I swear this site hates me. Tried doing this comment as cut and paste. Then tried manually retyping it and still, nada. It's the same verification problem, only it loads and there's nothing to see. Is anyone else having this problem? I'm using Firefox version 3.0.6. Maybe I need to update...
Funny, my writing process class was also discussing this today when we breached the "technology and how it affects writing" topic. It seems the overwhelming consent was that while publishing is a dying industry and despite everything being digitized, many still love books and because of that, traditional publishing as we know it will continue. But not for long...
It's a sad thing to see publishers and text-book writers participate in this "scam" as you put in and it is a scam. I'm torn about it, knowing that perhaps text-books is the only place that will consistently and continually generate profits in the present and future while the rest of the book market fluctuates. But as a student and consumer of books, it frustrates me to no end to find that the 100+ dollar textbook I bought at the beginning of the semester is now worth $15 or worse, nothing because a new edition is out. Of course, it's not always a scam. Sometimes, there are valuable new additions to the edition, like interactive links, which can be very useful for a science major like me- nothing helps like visuals and online quizzes. But other times, it seems like a new edition is an excuse for a makeover. A new shiny cover, a few different pictures and it's the next must-have textbook while older editions are instantly obsolete. I don't approve of such practices. If there's a genuine need to update and often there are with the new things we discover, then a new edition is warranted. Otherwise, for majors where things are pretty static and don't change much, like math, it's a waste of money for students.
Realistically though, the publishing industry will do what it has to do to survive. I guess I'm only glad that I won't be a student forever and won't have to keep on purchasing the most up-to-date text-books too.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Congratulations to George!
George's publication at BoxOfficeProphets is a great development, and an instructive one. It points toward some of the uncertainties -- and some of the suspicions -- of internet publication. As George writes,
What does this suggest? To me, at least two things:
Bottom line: the roles (and the rules) are changing. During a period of transition, mistakes proliferate. When working with a web publisher, try to nail down who is responsible for what. Get a clear sense (if you can) of the steps of the process. Because some web publishers might never have articulated the process in so many words, you could be doing them a favor.
Anyway, congratulations George! This is a good gig.
I submitted what I was hoping to be a first draft to what I assumed was a bi-weekly article, so my first piece posted to the site is actually one I'm not too thrilled about. I was expecting more discussion with an editor, but instead found out it was live before I even knew the webmaster found it worthy.(Strange for a blog post to quote a recent post from the same blog, but there you are.) George entered this arrangement, in short, believing that his work would go through the traditional editing process. It did not: instead, it was shipped straight to the site as is. As a result, he's not as happy with his publication (which he considers a draft) as he had hoped.
What does this suggest? To me, at least two things:
- Web publication is faster, but the very speed of web publication may mean the role of "content developers" (what we used to call "writers" and "editors") is unclear. Do people even have editors? Or do writers do their own editing? What about post-publication editing? That's very possible, but should it be allowed, and to what extent?
- Traditionalists are suspicious of the quality of web publishing. I tend to think their suspicions are overrated, but incidents like this suggest that there may be some rationale.
Bottom line: the roles (and the rules) are changing. During a period of transition, mistakes proliferate. When working with a web publisher, try to nail down who is responsible for what. Get a clear sense (if you can) of the steps of the process. Because some web publishers might never have articulated the process in so many words, you could be doing them a favor.
Anyway, congratulations George! This is a good gig.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
I've been published... sort of
As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently was accepted to become a writer for BoxOfficeProphets.com, a site devoted primarily to film. One of the three assignments I'll be working on for them moving forward is a monthly article called the "Uncanny Update", where I discuss/rant about the latest super-hero and fanboy film adaptions on the upcoming release schedule. Unfortunately, I submitted what I was hoping to be a first draft to what I assumed was a bi-weekly article, so my first piece posted to the site is actually one I'm not too thrilled about. I was expecting more discussion with an editor, but instead found out it was live before I even knew the webmaster found it worthy. In any case, moving forward, I will be using the first three Tuesdays of the month to do a weekly article called "Take Five", where I pick 5 random films I've enjoyed to recommend and chat about; the last Tuesday of the month, I will be doing the "Uncanny Update"; and once every two months, I will do an article called "Shaking Our Fists at the Sun", which will be a bi-weekly piece about pop-culture events and is shared among four writers who rotate over those two months.
