Why DRM is a Toothless Boogeyman, Ebooks are like Video Games, and Amazon is the Winner
It’s not a huge stretch to posit Amazon as the reverse-Valve of the ebook world, constantly pushing the envelope in unexpected ways, aggressively experimenting with pricing, developing a core of popular franchises, while staying focused on delivering and optimizing the best consumer experience.
Asian = Fortune Cookies, and other American Blindspots
Having our own kids growing up around a relatively diverse group of kids was an important factor for us when we left the Bronx nearly four years ago, and while we technically found what we were looking for, what we didn’t account for was the overwhelmingly white staff that would be teaching them.
5 Career Tips to Survive Publishing’s Digital Shift
Transition, transformation, disruption, disintermediation… whichever word you prefer, the publishing industry is undergoing a massive shift that’s being driven by the Internet, with the news and magazine sides arguably a bit further ahead of the curve than the book side, for better or worse, though few major players among them are seeing any light at
My Favorite Reads of 2011
Unlike movies, I rarely read books when they’re first released, especially hardcover fiction, so my favorite reads in any given year are usually a mix of backlist and “new” trade paperbacks. I also like to mix things up throughout the year, so I rarely read as deeply in any one genre as I might like to, and my to-read pile grows ever higher as I discover new-to-me writers with deep backlists that I’ll never have enough time to fully explore. Here are my five favorites (plus one honorable mention), in order of combined awesomeness and emotional impact, in what has arguably been one of the best years of reading in a long time, not just in quantity, but quality, too.
Entry Points, Accessibility and Transmedia Potential
It will be interesting to see what other publisher can successfully go the Marvel route; with a $2B+ worldwide box office already in for the Avengers’ on-screen storyworld (one that still bizarrely lives in total isolation from the comics), I’m guessing several will make the attempt within the next 2-3 years. Two gaming franchises I think have some serious transmedia potential are Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls and Activision’s Skylanders, though you might be surprised by which one I think has the most potential.
Beer Tasting Class: Off-Flavors
I signed up for a class on “common off-flavors” in beers and it turned out to be a really interesting workshop on what can go wrong in the brewing process, and why. It was led by Mary Izzet and she covered seven off-flavors, using Miller Lite as the “control beer,” with all but the last off-flavor demonstrated with it.
A Little of This, A Little of That
Interestingly, after a brief dip in activity, I’m finding myself rejuvenated on Twitter, partly driven by my increased activity on Google+ where engagement is much higher and more substantial. Twitter surfaces the interesting content, while Google+ offers a platform to have real conversations. Facebook, meanwhile, is about 3-6 months from being completely dead to me, regardless of who continues to use it.
R.I.P. — Annette Cardona (Charles)
I took two workshops with her after that first class, and while I was never destined to be an actor, I learned so much about myself and how to tap into feelings and emotions I’d always avoided even making eye contact with, all of which helped my writing even more than my stage presence.
A Poem Ain’t a Poem Until It’s Been…
While many book publishers and academy types might argue otherwise, poetry has always been an oral form, first and foremost. A poem on the page is theoretical, incomplete; like a promising idea not yet vetted. Reading your work out loud is also one of the best forms of editing, and not just for poetry, but straight fiction and non-fiction, too.
Social Media Overload! What to Unplug?
Google+ is an intriguing mash-up of Facebook and Twitter, but its use of “circles” does a better job of reflecting and managing the variety of solid and permeable walls that exist in real-life networks, and when it comes to privacy, I trust our robot overlords a slight bit more than the new kids on the virtual block.