Media

Commentary on various aspects of publishing and marketing, primarily focused on books, magazines, and social media.

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

On Inception, The Passage, and Writing in The Obama Era

Inception

The weakness of “It’s all a dream” — why we hate that, why we feel cheated when narratively anything is revealed to be all a dream — is that you’ve just asked me to spend so much time and emotional capital investing in the stakes of this, and you’ve now swept it away with the most anti-narrative structuralism that doesn’t have anything to substitute in its place. It’s laughing at you for even taking it seriously. You don’t want to feel like a victim of the narrative, and I don’t think Christopher Nolan would do that.

Inception’s Dileep Rao Answers All Your Questions About Inception

Nuanced, brainy and thought-provoking, Christopher Nolan’s provocative sci-fi masterpiece (yeah, I said it) isn’t your typical formulaic summer blockbuster. Even its car chases, gun fights, explosions and special effects wizardry exist on a whole ‘nother level, raised by the sheer audacity of Nolan’s demanding that moviegoers sit still, pay close attention and think hard about what they’re seeing for 2.5 hours rather than be spoon-fed the usual red/blue pablum Hollywood spews out like clockwork from their “me, too” factories.

There’s no filler, no empty calories, no short cuts, no opportune pee breaks; Nolan packs something worthwhile into every second of screen time, and you blink at your own risk. It’s an action movie for intelligent adults who are tired of being treated like teenagers, and it will stick with you long after, whether you loved it or not.

It’s also a call-to-action of sorts for writers and publishers. Or could be, if they’re listening.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

So You Have a Platform; Now What?

Abandoned Train Station in San Juan Province, Argentina by redteam

And now blogging is — and very shortly became — something people do do because they are ambitious.

–Lizzie Skurnick

When all is said and done, one of my personal highlights from 2010 will undoubtedly be the “Why Keep Blogging?” panel I participated on at SXSW, partly because it was a great session that was very well received, and partly because it introduced me to Lizzie Skurnick, of whom I am now a complete and total fanboy.

The quote above is from a post that represents almost everything I love about the whipsmart and outspoken Skurnick distilled into one wonderfully compelling rant, and it’s a must-read, if only peripherally related to the rest of this post, which is mainly about social media, “platforms” and an article I wrote for the September 2010 issue of Writer’s Digest on 10 questions writers should be asking themselves about the future of publishing.

One of those questions is, “What else am I going to do with MY platform?”

You’re blogging; you’ve amassed a decent number of fans and followers on Facebook/Twitter; you even have a book deal (or for my DIY friends, a formatted book and/or eBook).

Now what?

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Continue ReadingSo You Have a Platform; Now What?
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

On Transmedia and Fan Fiction

make creating a habit by define23

For transmedia novelists (and publishers) to retain creative control will require more than a repurposing of content. This might give a ‘taste’ of what transmedia can ‘do’, but for it to work on all levels it must be intrinsically built in and not bolted on.

–Alison Norrington, Transmedia Requires New Breed of Writers, Publishers

Ever since I attended the DIY Days Conference back in April, I’ve become obsessed with the idea of “transmedia” and what it means for both publishers and authors. I’ve even slowly been making it a point of focus over at Digital Book World, where I’ve run some insightful articles by some smart people who are also exploring the idea from a publishing perspective.

While writing an article for the September issue of Writer’s Digest about what writers should be thinking about in the future, transmedia kept popping up in a variety of ways, but the most compelling was the simple fact that it potentially changes the way some writers will go about getting published, especially novelists. Those focused only on getting a book deal (and haggling over eBook royalty percentages) will continue to pursue agents and editors, living a transactional existence while cranking out their 1-2 books/year and struggling with the concept of “platform”.

Savvier writers, though, will realize the full potential of the worlds they’re creating, and look beyond traditional publishing contracts for partnerships that allow them to fully exploit their creations.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

BEA 2010: Maybe it’s just me?

Don't believe the Devil, don't beLIEve his book by Celeste

BEA is North America’s largest gathering of book trade professionals, typically attracting between 20,000 – 30,000 people. Book industry professionals who attend BEA include: booksellers (independent, specialty, and chain); book distributors; marketing and publicity professionals; editors, agents; scouts.  BEA is also attended by assorted film and TV professionals and is covered widely by the media for the attention it brings to upcoming books as well as for the notable authors it attracts to the event itself.

BEA Show Overview

Book Expo America represents a bizarre conundrum for me. Maybe I’m just burned out on publishing conferences, and since I’m not buying or selling books and have never cared about free galleys, it feels less relevant to me personally than some of the other conferences I’ve attended this year.

I don’t know if it’s just too big for me to get a firm grip on, or maybe it’s trying to be too many things to too many people?

This will be my third time attending BEA, and the first time I’m attending more than one day, and by all rights it should feel like Book Nerd Nirvana, akin to how I felt about the first NY Comic-Con (was that REALLY back in 2006?!?!), but in reality, it just feels like three really long days of extra work standing between me and the holiday weekend. (more…)

Continue ReadingBEA 2010: Maybe it’s just me?
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

The iPad, Transmedia, and the Future of Publishers

49/365 (Android pesadilla) by Jesus Belzunce

Over 25 years, Apple has earned the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to their tribe. They can get the word out about a new product without a lot of money because one by one, they’ve signed people up. They didn’t sell 300,000 iPads in one day, they sold them over a few decades.

—“Secrets of the biggest selling launch ever”, Seth Godin

The iPad reviews are in, and whether positive, negative or on the fence loaded with caveats, the most common underlying thread is that Apple has created a device that could eventually change the way we acquire, consume and interact with digital content.

This potential change is important to publishers of all kinds, but particularly to those of books as the eBook experience on the iPad is arguably one of its weakest features.

While iBooks, Kindle and Kobo (the three eBook apps I tested) are all solid readers with varying appeal, replicating the reading experience of a print book via static EPUB files (on a device that weigts twice as much an average book!) is like driving a Porsche to the corner store for a six-pack of Old Milwaukee. While test-driving eBooks on the iPad, I limited myself to free books, samples, and in the case of Kindle, ebooks my wife and I have already purchased for her Gen 1 device (which she loves, BTW, despite the limited inventory of books she actually wants to read), and I wasn’t terribly impressed by any of them.

(more…)

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