Sign in

George Walkley

@georgewalkley.com
395 followers 245 following 713 posts

Chairman @midascampaigns.bsky.social, board @bdspublishing.bsky.social, @brisunipress.bsky.social, policy @independentpublishersguild.com, advisor @xigxaguk.bsky.social, MBA, 48% centrist dad. Opinions on strategy, AI, books, games, etc my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 19/09/2026
An important, beautifully written thread. Happily the two RNLI volunteers collecting in the entrance of Waitrose this morning were getting a lot of support: most people seem to have no difficulty seeing this exemplary institution, and its critics, for what they are.
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 04/09/2026
Technically true but misses a point: are nation and unified sovereign state synonymous? Germany is an old nation with a young state and America is a young state that became a nation.
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 25/08/2026
Damnit. RIP Dolly Parton.
000
Reposted by George Walkley
Stan Pham @thisisspiffy.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Your first look at the #Murderbot season 2 cast. Aka, what I did on my summer non-vacation. #PremiumQualityEntertainment
941435301
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 19/08/2026
Never felt more like this m.youtube.com/watch?v=GpBF...
m.youtube.com
Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
YouTube video by GarbageVEVO
121
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 12/08/2026
Last year I published research on the size and scope of the UK book publishing industry, based on Companies House data. I've just published the 2026 update, including population statistics, regional growth figures and a measure of London's dominance of the sector. Details on LinkedIn 👉
linkedin.com
What I did on my summer holidays... Exactly a year ago, I published some research on the UK book and journal publishing industry based on Companies House data. I thought it would be interesting to… | ...
What I did on my summer holidays... Exactly a year ago, I published some research on the UK book and journal publishing industry based on Companies House data. I thought it would be interesting to rev...
010
Reposted by George Walkley
Independent Publishers Guild @independentpublishersguild.com · 11/08/2026
Is your backlist content fully accessible to all? Our new online 90min course (led by Simon Mellins) on 23 Sept is packed with practical tips on how to turn the intimidating mission of making a backlist accessible into a series of bitesize and achievable tasks. For more info visit buff.ly/zNV3Juj
Promotional graphic for the IPG's Bitesize Backlist accessibility training on 23 September featuring a headshot of the course educator Simon Mellins alongside the course information
011
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 10/08/2026
Do you know, it’s the damndest thing but three months after regime change in Hungary, my local newsagent is no longer stocking weird conservative political journals (compare image with the one in quote). Did the market dry up, or was it propped up in the first place?
Political magazines at a branch of TG Jones in the UK
130
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 30/07/2026
100 years ago all of my grandparents were children. Go back to the end of the war, and you can pick from army/intelligence, civil servant in the Board of Trade, railway worker, cinema usher.
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 24/07/2026
@zeroecho.uk This may be of interest.
110
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 22/07/2026
Except—the quoted text in the headline is a paraphrase, not a quote from the research, and the 6% seems to relate to a particular, specific usage rather than AI in general. The Creative Access research is useful, but this headline and framing doesn't help. Details: www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
linkedin.com
Publishing has 'lowest uptake of AI across creative industries', according to new report | George Walkley
The Bookseller's morning newsletter caught my attention with an eye-catching headline, suggesting that publishing has the 'lowest uptake of AI across creative industries', according to new research fr...
001
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 18/07/2026
Deep Dorset. Pre-decimalisation shorthand on the signs.
A road sign in Dorset showing the village Sixpenny Handley abbreviated as 6d Handley, following the old pre-decimalisation currency shorthand.
120
Reposted by George Walkley
Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 15/07/2026
Useful & interesting stuff from George on AI vs publishing in the courts…
052
Reposted by George Walkley
maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I respect France's commitment to not working on a holiday.
115111522404
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 14/07/2026
Sacrebleu 😳
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 14/07/2026
This is @nickharkaway.com’s fault but a short thread with thoughts on the new publisher legal action against Google over AI training 👉
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 13/07/2026
Related to this, I'd love to know what proportion of successful AI experiments/POCs are using an LLM or coding tool to develop a script that runs independently of AI. A lot of the good publishing examples I've seen and built are vibe coded Python scripts or VBA macros.
200
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 06/07/2026
LHR-DUB
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 03/07/2026
It's been a busy week and I almost missed the milestone, but Wednesday marked six years of running my own business. The pandemic seemed to destroy all sense of the passage of time: it seems simultaneously like six minutes and sixty years.
120
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 02/07/2026
Good for Lisa Nandy and DCMS. Your periodic reminder that most large publishers are still using the platform.
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 02/07/2026
For the second time recently, someone at a conference has referenced the emergence of the web in the 1990s "for those old enough to remember" and it is triggering me.
030
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 30/06/2026
Great evening at Parliament celebrating British Intellectual Property Day with my @independentpublishersguild.com hat on. Thanks to hosts Sir John Whittingdale, the Alliance for IP, @alcs.co.uk and @plslicensing.bsky.social.
053
Reposted by George Walkley
ALCS @alcs.co.uk · 30/06/2026
James Frith MP, speaking at Parliament for #BritishIPDay2026: "Whether you're a songwriter or artist, copyright is vital to ensure you are paid for your work. This Government wants to ensure that we continue to encourage and reward investment in human creativity."
James Frith MP
071
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 28/06/2026
Today, Mel Brooks is 100. Post a gif of your favourite of his films to celebrate.
static.klipy.com
Abby Normal Scene from Young Frankenstein
ALT: Abby Normal Scene from Young Frankenstein
030
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 23/06/2026
Wiltshire turned up to 11.
041
Reposted by George Walkley
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 16/06/2026
