The Business of Publishing

Yeah, well, you try to resist a bad pun first thing in the morning. So Amazon, as threatened, has released its e-reader, the Kindle (the naming of products remains one of those mysteries that will never be solved). It uses e-ink, has wireless connectivity, generous battery life, and kills germs. Why am I not excited? Let us count the ways.

The beauty of the various entertainment industries is that there are many parallels to be drawn. Despite their apparent differences — sound, pictures, and words — are built on common distribution methodologies, they use the same accounting principles as their base (tweaking as necessary), and they make the same mistakes. As noted about a gazillion times, the music industry completely lost control of the online music market. Given the size and portability of music, it made sense that songs would be the first major non-hyperlinked phenomenon of the Internet age. When faced with the chance to take the lead, to

I have been thinking a lot about about advertising lately. I have decided, much against my natural skeptical instinct, to accept the theory that it works. This despite the obviously flawed quality and rather obscure messages. Yesterday at the gym, I saw four commercials in a row…and not a single, clear, understandable explanation about the purpose of the products being advertised. Generic ads make readers feel like numbers. Though, after a day’s consideration, I have determined that the Council of Meadows has banded together with the Association of Shorelines to extol the virtues of both. I have long believed that

For the past week, the notion of genre and images has consumed me. Okay, also wondering what’s for lunch, but the genre question has been more than a little all-encompassing. In addition to the fantastic article written by Pam Jenoff for BS last week, back channel discussion about Nicola Griffith’s Always has been happening (Gwenda Bond, the one and only, has posted the first installment of said discussion here). The craziness might lead to another problem: readers who make their own books The question roiling in the scary place that is my mind is whether or not strict genre categorization

The thing that has amazed me the most these past months is the onslaught of publicity given to Andrew Keen. Keen, for those who haven’t had the pleasure, has written a book. Following the traditional author trajectory, he has embarked upon a round of appearances and media carnivals. Given that the circus has been in town for more than a month, it’s safe for you to assume that Keen’s continuing success is due more to schtick than quality prose. Are “professionals” truly the epitome of excellence for writers, musicians, actors? I do not begrudge Mr. Keen’s right to make provocative