http://ruthlessculture.com/2012/01/24/why-do-people-buy-books-they-dont-read/
This research has me curious about the placement of classic literature and other such open source materials. If you go to Barnes and Noble you find a whole collection of "complete works" that are bound in leather and stylized to look like old time novels from a bygone era. However, considering that all of this stuff is available for free I raise the question "Why are people (am I) buying this stuff?"
The article above brings up the all expected answers. It's highly psychological. It's a part of self expression and finding identity. The subject matter of the books will comment on who we are (or want to be) and the actual presence of media shows us to literate in books, films, or whatever else we keep on our shelves. Despite the fact a great majority of material being available in some easy to access, electronic fashion, we are material creatures whose physical existence manifests itself in the fact that we want material things to help represent us.
Friday, December 14, 2012
http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm
A nice list that just points out that the history of self publishing is not exclusively modern (as I mentioned in a previous post) and name drops many famous authors that we as modern readers are highly aware of. I think it goes to show that we are not as familiar with the history of publishing and how it has worked over time. Like many models of business the modern novel is a fairly recent invention only becoming heavily popular during the industrial revolution when the technology and the demand lined up perfectly to allow for the occurrence.
A nice list that just points out that the history of self publishing is not exclusively modern (as I mentioned in a previous post) and name drops many famous authors that we as modern readers are highly aware of. I think it goes to show that we are not as familiar with the history of publishing and how it has worked over time. Like many models of business the modern novel is a fairly recent invention only becoming heavily popular during the industrial revolution when the technology and the demand lined up perfectly to allow for the occurrence.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57558088/authors-exercise-their-write-to-self-publish/
Informative in the way it talks a bit more about the other side of my project: traditional publishing. It points out how publishing is more of a team effort (what with marketing, cover art/design, printing, etc.) and that as a result the end game is the same as self publishing: getting the book out to the public to ensure the highest readership possible. It's also pointing out the fact neither traditional publishing or self publishing are the prime utopias that people make them out to be (black and white thinkers that we as humans tend to be), but that both have their incredible successes and failures. There are good books and bad books published by both, and I'd personally be shocked either way. It also mentions something that I've seen recurring in my research. Anything that is self published tends to have its roots in alternate methods of marketing, critique and those published traditionally take the mainstream route with the reviews being from places like Time Magazine or The New York Times.
Informative in the way it talks a bit more about the other side of my project: traditional publishing. It points out how publishing is more of a team effort (what with marketing, cover art/design, printing, etc.) and that as a result the end game is the same as self publishing: getting the book out to the public to ensure the highest readership possible. It's also pointing out the fact neither traditional publishing or self publishing are the prime utopias that people make them out to be (black and white thinkers that we as humans tend to be), but that both have their incredible successes and failures. There are good books and bad books published by both, and I'd personally be shocked either way. It also mentions something that I've seen recurring in my research. Anything that is self published tends to have its roots in alternate methods of marketing, critique and those published traditionally take the mainstream route with the reviews being from places like Time Magazine or The New York Times.
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/03/self-publishing-author-services-open-floodgates-for-writers060.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pbs%2Fmediashift-blog+%28mediashift-blog%29
I found this article on the page of the last one (talk about methods of research) and followed to much delight. It discusses the ways in which self publishing have opened up multiple channels as well as how savvy businesses have co-opted the term self publishing in their style and branding to find customers.
The article focus specific attention on a collaboration of writers who put all their money together and created their own small time press to create and sale their book and doubled their money as a result. It goes on to show that they eventually sold the small press, but have seen little success out of it since. It is something that I'm noting more and more with the book industry. The big companies seem to be making their money off of the known writers where as emerging writers are having to find alternate routes to success.
Personally I'm very curious to see how this will continue to evolve over the coming years.
I found this article on the page of the last one (talk about methods of research) and followed to much delight. It discusses the ways in which self publishing have opened up multiple channels as well as how savvy businesses have co-opted the term self publishing in their style and branding to find customers.
