In the past two months, Upriver Press has formed exciting new distribution and AI-prevention partnerships. These partnerships strengthen our ability to deliver books written by leading experts to bookstores, libraries, and thoughtful readers while ensuring that everyone can trust Upriver Press to only publish books written, edited, and designed by people.
Two AI-Prevention Partnerships
The rise of artificial intelligence has had a detrimental impact on the ability of serious book readers to trust authors and publishers. In response, Upriver Press has had a zero-AI policy. Now, to strengthen trust between us, our authors, and book readers, Upriver Press has developed two important partnerships.
First, all new manuscript submissions that come to us will be evaluated for the presence of AI writing and/or editing by Pangram. This service can identify AI-generated text nearly 100 percent of the time. If we find AI in a submission, we’ll reject it.
Second, we’re excited to now be a member of Books By People, a great organization in the United Kingdom whose mission is to “uphold a trusted and recognizable Organic Literature market.” The company’s staff will review manuscript versions of our books throughout the editorial process, ensuring that there is no AI writing or editing. Verified books will receive a Books By People seal and an online certification registry. This partnership provides our readers with certainty that a third-party organization has verified our books as being written and edited exclusively by people, not machines.
Two Distribution Partnerships
Starting immediately, our print books (paperback and hardback) will be distributed by Itasca Books, a great company based in Minneapolis. Since 2004, Itasca Books has been a “distributor and direct-to-reader bookseller for independent, literary, and small presses across the country.” The company adds that, “Every book [distributed by Itasca] was written and published by real people who believed in it enough to produce it.” You can see why we’re excited to work with this book-loving company.
In addition, Upriver Press has formed a partnership with De Marque, based in Quebec, Canada, to distribute our ebooks and (in the future) audiobooks. “De Marque’s 30+ year history was always rooted in putting technology to the service of advancing culture and knowledge.” The company has a strong international book distribution presence and is a powerhouse for reaching libraries around the world.
Questions? Feel free to contact us.
