Creating a trash book involves giving it a plausible title, a cheap and weird cover with clip art and chatty Photoshop, often AI generated. This design is aimed at quickly passing through initial scrutiny without raising suspicion.
Vox senior correspondent Constance Grady went inside the seedy underbelly of online self-publishing and lived to tell the tale.
This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn with help from Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Rob Byers with help from Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Noel King.
Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast
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