@hbr.org has a new piece on how AI companies should pay fair rates for content, suggesting that the answer is a Hollywood-style profit share: hbr.org/2026/06/how-.... 🤨 I've written a response comparing this with "Hollywood accounting": www.georgewalkley.com/AI-and-Holly...
hbr.org
How AI Companies Can Pay Fair Rates for the Content They Need
Frontier AI models are trained on the accumulated digital output of humanity, which AI companies acquired essentially for free. This is a problem for both AI companies and content creators. For AI com...
002
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 16/06/2026
@hbr.org has a new piece on how AI companies should pay fair rates for content, suggesting that the answer is a Hollywood-style profit share: hbr.org/2026/06/how-.... 🤨 I've written a response comparing this with "Hollywood accounting": www.georgewalkley.com/AI-and-Holly...
hbr.org
How AI Companies Can Pay Fair Rates for the Content They Need
Frontier AI models are trained on the accumulated digital output of humanity, which AI companies acquired essentially for free. This is a problem for both AI companies and content creators. For AI com...
002
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 12/06/2026
Excellent piece by @ciaranm.bsky.social on X remaining a government comms channel. There's also a really important lesson here for media and publishing companies—including many of the largest—that continue to use it. Perceived lock-in is the same, as is the remedy. www.thetimes.com/article/e895...
Extract from an article in The Times by Ciaran Martin: "There are no free speech issues. No one is required to post on X and make money for it in the process. There are plenty of other options available. The government worries about the so-called “network effect”; there are so many people on X that the government loses influence if it doesn’t post on it. That lock-in keeps many social media accounts alive even if the users don’t really like the platform they’re using.
But the government is different and were it to choose to leave X that would have an impact. The state is one of the few scale players that can actually do something about the network effect."
0116
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 12/06/2026
Instant preorder 😀
020
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 06/06/2026
SOU-FAO
100
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 04/06/2026
Walking across London to beat the tube strike, I can’t help thinking that it would have been safer for riders and society if some of the people who decided to get on Lime bikes had instead walked or stayed at home.
020
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 22/05/2026
Is there a worse feeling than hitting send on a newsletter and then spotting the three horrible errors in it.
030
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 13/05/2026
LHR-PDX
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 09/05/2026
Downing Street strategy discussions rn
040
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 08/05/2026
On a call and someone just used the phrase “trust recession” and man, that hits.
020
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 08/05/2026
Writing something for my newsletter about how @semafor.com used AI to develop a wrap-up of its recent conference and was reminded of this: an artefact from the Palaeolithic era of digital publishing, produced by the organisers of Bookcamp (2009). Lots of familiar names and faces…
A souvenir hardback book put together by the organisers of Bookcamp, a 2009 conference on books and publishing.
121
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 05/05/2026
I am generally a fan of James Marriott's writing, but this section of his column today is extraordinary. What is utterly abnormal is the hold X continues to have over the mainstream media and politics. There is a very simple solution to his problem.
Extract from piece by James Marriott in The Times, 5 May 2026: "Disturbingly, the world before the Humanitarian Revolution has become a little less alien today. Until a couple of years ago I had never seen anyone killed. Now, thanks to Elon Musk’s algorithm, I have to avert my eyes to avoid looking at murders. And this is not abnormal."
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 29/04/2026
Terminal 3 at ORD at cocktail hour is almost enough to convince one that Malthus had a point.
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 29/04/2026
“Open the pod bay doors, Hal.”
A screenshot showing Claude pushing back on a user request.
020
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 28/04/2026
"the dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm"
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 26/04/2026
In Chicago, no thanks to British Airways for possibly the worst flight/customer service experience I’ve ever had in a long time: they oversold the flight, my seat was downgraded, staff at T5 were useless, rude—for a service-based, premium brand, making RyanAir look good is a questionable approach.
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 26/04/2026
Film you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, DC, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Spielberg, Cameron, Wachowskis, or Ghibli.
media.tenor.com
a man in an astronaut 's helmet looks up at something
ALT: a man in an astronaut 's helmet looks up at something
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 26/04/2026
LHR-ORD
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 25/04/2026
This was surprisingly addictive Which London Underground journey is faster? Test your tube knowledge! I scored 25 on Play Your Tubes Right. edjefferson.com/playyourtube...
edjefferson.com
Play Your Tubes Right
Which London Underground journey is faster? Test your tube knowledge!
000
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 22/04/2026
A lovely reunion with the @bayesbschool.bsky.social Exec MBA Class of 2016 this evening. Where did the last ten years go?
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 22/04/2026
The probability of obnoxiously loud people on a train skyrockets as soon as you realise you left your headphones at home.
100
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 19/04/2026
"You'll never have to write a CV, you'll just stay here and freeload" says the 17y/o, mournfully, to the dog as I proof-read her application for a summer work experience placement.
120
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 15/04/2026
I'm sorry WHAT NOW
010
George Walkley @georgewalkley.com · 13/04/2026
Wonder what bearing last night’s news from Hungary will have on funding for political publishing: knowing a little about production and distribution costs, I always wondered what possible commercial rationale existed for journals like this on sale at, e.g. my local WHSmith in Wiltshire.
Hungarian-originated political magazines in a display at a UK newsagent.
240
Reposted by George Walkley
Andrew Hill @andrewtghill.ft.com · 13/04/2026
How and why did business books break out of their hard covers? Here’s my analysis of the weird, AI-fuelled future of the book, as we launch this year’s FT Business Book of the Year Award with new partner Standard Chartered as.ft.com/r/57cd8af8-c... #BBYA26
as.ft.com
Breaking cover: the future of the business book
[FREE TO READ] Authors are experimenting with new technology and formats to better communicate ideas
122