In any case, while I ask that you don't weigh your opinion of me as a writer for the entertainment industry entirely on this first rough draft of the "Uncanny Update", I figured I would share it with you all anyway. Enjoy, and stay tuned for my next article!
The Uncanny Update
In any case, while I ask that you don't weigh your opinion of me as a writer for the entertainment industry entirely on this first rough draft of the "Uncanny Update", I figured I would share it with you all anyway. Enjoy, and stay tuned for my next article!
The Uncanny Update
Opinions? Comments? Textbook Publishing!
Last week, I had a co-op interview for a company in the publishing industry. While the experience was quiet ordinary, I struck up a very interesting conversation with my interviewer, and I am curious about what anyone here thinks. Once again, this is open to anyone, since I myself have not yet decided how I feel on the subject.
Aptara, the company I interviewed with, is a small 'publishing' house in Boston. It does mostly textbooks for all levels of education. While this is not a publishing house in itself, it is a company that other publishers outsource to.
Toward the end of my interview, I asked how the economy was affecting the publishing industry, and, in particular, this company. I was extremely surprised when the project managers told me they had been busier than ever and were doing extremely well. They then proceeded to tell me why....
Basically, both publishers and writers are supporting each other in the 'scam' of the century: they are printing new editions every year and attempting to print them bi-yearly. By doing this, they are constantly making new profits, since students cannot buy used textbooks.
Ultimately, the students blame the bookstores for now carrying 'used' editions, when the bookstores can only order what is in demand. As a student and someone who wants the publishing industry to succeed, how do you feel about all of this?
Aptara, the company I interviewed with, is a small 'publishing' house in Boston. It does mostly textbooks for all levels of education. While this is not a publishing house in itself, it is a company that other publishers outsource to.
Toward the end of my interview, I asked how the economy was affecting the publishing industry, and, in particular, this company. I was extremely surprised when the project managers told me they had been busier than ever and were doing extremely well. They then proceeded to tell me why....
Basically, both publishers and writers are supporting each other in the 'scam' of the century: they are printing new editions every year and attempting to print them bi-yearly. By doing this, they are constantly making new profits, since students cannot buy used textbooks.
Ultimately, the students blame the bookstores for now carrying 'used' editions, when the bookstores can only order what is in demand. As a student and someone who wants the publishing industry to succeed, how do you feel about all of this?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Picador Launches a Twitter book club
Hey everyone. In an effort to find out how Augusten Burroughs got published by Picador, I stumbled across this link. The short article is about Picador's new Twitter book club, where readers of their published books can go online and post thoughts on specific titles at scheduled times. First up is Yoko Ogawa’s “The Housekeeper and the Professor,” set for April 10, 2009. I haven't heard of it but I'm also not a book-a-week reader. What I am is an Augusten fan, and his latest memoir "A Wolf at the Table" is an upcoming discussion.
To promote the club, Picador was giving away free copies of "The Housekeeper and the Professor" today on the Twitter site. At 2 pm, the first twenty people to "tweet" (seriously?) got free copies. It appears to be an ongoing contest, with every new release 20 people will get the featured novel a few weeks in advance. It's obviously a marketing ploy, but an effective one for those with free time. I'd check the site more often to be among the first to know of the contest if I wasn't so afraid Twitter was doomed to be the next Facebook. The idea of the site seems like a time vortex and probably not worth the constant supervision required to win (or most likely lose) such a spontaneously announced contest, or the price of the paperback itself. I will, however, keep checking Augusten and the Picador Book Clubs' sites and hope they post ads of the dates there as well.
