Publishing Gatekeepers: Pretty Sure They Don't Wear Black Hats

Porter Anderson, PorterAnderson.com, Writingon the Ether, Ether for Authors, London on the Ether, Jane Friedman, Ed Nawotka, Philip Jones, Publishing Perspectives, The Bookseller, books, ebooks, author, agent, Amazon, publishing, The FutureBook, CONTEC Conference, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt Buchmesse
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By Porter Ander­son | @Porter_Anderson

Writing on the Ether: They Don’t Wear Black Hats Anymore

There is work to be done, probably a lot of it, to get across to the world-at-large that “more gatekeepers” may not be the answer in the future—and it certainly doesn’t look like the probability. Inside publishing and its constant hubbub, we may not frequently hear such an idea. Outside? “The more gatekeepers, the better the odds.”

What I’d like to point out is a parallel between cries of “the Internet killed newspapers!” and “Amazon killed bookstores!” Both are too simplistic. Both are too easy. Both are the scare-mongering excuses of folks whose situations, far more complex than such yelps imply, have left them staggered by mistakes, sometimes of their own making.

Read the full article at JaneFriedman.com


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