Publishing This Week
I’d like to start this week’s e-Watch with yesterday’s FUTUReBOOK article by by Jürgen Snoeren on the changing nature of publishing. This is a great recap of some of the events I’ve been reading (and mentioning in this blog).
More evidence of the ongoing changes: there is a new digital distributor on the block, and folks, I think this is going to be BIG. The name of the company is Enthrill Entertainment Inc. and they’ve come up with a hell of a new distribution model for e-books.
I watched the Enthrill e-book Distribution video on this yesterday and immediately emailed it to my marketing team. Snoeren mentions it in his article as well – I encourage my readers to take the time to check this out, because I believe it will be an integral component in the future of publishing.
Other interesting publishing news
Donnelly POD joins w/ Harper Collins = faster time to print
Agents as publishers:
- another excellent FUTUReBOOK article by Jürgen Snoeren examines agent Ed Victor’s move into publishing
- Bookseller talks about more agents (as in Curtis Brown and Blake Friedman) joining the game
Amazon as publisher:
- Hot off the press from Amazon: New mystery/thriller imprint
- From April Hamilton at Publetariat: Amazon accused of trying to wreck the publishing trade
Another interesting observation on the happenings in the pub world was made by Anne R. Allen in her article Is the E-book the New Query?
The Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA) recently featured Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords. An article covering the event, written by Joel Friedlander, focuses on indie and e-publishing. It’s appropriately subtitled Indie Revolution in Full Swing.
Considering the tumultuous times the publishing industry is in right now, writers need to be very careful about their next moves.
Personally, I’ve reached a point where I’d rather fall on my face self-publishing than risk signing a contract that will lock me into an antiquated royalty system and a brick-and-mortar distribution model that may completely implode before my book can even reach print.
Writers Beware
On that note, I’m starting a new series that will be featured as part of the e-Watch. I’m calling it Writers Beware. Here’s a few articles to start it out:
- The Publetariat – A Plethora of (Terrible) New Alternatives To Going Indie
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch (she’s the writer who exposed the royalty statement debacle that recently rocked the writing world) – The Business Rusch: Writing Like It’s 1999
- Dean Wesley Smith – Writers Are Losing The Fight Again
Let The Games Begin
Michael Stackpole used an interesting analogy in his article on the traditional vs. indie camps. The name of the piece gives a good hint on which side he’s on. It’s called House Slaves vs. Spartacus.
Kevin McLaughlin also looked at this issue in Begun, the publishing war has…
Indie Resources
Here are a couple cool articles on piracy: Piracy is good and Let’s squeeze the life out of book pirates
And, as a wrap-up for today’s e_Watch, April Hamilton over at Publetariat posted a great Self-Publishing Resource Roundup. You should check it out.
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That’s it for today. As you can see, a lot is happening, and it’s happening REALLY FAST.
I’m debating spreading this feature out over two days instead of trying to get everything into one. What do you think? Do you like it? Is there something you’d like added?
Let me know…
