Potter E-books - Magical or Just Muggle Mischief?

Howdy Gang! Not going to lie, life is pretty swell in South Texas this time of year. Not too hot, never cold. Wild flowers seem to cover everything that isn't paved. Lots of rain too, which I couldn't say--well, the entirety of last year really. In fact, if you'd have been here just a few months ago you might be surprised to see anything growing at all. I know most of us locals are.

You see the entire place--I'm talking ALL of Texas, and it's a big dude--was burning up. Literally. In September, Bastrop County caught fire. Less than a one hour drive from my home some 34,000 acres burned, over a 77 square mile area. That's about three times the size of Manhattan Island. Well over 1,500 homes were destroyed. And that was just one (albeit the largest) of our fires last year. There were 27,000+ wild fires reported in the state in 2011. (Not a misprint, that's 27 with a K.)

Drought was to blame. It just didn't rain. None. For months and months and months. Then it got really hot. San Antonio had 57 days of 100 F or over temperatures in 2011 (I think our average is around 9 per year). The combined effect put us on the brink of becoming a burned out desert, and that's no overstatement. 

Now, less than a year later, my yard is green, the bugs are out and my roses are even blooming!

Just goes to show that the world keeps plowing ahead, never looking back. Nature doesn't care what happened last year, just give it some water and you'll see. 

I think Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is forcing the publishing industry to do the same.

The Harry Potter series is perhaps the most popular book franchise of all time. All told, well over 400 million copies have been sold worldwide. 8.3 million copies of the seventh (and final) book in the series were sold in the first 24 hours of its release (way back in 2007 ... yes, we're that old), making it the fastest selling book of all time. Suffice to say, they're kind of a big deal. (More details can be found here.) 

Fast forward to now...

Electronic books are a big deal and getting bigger by the month. In 2011, the e-book market generated just shy of $2 billion in the U.S., and that's projected to be somewhere north of $5 billion in five years. (More here.) That's just the U.S. mind you. With little provinces like China being relatively new passengers aboard the e-book express, who knows what kind of growth we'll see globally.

It's not a slam on paper publishing, it's just the digitization of the world we live in. It has happened to medical records, music, banking and everything else under the sun. Now it's happening to books. And it has been happening for a while now.

You can tell from our faces that Ron, Harry, Hermione and I think this is serious business.

So why then, is the most beloved book franchise of our time just now getting the digital treatment? Most of that has to do with the author. You see, when J.K. Rowling first published Potter in 1995 (now you feel REALLY old, right?), electronic rights weren't part of the negotiations. Her publisher didn't buy them, just the print (and audio and whatever else was standard for the time). Major oops. Not their fault, but major oops nonetheless.  

Trust me, if Bloomsburry/Scholastic had had the e-rights, we'd have had Kindle versions three years ago. Just too much money to be had. Instead, we waited. More than anything, it seems we had to wait for J.K. to get comfortable with the idea. (And she certainly didn't need the money right away, did she?) 

No, J.K. needed to embrace the idea of e-books. You can read an interview she did in June of last year HERE where she discusses the role of e-books in her life (the beauty of taking 50 books on vacation with no extra luggage, downloading stories on the go for her children, etc.) 

She also had to overcome her fear of piracy. She put on record many times that the idea of people being able to run wild with her property on the Internet was a primary objection to her books being digitized. An irony of sorts, because the Harry Potter books have been a hot item on the digital black market for years. Some have even theorized her reluctance to publish a legitimate digital copy has only exacerbated the issue. 

Lego Harry would use a forbidden curse on pirates. Don't let the smile fool you...

Whatever the case, the wait is over. As of this week, you can now download fully legal copies of all 7 books in all their digital glory for your Kindle, Nook, Kobo--well, anything really. By legal I mean you have to pay for them, of course. 

But the 'why' really isn't the important part. It's more about the 'how'. 

In a move straight out of the playbook titled, Oprah: Seven Ways to Dominate Everything You Touch - Billionaires Only Addition, J.K. created her own gigantic website, refused to sell her books on anything but her website, and essentially squeezed until the retail giants of the world agreed to play with her. Yes, you can go to Amazon and Barnes & Noble to purchase the Potter e-books, but they just route you around to her site.

Did I mention J.K. has the electronic rights and therefore keeps (according to estimates) 70-90% of every dime she makes? No subsidiary. No 15-30% cut for the author. No distributor cut. So when you purchase the $7.99 to $9.99 book (depending upon which book in the series you buy) through her Pottermore site, J.K.'s cash register rings to the tune of $6 - $9. Amazing! 

Can you imagine going to Amazon and saying, "Hey, I want you to advertise my books, but you can't distribute them or otherwise benefit. You just get to put my name up and have a link in your book store." And then imagine Amazon begging you for the opportunity. 

It's called ultimate power, and it's something very few of us will ever get to taste for ourselves outside of deciding if we want fries with our meals.    

But even if we don't wield the power of the Elder Wand, this turn of events holds the potential to change life for all kinds of authors. (Even the non-billionaires types.) I'd wager digital rights conversations between agents and publishers are getting more heated by the minute. 

