The Business of Publishing

Though we suspect we could find one or two people who disagree with Kevin Smokler’s assertion that flagellation is not cool, we have to agree that his sentiment is well-taken. And not only because he agrees with us (always a bonus, but not required). Those who fear the death of the novel are likely those who feel a bit too comfortable in their caves. These are the authors who might want to look outside their comfort zones: Miles Davis was perhaps the greatest musician of the 20th century. Not once did he complain that jazz was in peril, nor did […]

Last week, we were shopping for a book, and noticed that our local Borders had something unusual on the shelves: lots of print versions of books published by electronic publisher Ellora’s Cave. While the fact that print publishers are creating electronic versions of their books isn’t news, it’s interesting that a publisher that started exclusively in the online realm is in the financial position to offer print books. Yeah, the covers are still bad, but these aren’t the kind of books you read for the covers, if you know what we mean. Yesterday, we banned the Death of Literature. Today

We have become devotees of the latest game in town: My Scanning Donation is Bigger Than Yours. The rules are simple. Major corporations with aspirations of becoming stars in the digital book market vie for prizes, headlines, and market share. Along the way, they face obstacles such as lawsuits, public confusion, and the knowledge that no matter how much they do, there will always be a chance that a younger, brighter, richer company will enter the game. But at the least the Library of Congress will get a head start on scanning its vast trove treasures. Google has announced a

Susan Gable is worked up and wanted us to know in no uncertain terms. We’d paraphrase what she said, but, ever lazy, figure a direct quote will work just as well: “ACK! It’s a travesty! Text on cell phones is one thing, translating “literature” into text messaging-speak is just WRONG!” She is correct. It is wrong. We realize that we long ago lost the battle against “thru”. We cannot lose to “2b”. It would be disheartening. Also, what if text mores change? Do they have to retranslate? Won’t this get confusing for the masses? Now, pretending we like to offer

Be still our beating heart: someone out there thought it would be fun to talk about. . .wait for it. . .you’re right the suspense is killing us, too. Metadata. Digitizing books isn’t just about digitizing words, it’s about digitizing information about the works that contain the words. Too much fun. Also a boon for those who think statistics can be relaxing. You know who you are and you promised to get help. We’ve been managing book metadata basically the same way since Callimachus cataloged the 400,000 scrolls in the Alexandrian Library at the turn of the third century BC.

Normally, we eschew such behavior as jumping to conclusions*, but, really, what can one do when the news fails so miserably? Google has (apparently) approached a publisher (unnamed) about the possibility of renting books (in an unspecified format) for 10% of the list price. Tell us, does that final bit seem a bit too specific for you? It’s sitting in the article like it’s an actual fact. Very suspicious. Our mind reels with possibilities: a NetFlix sort of arrangement where books arrive by mail and are return in prepaid envelopes. Inter-library loan programs on steroids (or, rather, more libraries, better