The Future of Publishing

The Future of Print

July 6th, 2010 · 45 Comments

I’ve spent the past month listening and reading. I reminded myself of all the positive, cool, exciting projects happening in publishing today — and there are many (I’ve been asking those involved to post here to share what they are doing). I’ve considered what happens next and focused a lot on what readers are saying, […]

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

January 11th, 2010 · 6 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 […]

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William Styron and Droit de Seigneur

January 4th, 2010 · 22 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 […]

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The Unicorn Will Not Save Publishing

December 14th, 2009 · 33 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 […]

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A Long, Detailed Look at Distribution Windows

December 8th, 2009 · 13 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 […]

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Responding to Nat Sobel, Cranky-Style

December 8th, 2009 · 34 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 […]

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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 […]

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A (Probably Naive) Attempt to Move the DRM Conversation Forward

November 2nd, 2009 · 26 Comments

If there are two truths we hold to be self-evident, they are these: 1) DRM does nothing to stop piracy, and 2) DRM, as used by many publishers today, frustrates legitimate purchasers of books. This leads many to conclude that DRM does not work, and that DRM is evil. How do we get past “it’s […]

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Moving Beyond Catch Phrases

October 19th, 2009 · 16 Comments

Like so many others, I am bemused by some of the coverage of the Tools of Change Frankfurt conference (bemused=not sure people interviewed were at same conference I attended)*. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when your industry is undergoing what can generously be described as upheaval, it is imperative that you listen to […]

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How I Spent My Summer Vacation

September 10th, 2009 · 43 Comments

Welcome back from whatever you did this summer. Me, I spent my time building a digital publishing company. It went mostly okay, though, in the end, there was no company to show for it. That has nothing to do with the work and talent of the people involved. Talk about amazing, smart, and creative. Four […]

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