20 March 2013

Shorter WIRED on book publishing

I thought Evan Hughes' article was terrific and worth a read if you have more than a few moments, but in summation:

1. Of the uncountable masses self-publishing their work, a few have hit it spectacularly big.
2. Yet book publishing overall operates on very thin margins and doesn't have a great track record at picking success. (I have heard of THE GLASS BOOKS OF THE DREAM EATERS, but I am In The System and thus cannot be trusted.)
3. As with any other kind of marketing, sometimes the money spent does not yield the desired result.
4. When these things don't yield results, publishing tends toward an Under Siege mentality because every little setback is interpreted as The End Of Literacy As We Know It.
5. Ebooks can deflect some of #2 and #4 but not #3.
6. For example, Amazon has tried to do it better with their Kindle might, yet with all their digital acumen they also found it hard to generate success.
7. (Tim Ferriss will bite any hand that feeds him, guaranteed.)
8. So we know that #1 is correct... ish... shoot... anyone?  Bueller? Bueller?

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