Do Publishers Still Need Authors?
Just as many entrepreneurs no longer need venture capitalists to launch their companies, authors no longer need publishers to publish. Mark Coker, Do Authors Still Need Publishers? Picture this: In the future, as the risks of publishing shift from the publisher to the author, publishers will be able to invest in technologies that allow them
6 Reasons I’m Not Following You on Twitter
With some exceptions for family, friends and notable side interests, I primarily follow people and brands that are directly related to publishing, new media and marketing, and am militant about keeping a very high signal:noise ratio in my stream.
Burning Down the House: True Story
Arguably my “biggest” publishing credit is co-authoring Burning Down the House: Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s National Poetry Slam Champions (Soft Skull Press, 2000), and while I am both proud of and eternally grateful for its publication, its existence has more to do with timing and opportunism than the quality of the work therein. Besides my own attempts at zines and chapbooks, it was my first real introduction to the world of publishing, and it left a permanent mark that partly explains my cynical passion and/or pragmatic idealism for the publishing industry.
Publishing is a Community Service
Only those who know nothing of the history of technology believe that a technology is entirely neutral… Each technology has an agenda of its own. It is, as I have suggested, a metaphor waiting to unfold. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death There’s a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing happening in publishing these days, both
6Qs: Richard Eoin Nash, Social Publisher
“Basically, the best-selling five hundred books each year will likely be published much like Little Brown publishes James Patterson, on a TV production model, or like Scholastic did Harry Potter and Doubleday Dan Brown, on a big Hollywood blockbuster model. The rest will be published by niche social publishing communities.” —About Richard Eoin Nash Richard
On Branding, Tribes, and Seth Godin Goes Wild
“If you can just assemble these 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 people who love literary fiction, then you’ve earned the right to be the ringleader, the leader of that tribe—and you’ll never, ever again have trouble selling literary fiction.” –Seth Godin, How to Fix the Publishing Industry Seth Godin arguably did not have the Best Week Ever
Soda Pop Stop Lessons for Bookstores
“Thank you very much, Pepsi-Cola, for reminding me that I own my shelf space and I can do anything I want. So I immediately went out and found 25 little brands of soda that were still in glass bottles…” —John Nese, Galcos Soda Pop Stop John Nese, proprietor of Galcos Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles, shows
Staying on Message: It’s all about Community
There’s a hand-painted sign that hangs over my desk at work, that my wife picked out years ago at a crafts fair in Virginia, that says: “I’m not bossy, I just have better ideas.” Anyone that’s worked with me, reads this blog, or follows me on Twitter, probably isn’t the least bit surprised by that.
Is Social Publishing simply Vanity Publishing 2.0?
“Yes, Sir, there are many happy people here. There are many people here who are watching hundreds, and who think hundreds are watching them.” Samuel Johnson, Quotes on Vanity “Digital publishing”, “ePublishing” and “social publishing” are the buzzwords du jour; Web 2.0 business models based on the idea that eBooks are the next big thing
The Bookstore of the Future is… a Tree Museum?
“I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” —Anna Quindlen GalleyCat had a provocative post last week, “Is This the Bookstore of Tomorrow?“, spotlighting novelist Moriah Jovan’s anti-septic floorplan anchored by two Espresso machines (POD, not coffee) surrounded by workstations for