New Think for Old Publishers: SXSWi for the Bookish
This will be my first year attending, and while a few presentations immediately jumped out at me as must-sees (eg: You Are Not a Gadget author Jaron Lanier), I decided to ask other people in publishing why they are going and what/who they are most looking forward to seeing.
On DBW, SXSWi, Upcoming Gigs and Steampunk
You’re losing control of your own destiny. Authors, distributors and readers are getting closer to each other. –Shiv Singh, Engaging Readers in the Digital Age Three weeks ago, when I last posted something here, I was on the verge of completely disappearing into Digital Book World, both the conference and the community that spun out
Macmillan Authors Rally Fans in Battle with Amazon
Whether you agree with Macmillan’s push for new terms of sale for their ebooks or not, one thing that’s been particularly impressive is the extremely vocal support they’ve received from their authors, particularly those published by their sci-fi/fantasy imprint Tor/Forge. As the news broke last weekend, several Tor/Forge authors immediately reacted to Amazon’s ceasing direct
Generalization Fail
When you’re ranting about the evils of “Big Publishing”, it helps to remember that for every My Life Outside the Ring, there’s also Boneshaker, and The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, and the entire First Second catalog! All of those happen to fall under the Macmillan umbrella. I’m not saying publishing isn’t all screwed up right
Shout-Outs: Lanier, Wendig and the Robots
“The combination of hive mind and advertising has resulted in a new kind of social contract. The basic idea of this contract is that authors, journalists, musicians, and artists are encouraged to treat the fruits of their intellects and imaginations as fragments to be given without pay to the hive mind. Reciprocity takes the form
A Quick Note on the Fabled “iPod Moment”
There are millions of books on amazon.com, and on average each will sell around 500 copies a year. The average American is reading just one book a year, and that number is falling. The problem (to quote Tim O’Reilly) isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity. Authors are lucky to be in a business where electronic copies aren’t
“E” is for Experiment (Not eBooks)
Much like TV, which quickly evolved from simply broadcasting radio programs into its own unique medium, there’s a line where something stops being a book and becomes…something else entirely — a completely new medium with its own rules, pros and cons. We’re not there yet, though.
Playing with the Kindle, Playing with the Future
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. –Sidney J. Harris It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of eBooks or eReaders, but there’s no question they’re growing in popularity… at least amongst technology companies. While the hype
It’s Hard Out Here for a Pragmatic Optimist
“Publishing was never a business based on Wharton standards. It was a rich boy’s hobby.” –Steve Wasserman (Kneerim & Williams) Working in publishing isn’t for the meek. Neither is writing for that matter. They’re two things I’m really passionate about, though, and I’ve always counted myself lucky to work in the publishing industry, despite the
New Year’s Publishing Predictions, Resolutions
I’m not usually one for making predictions — the only thing I hate more than gurus and pundits are self-proclaimed futurists! — but I couldn’t pass up offering my two cents to Folio: for their 2010 round-up of magazine and media predictions: Consolidation and debt restructuring will continue apace. More niche brands will focus on