By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
Ether for Authors: Ann Patchett’s Flying Leap
On this side of the pond, there may be few authors as fondly regarded as Ann Patchett, she of the independent bookstore Parnassus in Nashville. But when she told The Bookseller in London that authors should become more involved in the industry and take greater responsibility as part of a wider ecosystem, her comments drew some sharp push-back from authors.
Read the full article at PublishingPerspectives.com
Image: iStockphoto — barsik
ETHER FOR AUTHORS | The Author Solutions Lawsuit | PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES
WRITING ON THE ETHER | Are Your Books’ Covers Sexist? | JANEFRIEDMAN.COM
WRITING ON THE ETHER | Agents at the Coalface | JANEFRIEDMAN.COM
ETHER FOR AUTHORS | Establishment Snipes Back | PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES
LONDON BOOK FAIR | London on the Ether 1 (page19) | THE BOOKSELLER
LONDON BOOK FAIR | London on the Ether 1 (page19) | THE BOOKSELLER
LONDON BOOK FAIR | A Mighty Metaphor | PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES
LONDON BOOK FAIR | They’re Letting the Authors In! | JANEFRIEDMAN.COM
’SOCIAL’ MEDIA | Book as Symbol, Perenniel as Spring | WRITER UNBOXED
EXTRA ETHER | A Good Day for the ( R )evolution | JANEFRIEDMAN.COM
Test It: Are your Books’ Covers Sexist?
Author Maureen Johnson takes us to a neighborhood of that ubiquitous, sexist cover smooch — Shirtless Men Kissing Beautiful Women.
Read WRITER UNBOXED
’Social’ Media: ‘Sharing’ our Narcissism
Food pictures are pretty hard to interpret as anything but Face Down at the Me-Pond. And “In case you missed it?” #Cmonson.
Read WRITER UNBOXED
‘Social’ Media: Your Shadow Career?
Might not an author fall into emphasizing platforming over writing, thus slipping into a “shadow career?”
Read ‘WRITER UNBOXED: ‘Social’ Media: Over the Top
To praise someone’s work on Twitter, try getting beyond “fab,” “great,” “super,” and “must read.” Put your vocabulary into it.
Join me at Rachelle Gardner’s site for Get a Grip on Twitter Handles.
A great way for a platforming author to approach Twitter: as a language.
Start Writing With Q2 Music (now)
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Here is the original, featuring Morris and me: Scoring the novel as it unfolds.There’s a picturesque loneliness that invades the mind when enough negative focus converges, as in the opening of Samuel Barber’s Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance. Caleb Burhans’ initial concentration on a few phrases is overtaken by a walking bass under an ironic theme.
Immersive reading is exactly what we have set out to do by way of transmedia storytelling. The challenge of course is the cost of production and planning an immersive experience with a long tail. Add the fact that consumers don’t know to ask for an ‘enhanced book’ or a ‘transmedia experience’ and you have an expensive to produce product going into a market that doesn’t even know the product exists. It’s coming, but we need more projects from big authors (perhaps some industry collaboration to set the bar, let consumers know what an immersive story can be) to create the category, to promote these immersive experiences as a reason to buy a tablet and a reason to spend a few more dollars on an ebook. See you at DBW, always appreciate your columns.
Kevin, thanks for the great note. You’re getting at such an important point here, which is, of course, that readers/consumers — our customers, let us not forget — have precious little understanding of what can be done in the transmedial space. And it’s chicken or egg: Which comes first, the hugely successful transmedia offering that shows major authors a good direction? Or a major author going in this direction and prompting others to do the same? Should be very interesting finding out! Indeed, looking forward to seeing you at DBW! Thanks again for reading and commenting! –p.
I agree that most readers, writers, sellers and publishers of traditional print books are unfamiliar with immersive transmedia storytelling, but the category is rapidly emerging nonetheless through the ingenuity and collaboration of traditional oral storytellers, installation artists, movie and video game producers, etc. Just as this nascent category is germinating outside traditional publishing, a new market for transmedia stories is being born among audiences/consumers not habitually tapped by print publishing. This is an exciting opportunity for publishing to dilate the audience, not just redefine it.
Like the way your mind works. Put me on all updates. PP
Hey, Pete, obviously you’re a discriminating and sophisticated thinker, yourself. :) Seriously, many thanks for this good comment, and for your support on Twiter. hope the holiday season is going well for you.
What a holiday feast! So much good stuff here I don’t know where to start. Maybe I’ll just waddle back to the recliner and enjoy the satiation. Thanks.
What a generous note, Cheryl, thanks so much for reading and commenting! Do come by often. :)
Your thinking mthcaes mine — great minds think alike!
Thanks so much, Maribeth, great to have you as a reader and very kind of you to leave such a nice comment. All the best for the holidays!
I’m not sure I’ll like the new Kindle, but I am sure I like the way you describe it. If I had any new gadget to sell, I’d hire you. Thanks! Art
Thank YOU, Art, and I do believe you might like this new Kindle Fire, very impressed so far. Find someone who has one and give it a try. Cheers, and thanks for leaving a comment!