Here’s another theme from the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference last month in New York: E-readers. New versions were demoed and, the day before the conference, Amazon had announced they would start delivering the updated version of their popular Kindle Reader. There have also been many articles and blog posts declaring the “death [...]
February 20, 2009 – 10:16 am
I attended the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference last week in New York. It was well attended by an interesting mix of old-world publishing types and new-media technology types. There were a lot of predictions and pontifications, but some common themes emerged. I’ll share a few of them—at least as I saw them—over [...]
February 3, 2009 – 2:48 pm
Lately, it seems, not a day goes by without an article, blog post, or interview regarding changes the publishing industry is going through and likely will continue to go through for some time. These changes are affecting all forms of traditional publishing: Magazines are scaled-down versions of their once-robust selves. And have you noticed how [...]
January 22, 2009 – 3:48 pm
There are advantages to working for a large corporation–nice conference and travel budgets (well, this used to be an advantage). Back in my corporate days I attended the TED Conference a number of times. The conference is an interesting mix of people all working at the intersection of three disciplines–Technology, Entertainment, and Design. One year [...]
January 14, 2009 – 1:27 pm
Most of the recent posts on Literary Magnet have been about the book publishing business and writing. But I ran across this article about entrepreneurs, and since Creative Byline is a start-up and I’m an entrepreneur, I thought I’d include it. I’m pretty sure that this isn’t the most flattering view of entrepreneurs, as Guy [...]
October 29, 2008 – 2:45 pm
With the radio news and the daily papers headlining the economy every day, it’s a little hard to put the subject out of your mind. That’s led me to think about the economics of the writing life. It’s one thing to be hired to write an article or a brochure and to be paid immediately [...]
September 24, 2008 – 10:56 am
Most of our blog posts have been about Creative Byline, but we see ourselves as just one example of many technological shifts that have had–and will continue to have–a dramatic impact on book publishing. Here are a few thoughts on one of those shifts: Over the past month I’ve had a few “aha” moments regarding [...]
September 7, 2008 – 9:03 pm
We’re happy to be getting confirmation (like the one above from Peter G. from Oregon) that the Creative Byline process is doing exactly what we’d intended: helping writers find publishers and present to them their best work. These comments from Creative Byline members tell the story: Keith M, from Illinois, said, “I am very pleased [...]
We’re happy these two houses have signed on with Creative Byline! Lyons Press, skirt!, and Globe Pequot Press Life are all imprints of Globe Pequot Press, which publishes many types of nonfiction, including books on health, style, fishing, nature, gardening, travel, and art. Zest Books, an imprint of Orange Avenue, publishes nonfiction books on teen [...]
Based on our poll results, the biggest gripe writers have about the old, paper submission process is “interminable response times” (60%), followed by “rejections that don’t give useful feedback” (23%). What do editors most dislike about the old process? “Having to slog through 100 manuscripts. . .before finding one that shows promise” (35%), “Feeling perpetually [...]