To promote the club, Picador was giving away free copies of "The Housekeeper and the Professor" today on the Twitter site. At 2 pm, the first twenty people to "tweet" (seriously?) got free copies. It appears to be an ongoing contest, with every new release 20 people will get the featured novel a few weeks in advance. It's obviously a marketing ploy, but an effective one for those with free time. I'd check the site more often to be among the first to know of the contest if I wasn't so afraid Twitter was doomed to be the next Facebook. The idea of the site seems like a time vortex and probably not worth the constant supervision required to win (or most likely lose) such a spontaneously announced contest, or the price of the paperback itself. I will, however, keep checking Augusten and the Picador Book Clubs' sites and hope they post ads of the dates there as well.
Monday, March 23, 2009
John Wray, Poster Boy?
I agree with many of Julia's (and the article's) points. Frugality is something that has been missing from the publishing industry for decades now, it would seem. Gigantic profit margins are just not feasible in the American literary market. I don't think it should even be called a market, really. Innovation is something long due in the publishing world, as well. Technology certainly isn't everything, and relying on that to rebuild the industry would be foolish. In many cases technology simply poses in the guise of a new idea, rather than truly innovating. Just because something has been moved to the Internet does not mean it is completely new. I think for this reason e-books initially failed.
But the responsibility for innovation need not be solely on the shoulders of the publishing companies. Authors can do their part, too. In the current literary climate, it would seem that stylistic and promotional innovation are merging - at least in the case of John Wray, the author of The Right Hand of Sleep, Canaan's Tongue, and the just released Lowboy. For Canaan's Tongue he toured for two weeks in a makeshift raft down 600 miles of the Mississippi River, stopping to do readings on the way. The novel focuses on a horse thief who in reality haunted that same area in the 19th century. The story of this interesting though gimmicky move are detailed in this New York Times article. The readings were a bust, and the reporter notes that "there are few things more useless on a river than a novelist" but the scheme worked, in my opinion - I mean, it got a whole story in the New York Times. Similarly, Wray wrote the majority of his new novel on the New York subway, where most of its action takes place. I think by further collapsing the boundary between the author and his work, no matter how outlandish the work or the collapsing movement are, Wray's fiction rings with more of this "truth" that Stephen King and many other authors have spoken of. And as I said, it hasn't hurt his publicity.
But the responsibility for innovation need not be solely on the shoulders of the publishing companies. Authors can do their part, too. In the current literary climate, it would seem that stylistic and promotional innovation are merging - at least in the case of John Wray, the author of The Right Hand of Sleep, Canaan's Tongue, and the just released Lowboy. For Canaan's Tongue he toured for two weeks in a makeshift raft down 600 miles of the Mississippi River, stopping to do readings on the way. The novel focuses on a horse thief who in reality haunted that same area in the 19th century. The story of this interesting though gimmicky move are detailed in this New York Times article. The readings were a bust, and the reporter notes that "there are few things more useless on a river than a novelist" but the scheme worked, in my opinion - I mean, it got a whole story in the New York Times. Similarly, Wray wrote the majority of his new novel on the New York subway, where most of its action takes place. I think by further collapsing the boundary between the author and his work, no matter how outlandish the work or the collapsing movement are, Wray's fiction rings with more of this "truth" that Stephen King and many other authors have spoken of. And as I said, it hasn't hurt his publicity.
Innovation is Key
This article in Publishers Weekly talks about the ways that some small, independent publishers have been able to prosper in this tough economy. The two primary reasons are that they are not afraid to be frugal and are not afraid to be innovative. A number of these companies have taken to helping authors grow their own businesses through promoting their books. Publishers should not be afraid to try out new, fresh ideas.
Independent musicians have become increasingly popular via social networking sites such as myspace. Indie film festivals and other events are all over these days. Certain groups of people are growing tired of big name movies and music; the publishing industry should capitalize on this and market to those who 'go independent' in their choice in films and tunes. Technology is important, but it isn't everything. Small publishers should recognize that every outlet should be utilized, not simply those outlets that are the most obvious.
Independent musicians have become increasingly popular via social networking sites such as myspace. Indie film festivals and other events are all over these days. Certain groups of people are growing tired of big name movies and music; the publishing industry should capitalize on this and market to those who 'go independent' in their choice in films and tunes. Technology is important, but it isn't everything. Small publishers should recognize that every outlet should be utilized, not simply those outlets that are the most obvious.
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