The Business of Publishing

The Publicity Paradox

February 23rd, 2010 · 9 Comments

Today, we welcome back author Pam Jenoff, who wrote a great article for Booksquare called “A Rose By Any Other Name: Has Genre Become Irrelevant?”. Today, Pam explores publicity challenges facing authors, including shifts in world of literary agents as they develop programs to help authors in the wild world of publicity.
As you’ll see, there [...]

File Under: Marketing For Introverts

Our Digital Future: An Interview with Lori James of All Romance Ebooks

February 18th, 2010 · 2 Comments

As a book buyer, I have a keen interest in thriving bookstores. As a book reader, I have a keen interest in independent publishing and access to my books. And while I wait for traditional independent bookstores to transition to robust physical and online presences, I have enjoyed the emergence of digital booksellers, particularly All [...]

File Under: The Business of Publishing

Amazon, Macmillan, Agency Models, and Quality (Oh My)

January 31st, 2010 · 23 Comments

Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.

Consumer expectations will rise if prices do

Over the weekend, we rode a rollercoaster as Macmillan laid out its demands for ebook pricing to Amazon, and Amazon responded by pulling (nearly) all Macmillan titles from its store. Late Sunday, Amazon announced they would “capitulate” to [...]

File Under: Non-Traditional Publishing

What Are Enhanced Ebooks?

January 19th, 2010 · 43 Comments

Short answer: nobody knows.
Longer answer: the magic elixir publishers are injecting into ebooks in hopes they will entice people to pay higher prices.
As you might guess, I am a bit of an “enhancement” skeptic. I have a few reasons. First, they feel like an attempt to skip the walking phase. Right now ebooks are crawling, [...]

File Under: Non-Traditional Publishing

Tools of Change, or The Future of Publishing Isn’t What You Think It Is

January 11th, 2010 · 5 Comments

Today is the final day for early registration for the Tools of Change for Publishing conference, to be held in New York, February 22 – 24, 2010. Recently, there have been a lot of conferences dedicated to the magical world of digital publishing, but this is the only conference focused on looking forward.
It may be [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

William Styron and Droit de Seigneur

January 4th, 2010 · 21 Comments

Over the New Year holiday, Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times titled “There’s More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen”. I think he started with the intent of justifying the cost of ebooks — something publishing has handled abysmally — but he took a [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

The Unicorn Will Not Save Publishing

December 14th, 2009 · 32 Comments

For your reading enjoyment, I have compiled a list of about a dozen things that will not save publishing. I have also created a brief list of things that will save publishing. As always, neither list is comprehensive, and I reserve the right to add items if I think of something while I’m in the [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

A Long, Detailed Look at Distribution Windows

December 8th, 2009 · 11 Comments

Has there ever been an industry more unwilling to make its customers happy than publishing? Simon & Schuster and Hachette have (independently) decided they’re going to hold back the ebook releases of some titles. Not all of course. Most likely just the ones they paid far too much for anyway. They’re taking a stand by [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

Responding to Nat Sobel, Cranky-Style

December 8th, 2009 · 31 Comments

Dear Mr. Sobel,
While I do not know you, I am impressed by your resume and the portrait of you with what appears to be a brown tabby. I generally cut cat lovers more slack — and brown tabby owners…they get a free pass, as a rule — but I cannot do so in this instance. [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing

Digital Rights Management — A Wrinkle or An Opportunity

November 16th, 2009 · 19 Comments

For the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about Digital Rights Management (“DRM”), and the diversity of comments have been fascinating. I still do not believe DRM prevents or slows piracy*. Add to this fact that public perception of DRM, honed by years of abuse by the music industry, is negative…or rather, though most people [...]

File Under: The Future of Publishing