Why anyone can succeed at publishing, or why publishing is failing

Just an abstract scenario, because I don't want to get anyone (or myself) in trouble: Publisher owns print rights to backlist title. Publisher does not promote said title, resting on the title either selling well on its own or rotting. Publisher has first dibs at electronic rights, fumbles them with a bad offer. Other publisher … Continue reading Why anyone can succeed at publishing, or why publishing is failing

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The fate of indices in an ebook world

Indices are a problem across ebooks. Page numbers are no longer relevant in a digital space, which in itself makes 90% of an index immediately useless. To address this problem in books with simple indices (one page reference per item), publishers sometimes delete the page number and attempt to link the item to its corresponding … Continue reading The fate of indices in an ebook world

On how our culture is a cotton gin

The cotton gin was a wonderful device for its time. It mechanized an approximation of human movements, dozens or hundreds of steel fingers ripping away at the cotton the way the cotton seeds had used to rip at the fingers of workers. So close to the actual, its method was only obvious to one man … Continue reading On how our culture is a cotton gin

What Rachel Maddow missed in her interview with Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow spent the better part of their one hour interview discussing Stewart as a media and political figure and how his rally fit into that point. However, they were discussing two separate structures and failed, especially at a point in the conversation 40 minutes into the show, to connect their separate … Continue reading What Rachel Maddow missed in her interview with Jon Stewart

Virgin Pulp

A new report has stated that children's publishers across the board are promoting Indonesian deforestation, and the children's market across all industries is unhappily tainted with reports of corner-cutting. Perhaps we wouldn't be surprised to hear that a children's book printed in China used that same ink mentioned in The Name of the Rose or a cheaper variant with the same implications. I suppose, all things considered, we're lucky the books aren't printed with lead ink!
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