Just in case the publishing industry needed another Internet-era corporation to take the smoking gun from Apple’s hand, load a few more rounds into it, and fire a couple of more times into the lifeless body of the “The Book of Dead Trees,” Google has stepped up to the plate today. Unlike Apple and it’s […]
It’s been a long time since I heard Mr. McFeely say, “Speedy delivery! Speedy delivery!” Even as a child I hated that show, although my father, a school principal, saw great value in it. Looks like there’s not much for the USPS to be happy about these days. Mr. McFeely might be out of a […]
The Library of Congress has announced it’s following in the footsteps of the National Security Agency. All posts written by the public on the privately-owned Twitter.com will be archived by the Federal government. If you’ve tweeted since March of 2006, it’s now forever. I like a lot about the Feds. Not everything, but a lot. […]
Randy Cohen and his alter ego, the Ethicist, recently weighed in on a the ethics of pirating format number two if you already purchased format number one. In this case, surprise, surprise, we’re talking about e-books. As a consumer who has bought music, for instance, on an original album release, a cassette release, a CD […]
Although I hung up my comics collecting before junior high, there’s been some very interesting buzz about the future of the business. BusinessWeek ran this story about an early iPad adopting publishing subgenre: comic book publishers. Disney-owned Marvel let loose their comic book application at the launch of the iPad. It enables sales of 500 […]
If you’re doubting the way consumers are pushing the publishing industry, witness the numbers released by Apple. In just a few days since the release of the iPad, the facts are: 450,000 iPads sold 600,000 iBooks downloaded That’s a weekend and perhaps a couple of days. The dollars are speaking. The trees are rejoicing.
Marc Aronson recently published interesting thoughts on the cost of copyright reprints, e-books and micropayments. With permission costs spiraling out of control, many publishers have encouraged authors to not include excerpts of poems, song lyrics, or photos in their work. Authors can’t afford these costs when self-publishing, of course. Publishers themselves are throwing darts blindfolded […]
A new FoE who had read the Poems Out Loud interview sent me this link. He knew I’d have no interest in the article other than the fact the author of the article, “MrDisgusting,” has felt the need to insert the most unnecessarily used word in English into a perfectly fine quote. “Dan Aykroyd called […]
Despite all the iPad hype, very quietly, Jobs has done it again. When it comes to writers, we have much to be thankful for regarding Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs. Famously, his vision and ability to identify quality enabled him to observe computer interface developments created at Xerox PARC. He built his own, superior version […]
An aggregate site pointed me to a dilemma faced by Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez, known in the media as “Octomom.” She owes $450,000 on her home and is facing eviction. Vivid Entertainment has offered to pay off her debt if she has sex with strangers under some unforgiving camera lights. I don’t typically pay attention […]