‘You’re Giving Amazon Another Advantage’ I know you’re all very nice people that are a pleasure to work with, and I know you do things in this roundabout way because you love talking and I even love talking to you… But when you offer workflows that are slower, less functional and more complicated than what… Read More
From Boston's #TheMuse: Whatever happened to 'author-ity'?
When Everybody Publishes, Is Anybody An Authority? The Muse and The Marketplace has opened on Friday, 1st May, with of authority in digital times was followed Friday (1st May) by our weekly #FutureChat from The Bookseller’s The FutureBook. The Muse annually draws some 800 attendees and is produced by the highly respected Grub Street creative writing center,… Read More
When envious eyes aren't smiling: #FutureChat recap
‘Beware blanket dismissal.’ All endeavors need innovators in this changing environment. #BabyBathwater Ron Martinez’ cautionary comments arrived on the #FutureChat hashtag after our weekly live session had closed on Friday. But his point is a good one. To put together his tweets in sequence; Empathize a moment. Innovators are Promethean: may bring a benefit, but… Read More
Fat startup: Eric Ries and his Lean Startup programme go wide
Eric Ries asked for $135,000 on Kickstarter. He got $588,903. That’s not lean. And Ries, a man with a ready sense of humor, cracks up at the suggestion that he’s doing too well to fit into his famous “Lean Startup” gig anymore. “Here’s the thing,” he says. “When you launch a Kickstarter campaign, there’s something great… Read More
Sponsorship At Writers’ Conferences: A Question of Awareness
‘People Are Trying To Make Money From You’ At The Bookseller this week, author Isabel Losada is blogging for us about her experiences as a writer here at London Book Fair. Not surprisingly, much of her focus is on the Author HQ program(me) with which London has led the way in attracting and welcoming authors… Read More
From London Book Fair to an IndieReckoning
Where do we find authors this year, as London Book Fair closes? (This story was written originally as a walkup to the #FutureChat of Friday 17th April.) Authors have long attended book fairs, of course, primarily for reasons of publicity or to meet their international publishers—but now they come to do business and to be… Read More
At London Book Fair, 'Digital Minds' talk subscriptions
‘Busting the myths’ might have been more than we could expect. But in the subscriptions panel at the Publishing for Digital Minds conference Monday here at Olympia London, we had a reminder of last week’s #FutureChat on subscriptions. You can look back on the conversation in that #FutureChat in #FutureChat recap: All-you-can-guess about ebook subscriptions. Mofibo’s… Read More
All-you-can-guess about subscriptions
Publishing can be forgiven for its mixed response to the ebook-subscription issue. Not only does the all-you-can-read construct for selling books run contrary to traditions in bookselling — and reading — but even some of our sister media disciplines, much deeper into their experience with subscriptions, are still trying to parse the effects of similar models. Just… Read More
Isn’t It Time For Self-Publishers To Get Over Self-Publishing?
Let’s Say You Walk Into A Bookstore You’re taken with all the books on the front table. New releases. Beautiful covers. Fascinating titles. You leaf through a few. You settle on one you really like. You’re ready to head for the cash register when suddenly somebody jumps up from behind the table and nearly gives… Read More
As The World Gets Smaller, Authors’ Jobs Get Bigger
‘An Entire Chain Of Questions That You Have To Ask’ We have a very difficult debate about subscription models or flat rate models because some publishers are afraid that they rather ruin their traditional way of making money. So very quickly you end up in an entire chain of questions that you have to ask. That’s… Read More