The article focus specific attention on a collaboration of writers who put all their money together and created their own small time press to create and sale their book and doubled their money as a result. It goes on to show that they eventually sold the small press, but have seen little success out of it since. It is something that I'm noting more and more with the book industry. The big companies seem to be making their money off of the known writers where as emerging writers are having to find alternate routes to success.
Personally I'm very curious to see how this will continue to evolve over the coming years.
http://ooligan.pdx.edu/a-brief-history-of-self-publishing/
As the link points out I thought a history on self publishing would be a nice angle to look at in my research. The article starts by looking at the history of the movable ink press, first in China, then later in Europe by Gutenberg. This innovation was great boost to literacy and reading in a populace ravaged by illiteracy (it was the dark ages after all, what do we expect).
It also discusses the importance of the home press to people such as Ben Franklin, Virginia Woolf, and William Blake. I think this goes elucidate the facts around the history of self publishing which has taken a great deal of flak over the years. Without this sort of publishing where would great deal of the political/philosophical pamphlets have come from and without those could powerful social movements actually been galvanized?
The article also discusses the history of the zine, a self published, small time (in general) project that is often somewhat radical and would as such be unlikely to get published in some mainstream way.
Essentially self publishing has served a certain niche for great portion of history and this should be reflected in how people value it as an option.
As the link points out I thought a history on self publishing would be a nice angle to look at in my research. The article starts by looking at the history of the movable ink press, first in China, then later in Europe by Gutenberg. This innovation was great boost to literacy and reading in a populace ravaged by illiteracy (it was the dark ages after all, what do we expect).
It also discusses the importance of the home press to people such as Ben Franklin, Virginia Woolf, and William Blake. I think this goes elucidate the facts around the history of self publishing which has taken a great deal of flak over the years. Without this sort of publishing where would great deal of the political/philosophical pamphlets have come from and without those could powerful social movements actually been galvanized?
The article also discusses the history of the zine, a self published, small time (in general) project that is often somewhat radical and would as such be unlikely to get published in some mainstream way.
Essentially self publishing has served a certain niche for great portion of history and this should be reflected in how people value it as an option.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jun/16/ebook-needs-good-editor
This article raises several important pieces of information about e-books. As we discussed in class editing will invariably result in a superior final product. Editors are trained to take things and rip them apart in constructive ways that only result in better projects. However, the article is making a commentary on how often the electronic book process, since it skips by the publisher is often left more or less unedited. I think this shows a gap that will fill in over time. We're in a transitional period where the technology is still finding itself out and the advantage of the ebook does stand up to scrutiny in the sense that the process of electronic publishing does lend itself to being more free and open. However, the article does stress a need for the author to find an editor on their own before going through the process, and since many of the electronic publishing sites are starting to include editing in their list of services provided I think it's only a matter of time before the gap in quality between the ebook and the print book (or pbook as the article refers to it) level out and it then becomes a simple matter of preference in medium when people purchase them.
This article raises several important pieces of information about e-books. As we discussed in class editing will invariably result in a superior final product. Editors are trained to take things and rip them apart in constructive ways that only result in better projects. However, the article is making a commentary on how often the electronic book process, since it skips by the publisher is often left more or less unedited. I think this shows a gap that will fill in over time. We're in a transitional period where the technology is still finding itself out and the advantage of the ebook does stand up to scrutiny in the sense that the process of electronic publishing does lend itself to being more free and open. However, the article does stress a need for the author to find an editor on their own before going through the process, and since many of the electronic publishing sites are starting to include editing in their list of services provided I think it's only a matter of time before the gap in quality between the ebook and the print book (or pbook as the article refers to it) level out and it then becomes a simple matter of preference in medium when people purchase them.
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/
The above article points out some interesting facts that provided a bit of a wake up call to me. It points out that about one-fifth of American adults have read some sort of electronic reading material. While this number does not shock me all that match, the next factoid it tossed out there really hit home with me. It says:
"Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers. Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88% of those who read e-books in the past 12 months also read printed books. Compared with other book readers, they read more books."
