The Joss Group

Quoted in Real Live Writer (Gina Willner-Pardo)

My friend and author, Gina Willner-Pardo, is working on new book. Recently she shared with me some frustrations she has with the book publishing business. I will let you read the full post on her blog for the details (click here to read the post), but she quoted something I said to her during our discussion of why book publishing is the way it is. So very cool to be quoted! Thanks, Gina!

By the way, if you want to see the trailer for Gina's latest published work, Prettiest Doll, which Clarion had the good sense to publish last year, click here.

Like Mystery Novels? Check Out the Edgar Award Nominee List for Best in 2012

I like reading mystery novels and have read many of them. Might write one myself one day...so I was gleeful when I got this MediaBistro blog post about the Edgar Award 2013 Nominee list as the post has not only the names but links to free samples of the books. So cool.

Here's the link to the list and the sample links:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/best-mystery-novels-of-2012_b63842

An Open Plea to Book Publishers: Make It Work With Libraries!

Dear Book Publishers:

This is an open plea for the book publishers of the world to find a way to make peace with public libraries and to start offering every book available through the library system. Also, please make a single, easy-to-use platform for delivering such materials. Too many publishers have decided to make only a few titles available for lending, and some (you know who you are) have decided to not make any titles available.

To put it simply, if book publishers do not make it work with libraries, other companies will. Case in point: the other day I finished reading (on my iPad) a book I had borrowed from my local library. I read it through the Kindle Cloud, which is a simple, easy way to read Kindle books on any digital platform, including the rivals from Barnes & Noble and Apple. I can read a Kindle book through the Kindle Cloud reader on any device on which I can access the Web. When I got to the end of the book, the device displayed a brief message: should I elect to purchase the book I had just finished reading from Amazon, any notes or highlights I had made in the text would be preserved. This is a nice touch, but it is not so very far away from Amazon including a buy-now button on the last page of the book!

And, it would not be such a bad thing for Amazon to try—striking some sort of deal with libraries to bypass book publishers completely and offering Amazon (and perhaps Amazon-only) titles to public lending libraries. And, to make the deal even sweeter, Amazon could cut the libraries in on part of the action. Win-win all around, except not for book publishers. Again.

So, book publishers, I end my open plea to you by asking you to stop being so short-sighted and open your eyes to the possibilities around you. Make a deal with benefits for you, public libraries, and the reading public before another player in the industry does.

Scott Turow Agrees With Me

Although he does not come right out and say the DOJ should be shaking a finger at Amazon and not Apple and major publishers, he certainly has the same kinds of feelings I do about what Amazon is trying to do to the publishing industry.

Read the full text of the post he wrote for the Authors Guild blog by clicking here.

Who is Your Daddy (Part Two)?

The Wall Street Journal (yes, I read it every day) is reporting rumors to the effect the Department of Justice has told Apple and several big book publishing firms it is not happy with the way it (the DOJ) thinks the companies (Apple et.al) are going about setting the pricing for e-books. What, nobody is talking about involving Amazon?? If the problem is collusion about setting prices, why is Apple more at fault than Amazon?

Read the full WSJ article by clicking here.

Barnes & Noble on the Ropes?

Down, but not out, at least not yet, Barnes & Noble needs to find an innovative group of angel investors and soon. The stock price keeps slipping, and I would not like to see B&N go the same way as Borders. Yet, what do with the brick and mortar stores B&N has everywhere? Can Chairman Leonard Riggio save the company? What do you think? What would you said to Riggio?

Why Do Publishers Do Stuff Like This?

If you are in book publishing, you have probably heard about this flap by now. Harper Collins decided to limit the number of circulations of a book to 26. One fee--26 reads (or loans). Why? There is not a good answer even if you take the time to read through the company's public statement about its purported reasons. Now, I love libraries. I use them all the time. I think librarians are all, to a one, great people doing wonderful work.

As you can imagine, this stupidity on the part of HC is just getting librarians all upset. And library patrons. A paper book doesn't fall apart after 26 lending periods. Paper books last for years. So, it is just silly, just plain silly, for Harper Collins to restrict the lending period at all. 

Doing stuff like this just helps people continue to think that all e-books should be free and that publishing companies are just greedy companies out for all they can get.

 

 

Steve Jobs Changes the Game by Changing Expectations

I read a really thought-provoking column in the Guardian today, written by John Naughton.

He is in love with his iPad, which is not surprising. So many people are. In this column, though, entitled Publishers take note: the iPad is altering the very concept of a 'book: If the success of Amazon's Kindle has made print publishers relax, they're in for a nasty surprise, he says book publishers that expect to carry on doing the same old, same old are not going to be in business for much longer. The iPad will change what people come to expect from a book (I agree), and publishers that feel they can get by just putting words on paper or a screen will go out of business.

I do not think I am stating Naughton's case too strongly. Besides, columists traditionally take strong stands on issues. Nobody reads mealymouth columns!

Anyway, Naughton got me to thinking about what Jobs is doing with the iPad, and I realized he is doing what he has always done. And I have been around the computer industry long enough to have seen everything he has done. Never mind the Kindle might be selling in the millions of units. The iPad is, too. Never mind that people still like to read books on paper (I do). What really counts is Jobs is changing expectations about books and all kinds of content. And Jobs succeeds in changing entire industries by changing expectations. Who needs market dominance when you can do that?

Let's Expose an Amazon Flaw

You have probably heard about this commercial or even seen it. What I think is that the folks in the publishing and printing industries who still believe in the power of print (count me in that group) should get together and do a YouTube ad featuring a very pretty or very handsome man who pops up as the third person in an ad like this one and says, in response to the question of how one can read in the bright light, should be a saucy, "It's a book. I got it at the library and didn't pay anything." And then hold up a paperback.

Different Kinds of Reading Styles?

As you may know, there are different kinds of learning styles. Some people like to learn by reading. Some like to hear (as in a lecture or speech), and some people just have to get their hands on something or move while learning using the other methods. This is not to say that people cannot learn using any of these methods, but simply that people often prefer one way over another or one way is more effective for them than other ways.

I have found the work of Dr. Mel Levine to be very helpful to me in learning how people learn.

When I read this NYT article about a husband and wife who share a love of reading, but not a love of reading platform (she likes books, he likes reading on his new iPad), I thought about learning styles. I am a firm believer that, used properly and creatively, technology such as the iPad can offer new worlds of learning to more people. Perhaps there are different reading styles--a notion particularly appealing if you consider reading a form of learning--and the more ways (technologies) we have for people to read, the number of people reading will increase and the amount they read will increase.

So, do not give up on printed books just yet. I love printed books and always will. With print-on-demand technology such as the Espresso from On DemandBooks LLC, some day I could go into the local book shop and order up a copy of a book and sip a cup of green tea while they get my book ready. And maybe I just might take my iPad along so I can read the e-book version while I sip. Why not? It might be the best of both worlds for me and the publishing industry.