Publishing: The Revolutionary Future

[MrBlueSky]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Although some authors will no doubt discover that the digital model does not benefit them as much as the print model did... I suspect their numbers may be small compared to those who stand to benefit. Remember, the vast majority of authors barely make a living wage off of regionally-limited, print-based writing. The worldwide access promised by the web could be the single greatest boon to authors. And marketing, coupled with inventive promotion, can carry the word far.

There are already too many books being published each year without every single niche author peddling their wares on the main stage and getting in the way of 'my' favourites. Not to mention all the public domain 'I'll get 'round to them one day' classics, pulps and penny dreadfuls crying out for my attention.

I don't want to be 'marketed into submission' by every Tom, Dick and Harry, I just want time to work through my ever-expanding backlist of books.

I have a love-hate relationship with (my) newly discovered authors. I love the fact that I have found another entertaining and absorbing setting/world/universe to explore, but hate the fact that there is a dozen previous (or following) books in the series to add to my list. No time, no time...

Authors, please, give me a break — stop writing!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

Authors, please, give me a break — stop writing!

Forget it. You're just going to have to knuckle down and catch up.

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

I have a love-hate relationship with (my) newly discovered authors. I love the fact that I have found another entertaining and absorbing setting/world/universe to explore, but hate the fact that there is a dozen previous (or following) books in the series to add to my list. No time, no time...

Authors, please, give me a break — stop writing!

Yep, that's worst part when you stumble onto a new author you love and then look at the back catalogue and discover he/she has 25 other books!!

At least an e-reader makes it easier to carry them all. Just need to find the time to actually read them..

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Yep, that's worst part when you stumble onto a new author you love and then look at the back catalogue and discover he/she has 25 other books!!

At least an e-reader makes it easier to carry them all. Just need to find the time to actually read them..

If'n y'all'd just quitcher jobs and READ all day long you'd not have this problem!!!

Derek

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

There are already too many books being published each year . . .

I read in The Economist today that 400,000 new books are published every year in the U.S. and U.K. Time to start some serious reading .

[fglaysher]

Re: Jason Epstein. Publishing: The Revolutionary Future - The New York Review of Books

I fully agree with Epstein's overall perspective on the vast changes that are and will take place both in publishing and our culture. We can only speculate on many of them at this early stage.

I'm puzzled by Epstein's comment that "fiction is almost never collaborative." When was it ever? I can't think of a single book of fiction or poetry, of the first order, in any culture, that was "collaborative." What would it be? Maybe some of the old early epics, Gilgamesh, as he alludes to, very rare. Otherwise, a contradiction in terms...

Despite that caveat, I think it's fair to say Epstein has his finger on the pulse of the Post-Gutenberg revolution more than anyone else, though I think he's undervaluing ebooks, though it's understandable, since he's placed all his chips on the Espresso Book Machine.

I should state I'm slightly biased since I have three books available through his Espresso Book Machine.

Personally speaking, I believe all digitized books and information should be backed up in areas of the world not currently targeted with the installed hardware, and fallible software, the human race has already created, and which is capable of destroying over a billion people... and much of our accumulated knowledge.

My own attempts to understand these transformations, as both a writer and publisher, can be found on my website, if interested:

Publishing in the Post-Gutenberg Age
http://www.fglaysher.com/Post_Gutenberg_Publishing.html

Frederick Glaysher
http://www.fglaysher.com