I myself have never been particularly fond of the electronic medium, but I do know that I fit the above statistic. Over time the amount that I read has dwindled, and if I were to embrace an electronic reader of some wort I probably would start reading more again.
It also points out that each medium seems to serve a particular purpose which would support other things I've read, that they are not in competition, but that they are simply tools and the right one is needed for the right job.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing, was an article that I read for one of my other courses that discusses the merits of electronic authorship and publishing. It suggests that the ease of publishing allows material that would otherwise not be viewed by the public to be read. It also raised the point that if the sites that do the publishing set up some sort of editing/gatekeeper process they can take a currently mixed bag of good and bad and set up a system that allows a textbook case of "marketplace of ideas" to operate simply with users and writers. It's an option that will make editors out of the public, much like the internet tends to do and along with this it also has been proven that more than just garbage is put out via electronic books publishing.
Books are not dead, and for that matter neither are bookstores. Perhaps big book chain stores are going to take a hit, but the digital age has done that kind of damage to most companies that have their business model based in the style that came before the digital age and have not adapted. (How many people over the age of maybe 15 have actually experienced a Video Arcade for instance? They died out with the invention and mass production of the cheap and effective home console.) However, the death of these kinds of chains does allow for a growth of the small time independent stores that can work off of local clientele and an atmosphere of "buy local" (not to mention the ever self-indulgent hipster market). The model clearly exists just by looking at how music changed as a result of Napster back in the 1990s.
http://theweek.com/article/index/212130/borders-goes-bankrupt-the-end-of-the-bookstore
The above link points out several important things. Borders was not a failure because it sold books. Border's was a failure because like any business that fails, it did not live up to the changing style in which people live. There is a demand for eBooks (and whether or not this is positive or negative is a discussion I will save for a later blog) and to be successful as a company working in books this must be acknowledged.
The link also points out that while Border's is gone that books themselves are not (we can always rely on human sentimentality and nostalgia to keep things alive).
The above link points out several important things. Borders was not a failure because it sold books. Border's was a failure because like any business that fails, it did not live up to the changing style in which people live. There is a demand for eBooks (and whether or not this is positive or negative is a discussion I will save for a later blog) and to be successful as a company working in books this must be acknowledged.
The link also points out that while Border's is gone that books themselves are not (we can always rely on human sentimentality and nostalgia to keep things alive).
I have decided upon Dr. Finer's suggestion to develop this idea further by looking more specifically at how the market was changed by the introduction of not only eBooks, but of the technology itself. Things like the Kindle and the Nook have been so successful while others that succeeded so well in the 90s are now bankrupt and bought out. (i.e. Borders). From there I will look at some of the advantages this presents to authors as well the intriguing opportunities it presents to publishers, editors, and booksellers.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Possible sites to use for eBook publishing
Using a simple google search and the knowledge I have of what ereaders already exist I created a simple list of sites that I can use to do further research into what is available as well as which will best meet my needs.
The sites that I have found that I will do further research into and see what each does and does not do and at what cost (the downside of ebook publishing (like any form of self publishing) is that it involves the author essentially gambling for success in a very crowded marketplace).
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3264-12-Sites-for-Ebook-Publishing
The sites that I have found that I will do further research into and see what each does and does not do and at what cost (the downside of ebook publishing (like any form of self publishing) is that it involves the author essentially gambling for success in a very crowded marketplace).
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3264-12-Sites-for-Ebook-Publishing
- Amazon Kindle Store
- Barnes & Noble Nook Books
- Apple iBookstore
- Sony Reader Store
- Kobo
- Diesel eBook Store
- Google eBookstore
- Smashwords
- BookBaby
- Lulu
- FastPencil
- eBookIt
eBook Publishing: Overview for final project
I am currently working on a fiction project in another class and my co author and myself are planning to publish the final project in an eBook form so that it has more availability to the audience. In order to get a better understanding of what that entails I will look into a variety of websites on the subject and see which publishing company may have the best options for cheap and effective publishing.
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