We started with the longest pause yet at the top of a #FutureChat session. Crickets. “#FutureChat is open for your comments,” I announced. “The floor is yours.” Beat. Beat. Beat. And then, after a couple of minutes, several folks braved the Twitter silence, editor Dan Benton finally easing the tension by suggesting that 2018 “Year of… Read More
Australia's Tablo adds fee-based analytics for 'authors who are serious'
Not unlike the social writing-and-reading platform of Allen Lau’s Wattpad, the Melbourne-based Tablo positions itself as an online site at which you can “create, publish, and discover new books.” Its founder, Ash Davies, has been honoured several times as one of Australia’s younger entrepreneurs. He says that more than 130 countries are represented in… Read More
What's 'fairness' got to do with publishing?
We seem to encounter ‘fairness’ questions in publishing at every turn these days. Three weeks ago, our #FutureChat focus was on questions of an “unfair” tendency to allow inconsistent metadata procedures and sheer negligence overlook proper credit for book illustrators. Two weeks ago, we talked about writers contributing articles and posts without pay to… Read More
#MusicForWriters: John Supko and ‘Rest’ For Musicians, Human And Otherwise
‘The Algebraic Picture Of My Self And Soul’ In last week’s Music for Writers interview with Bryce Dessner (for his Music For Wood and Strings), the composer told us: I think there’s something counter-intuitive about a lot of innovation in music in the last 20 years, in that so much of it has been driven… Read More
‘Putting Readers First’ At BEA: Gatekeepers, Curators, And ‘Too Many Books’
‘Readers Are The Power Brokers Who Matter Most’ Readers decide. Readers come first, as they are the primary filters. Imprints, choices, and selections should really mean something. Brand can’t be faked in this area. Publish fewer books; publish better books. The concept has begun gaining traction as it dawns on many of us that “discoverability”… Read More
‘The Overselling Of Self-Publishing': New Perspective
‘A Serious Epidemic Of Impatience’ Here in New York City where BookExpo America (BEA) is holding the focus of many in the traditional publishing establishment, a friend and I were finishing lunch at Café Luxembourg when the waiter approached. “I overheard you guys talking about publishing,” he said. “I wondered if you could give me any advice about… Read More
'The Tsunami-of-Content Monster': #FutureChat recap
“Ninety percent want to publish a book? That sounds great to me!” Of course, that would sound great to Miral Sattar, wouldn’t it? Sattar runs Bibliocrunch, which connects writers and “author services.” I ran into Sattar as she was putting together her booth at the post-BookExpo America (BEA) Javits Center in New York on Saturday morning (30th May)… Read More
At BEA's IDPF Digital Book Conference: Youth Reading – Or Not
“How many of you think of your customers sitting in a chair reading a book?” Bookigee founder and CEO Kristen McLean got a goodly show of hands with that question as she opened her session on youth reading in the States at BookExpo America (BEA) on Wednesday (27th May). McLean focused on trends in young readers’ and teens’… Read More
#MusicForWriters: Bryce Dessner Strikes A New Chord Stick
‘Dreaming Of Music For There Wasn’t An Instrument’ When you listen to Bryce Dessner’s newly released recording of Music For Wood And Strings, you’re hearing sounds unprecedented in our experience. The “chord stick” is an instrument created by Aron Sanchez, half the team of Buke and Gase. While you might not think that Dessner, widely known… Read More
Authors making $8,000 per year? Why write free? A #FutureChat recap
‘Question is, are you making money for someone else?’ That’s the historical fiction author Jane Steen, English, based in Chicago, during our live Twitter conversation at the end of last week. But not for nothing do independent writers like to “celebrate their diversity,” as they tend to put it on a good day. Views of… Read More