Goodreads Takes Next Step in Social Reading

Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, according to the latest Nielsen research, and the most conservative estimates predict eBooks will represent at least 10% of book sales by the end of the year, but one question that's not been clearly answered yet is whether there's any … Continue reading Goodreads Takes Next Step in Social Reading

Five Highlights from SXSW Interactive

Today is the last day of the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX, but it wrapped up for me last night, and while I'm still digesting everything I took in, a few highlights have already become clear. Overall, the festival has been a chaotic mix of truly inspired presentations, thinly veiled sales pitches, over-the-top demagoguery … Continue reading Five Highlights from SXSW Interactive

Everything You Thought You Knew is Wrong

And this is what surprises me. Harlequin, you’re brilliant. You’ve made nothing but all the right steps in all these decades of publishing. You flourish where others founder. You took a great (welcome) leap with Carina, but this? This displays the business sense of a kindergartner. --Moriah Jovan, Harlequin: Ur doin it rong How fast … Continue reading Everything You Thought You Knew is Wrong

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 … Continue reading Do Publishers Still Need Authors?

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.

Are Publishers Too White to Survive? Who Cares!

A recent meeting with two Caucasian well-respected literary agent friends of mine cemented that concern when one announced, "We're all the same, [people the publishing industry]. We're all white, we're all over-educated, Ivy-leaguers, many of whom are trust fund babies." Jeff Rivera, Declining Book Sales? WTF? Seriously? This is apparently going to be remembered as … Continue reading Are Publishers Too White to Survive? Who Cares!