Posted in Rants and Raves, tagged e-books, e-galleys, iPhone, Kindle, new models, paper on November 11, 2009 | 7 Comments »
So, why demonize digital when digital appears to be a really viable part of the solution? And why suggest that any one format will ever be the solution. The way I see it, the only real solution is to have many solutions all working simultaneously to make available a diversity of content, a diversity of distribution alternatives, a diversity of formats and pricing, and even a diversity of features. Oh, and paper books are a part of this many-solution solution.
Posted in As Seen On Twitter (#followreader), Publishing Insurgents Unite, tagged #fembook, Bethanne Patrick, bloggers, book reviewers, curation, new models, reader communities, twitter, women writers on November 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Last Monday’s news that Publishers Weekly had excluded women from its Top Ten Best Books of 2009, and included only 29 women in its list of top 100 books of the year, met with incredulity, groans and outrage. On Twitter, the conversation quickly morphed into the #fembook hashtag, where participants suggested ways to challenge what some called a pervasive bias against women when it comes to major reviews [...]
Posted in Good Ideas Dept., Profiles in Convergence, tagged app, crush it!, e-books, enhanced editions, Gary Vaynerchuck, HarperStudio, new models, Peter Collingridge, Simon and Schuster, vook on November 5, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Lately there’s been a lot of hubbub surrounding the emergence of “book as app.”
Sure it sounds exciting, but is the book app here to stay, or merely the current IT GIRL in publishing’s endless search for the next big thing? What can an app do that a book can’t? Is an app inherently better than other ways of experiencing book content?
Well, that depends. The short answer might be: maybe and sometimes, and if the two companies profiled below are any indication of what book apps can be, then I’d be willing to wager that the book as app is here to stay.
Posted in Good Ideas Dept., Profiles in Convergence, tagged big publishers, book consumers, BookServer, Brewster Kahle, e-books, Internet Archive, iPhone, Kindle, libraries, new models, Sony Reader on October 20, 2009 | 26 Comments »
OK, sounds dramatic, but trust me, mark down October 19, 2009 as a day to remember.
Rarely, in my career have I been “blown away” by a demonstration. Tonight, “blown away” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I should have seen it coming, but, I didn’t. I was completely blindsided. I was blindsided by the vision [...]
