Dumb Pipes, Devaluing Content: It’s All About Context
In backing down, I suspect Jobs saw the HTML5 on the wall and realized he was fighting a rare losing battle, playing hardball with major content producers whose early, enthusiastic and unabated promotion of the iPad — as inherently a consumption device as has ever been conceived — helped demonstrate its value to consumers. It was, theoretically, a mutually beneficial relationship until his reach finally exceeded his grasp.
Bookish vs. Amazon, Goodreads: Community or Commerce?
Of course, last week’s much hyped and completely vague announcement of Bookish, a new joint venture between three of the “Big 6? – Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Group — caught my attention, not for its unusual (but not unprecedented) collaborative angle, but for its disappointingly unimaginative and shortsighted value proposition.
When Content is Everywhere, Marketing is Queen
Right now, the relative ease of digital publishing — not yet the equivalent of blogging, but getting closer every week — and the exceptional successes of a relative handful of authors masks the larger challenges ahead for authors and publishers alike, regardless of their business model: discoverability.
Marketing Yourself in the Digital Age
It doesn’t matter if you’re an aspiring writer, traditionally published or going the DIY route, marketing is every writer’s responsibility, and it takes the same level of commitment, dedication and self-discipline as sitting down and actually writing does.
2011: Are You a Writer or Creator?
10 questions writers should be asking as they look ahead to the future of publishing—and where they fit in.
The Atlantic, Electric Literature, and the Digital Future
If your core pitch is your “innovative” business model and not what you publish and for whom, your 15 minutes are almost up.
Amazon vs. Google: Seth Godin Wins
In the old days, that platform was the physical bookshelf in a brick-and-mortar retailer. Today, it’s a combination of email and ecommerce.
Consolidating My Online Platforms
The plan for 2011, or at least part of it, will likely include continued defragging of my online presence and repositioning this site to once again be Command Central: All Things Guy — writer, poet, marketer, publisher, optimist, malcontent — no matter what new interests and passions the new year may bring my way.
Digital Natives and Ebooks: Missing the Point
WE BELIEVE that reading widely and reading fluently will give children the reading stamina to deal with more challenging texts they will meet in college, at work and in everyday life. And every child should be able to choose and own the books they want to read for that choice builds literacy confidence—the ability to
Fragmented Marketing: Making Owls Appealing
“From the Director of 300 and Watchmen” isn’t an ideal tagline for a PG-rated movie aimed at kids.