Finally Breaks Loose

What our author team learned from tackling changes that had been waiting a long time

By Kevin Patton, Frank Bell, Terry Thompson, and Peggie Williamson

A textbook revision is often described as an “update.” That word seems much too weak for what sometimes happens behind the scenes.

Elsevier released the 12th edition of Anatomy & Physiology on September 15, 2026, authored by the four of us. The new edition is 40 pages shorter than the previous one—even though we added an entirely new chapter on the human microbiome. We also reorganized the reproduction chapters using a female-first sequence, reworked difficult explanations and illustrations, strengthened our approach to terminology, and expanded our representation of human variation.

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