State of Publishing Article in Time Magazine.

from this morning's Twitter stream:

Wonderful State of Publishing article in Time Magazine: http://snurl.com/ane9p-xray. It's not dying, just getting wilder.

Malcolm

It is a great article, Malcolm. I especially like the terms they used like "wilder" and "trashier". That certainly seems to be the trend. I also see a lot of hope for self published authors and those who do not go the 'traditional' route. He is speaking of a literary revolution!

Interesting how easily "trashy" falls from the lips of a page that has promos below for their article "Guess who's gay in hip-hop?"

Like so much of there culture pieces, it manages to make it sound like what everybody else was writing two years ago and they just found out about is some new trend they invented.

One conclusion they missed is that actually the vaunted "gate keepers" are doing a sucky job that ignores the actual wishes of the market and some might say resembles less an "ordered orchard" than a graveyard.

Of course that would be indicating that an entire industry might have lost touch with the market and be engaged in ruinous practices that make no sense and producing products people fail to prefer to alternatives from other sources. Of course that would be silly: publishing people are in New York, not Detroit.



I like the looks of that eReader a lot more than Kindle, though.

Interesting article Malcolm.
It points out once again that persistence pays off for the writer.

I think the downturn in the economy, that is affecting most every industry, will be a plus in the long run. Creativity will result in new and better products and better ways to distribute.

Could be. Meanwhile it's a pain in the neck that shows up in little ways.

I have a book that's of greatest interest in the San Diego area. The SD daily paper just dumped their book section due to low revuenues.
But the book reviewer for San Diego Magazine, an upscale monthly, was going to do a review on it next month. Which would sure have helped me pump it up in bookstores a bit.

Review now on indefinite hold due to low ad revenues.

Right, Lin, those gate keepers miss a lot of good stuff and need to have their cage rattled.

Abe, let's hope we not only have the grit to hang in there but the creativity to find new (and financially viable) ways to distribute our work.

Frankly, I don't understand writers giving away all of their stories for free any more than I would understand grocery stores handing out free produce. Samples and PR are fine, but we can't pay the rent if all of our work is destined for the pro bono route alone.

Malcolm

It's interesting that Time is saying the same things that amny of us on these authors' boards have been saying for some time.

Ann

I agree, Ann and Lin, that Time's information is not new, though the piece is well written.

As writers, we've been talking about such things for years, but Time's interest shows that things that have been considered "alternative" are now working their way into mainstream respectability.

Malcolm

You're right, Malcolm. And that's a good thing.

I'd like to see some mainstream stuff from the READER point of view: what ePub and indie stuff is like, how to find good stuff, etc