Newsagents should forget the news, bookshops should forget the book, and concentrate (in part) on particular parts of the spectrum that is printed matter (POD in store, a review/filter, a genre specialist).
For my part as a writer, as publishers don’t print, printers do, and that is under control now, and distribution digitally is so easy (see link above), that only leaves the work of publicity to do as a self-publisher.
But in the digital age, and I agree with Cory Doctorov, that this will be the norm. More work for reviewing/filtering. To be a bookagency will mean to be a filter/reviewer/spend time on words that the customer cannot. How to make that pay?
Blogs become important. RSS feeds will be the competitor.
One more thing, I don’t know if my electronic copy is publicity material for the hardcopy or the threat of a hardcopy is a spur to download the PDF.
I do know that now the advert is the product and the product is the advert, and the advert is not enough by itself. Trying is buying.
I’ll be releasing my collection of short stories through lulu.com late Feb next year. But you can download a review copy (PDF) right now.
http://meika.loofs-samorzewski.com/pdf/beforecountry-meika.pdf
more at the website.
Newsagents should forget the news, bookshops should forget the book, and concentrate (in part) on particular parts of the spectrum that is printed matter (POD in store, a review/filter, a genre specialist).
For my part as a writer, as publishers don’t print, printers do, and that is under control now, and distribution digitally is so easy (see link above), that only leaves the work of publicity to do as a self-publisher.
But in the digital age, and I agree with Cory Doctorov, that this will be the norm. More work for reviewing/filtering. To be a bookagency will mean to be a filter/reviewer/spend time on words that the customer cannot. How to make that pay?
Blogs become important. RSS feeds will be the competitor.
One more thing, I don’t know if my electronic copy is publicity material for the hardcopy or the threat of a hardcopy is a spur to download the PDF.
I do know that now the advert is the product and the product is the advert, and the advert is not enough by itself. Trying is buying.
I’d love you to try mine:-
http://meika.loofs-samorzewski.com/BC-publicitymaterial.html