Wrestling With Words: Defining Transmedia
Ask 5 people what they think transmedia is and you’ll get 10 different answers, all with pretty sound reasoning, most likely based on the industry they work in.
Your Brand is NOT a Community
Back in January, Shiv Singh gave a great keynote presentation, Engaging Readers in the Digital Age, at the inaugural Digital Book World Conference that, in retrospect, set the tone for what was to come in 2010. “Build consumer brands,” Singh exhorted, “because your current value chain is breaking.” Since then, we’ve seen the introduction of
The Godin Situation: Content, Context, Community
Seth Godin’s decision to not publish his theoretical next book(s) via traditional channels has caused a predictable stir amongst the pundit class, with proclamations about “The Death of Publishing” coming from many of the usual suspects looking to scare up page views. Predictably, few have acknowledged the unusually nuanced statement Godin actually made about his situation: “The thing is–now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn’t help me or you.”
Don’t Be a Writer, Be a Creator
And by independence, I mean making a sustainable living, not just self-publishing your book via Amazon or Lulu or Smashwords and declaring yourself an “indie”.
So You Have a Platform; Now What?
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
On Transmedia and Fan Fiction
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
Collaboration is the Killer App – #DIYdays
For a writer, it’s an amazing opportunity to leverage the full depth of their creations through a truly collaborative process — ideally starting after the first draft is written, IMO — instead of parceling out chunks of rights for a licensing fee and complete loss of control.
5 Things Books Should Learn From Magazines
Like my favorite writers, the magazines I truly value introduce me to new things, or show me new angles on the familiar, that I’d not have come across on my own. In my own series of posts for Folio: a few months back, I made the point that content + context = value, declaring that magazines that nail the equation will survive. That same math is also valid in the conversation about the future of books.
Indie Bookstores. So What?
I’m a firm believer that independent bookstores are not only critical to the viability of the publishing industry, but also to the cultural and economic fabric of local communities.
8 Marketing Posts for Proactive Writers
There’s been a notable spike in new traffic here lately, partly from Twitter and partly from the blog being favorably cited recently by Editor Unleashed and ASMP’s Strictly Business Blog. (Thanks!) In light of my last two posts being a bit more ranty than usual, and my schedule next week being crazy, I thought it