And as I say, it doesn't just apply to the big dogs. After all, who knows what and how something becomes as popular as Harry Potter. We DO know J.K.'s rags to riches story (my thoughts). We DO know how very few people, in the beginning, thought the books would be successful, even on a small scale. Who's to say you're not next?

It's not just big news for publishers, either. This could be a moment where Amazon and other retailers are put on notice. Maybe they can't make all of the rules going forward, as so many Indie authors and traditional publishers are worried? 

Perhaps this proves that if an author gets big enough, they can hang their own shingle? And make no mistake, it's the big name authors that make the business go round, so when they talk others listen. Furthermore, I'll be surprised if more publishers don't start pushing direct e-book sales as a result of Pottermore. Most of the big publishers despise Amazon anyway, so why not ride J.K.'s coattails into a new era to table turning? 

And we won't even go to the, "if it succeeds" kind of talk. It's Harry Potter. It's going to generate millions PERIOD 

Also, don't be quick to think that no true Indie e-book author will ever be able to pull off that level of fame without the help of a big publisher and big advertising. 

There are John Locke's and Amanda Hocking's out there who've done loads more (already) on their own than anyone thought possible just a couple of years ago. I'm fairly convinced there will be many more millionaire authors who've never published traditionally as we move forward.

My questions for you: Is this a watershed moment in publishing? Or is this just an isolated case, never to be replicated by anyone else? (Mischief managed?) 

Do you think publishing is pretty much the same as it has always been? If it isn't, do you think it can/will return to that point? 

~EJW~

Author Spotlight: Damyanti Biswas

E.J. (ME) – The important stuff first.  Tell us about your book/collection, A to Z Stories of Life and Death. 

Damyanti (D) -- The book is a collection of twenty-six stories, based on the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. They seek to question our moral compass: How do you judge a teacher toying with the sexuality of her teenaged student? A boy who decides to murder his mother? What thoughts rage inside a pedophile serial killer before he shoots himself? The stories challenge the concepts of beauty, truth, and morality, by revealing the face of the other side.

I began writing some of the pieces in the collection in April during the A to Z challenge organized by Arlee Bird. (Note - If you don't know about the A-Z, you should check out Arlee's blog, HERE. Seriously one of the most challenging and rewarding blogfests  going.)  During this challenge, participants had to post on their blogs for 26 days in April, every day excluding the 4 Sundays. Some of the readers liked my pieces of fiction enough to ask me to put them together in a book, so the idea took root there.  

ME – The stories seem to be highly philosophical and emotional in nature, asking readers to take a reflective look at their own humanity and how life plays out around them.  That’s an extremely complex task for short stories to accomplish. How did you make it work?  

D – I write about what interests me--people, and what makes them tick. I question the reasons why someone did what they did, and I analyze everything way more than is healthy. My head is full of ‘weird’ people, of what ifs, and whys and wherefores. This is what came out in the collection. Some people have found it too hard-hitting, or the topics too uncomfortable: matricide and pedophilia are not exactly soothing reads, despite a completely literary style and clean language.

I did not write on those themes in order to sensationalize, however, just went where the writing prompts took me. I don't have a ‘moral’ approach to fiction--won’t judge, just hold up things as they are and let the readers come to their own conclusions. Just because something is ugly or inhuman is no reason why it should not be examined. Rather the opposite.

In most of the stories I examine what we usually turn our faces from: death, murder, child abuse, loss of a child, ageing, poverty—but I’ve tried to ask the whys and also sought a glimmer of compassion, understanding, forgiveness, hope, even love.

ME – Taking a step back, can you tell us a little about your writing journey?

D – I started writing 3 years ago. I had some non-fiction experience at the time, but none whatsoever in fiction. I’ve always been a voracious reader, and the idea of writing appealed to me. But it also terrified me, and I let decades pass by before I gave myself the permission to write.

I’ve been traditionally published in quite a few anthologies in Malaysia and Singapore, and Peeping Toe was my first published short story, two years ago. I got accepted for yet another anthology this week, a collection of short stories from Asia and Africa. I’m yet to finish a novel, but that should change soon.

ME – Tell us about your writing process in general. 

D – I write everyday. Whether it is a page or a few pages, I feel quite upset if I don’t write something, a story, a free-write, a bit in my journal, a letter (I correspond via snail-mail with other authors). 

I usually go with images, and take down stories as they occur in my head. I’ve been a pantser so far, and it has worked for short stories.I use exercises from books like Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes by Roberta Allen. I take a prompt, a word, a picture, a sentence, anything at all, and start writing, pretty much without thinking.

Another book that influenced me, and from where I borrowed the word dream-storming, is From Where you Dream by Robert Olen Butler. After reading through this book (several times), I got into the habit of entering a sort of trance, of letting the character take over, of entering a setting and becoming part of it. My stories (even the longer short stories) never start from an idea, but instead from an image which tugs at me and compels me to write.

ME - Many of my followers also participated in the A-Z daily blog challenge as well as many, many other blogfests. As such, we know how much time and effort can go into blogging. The idea of turning that work into a published story will, I’m sure, be intriguing to many of the readers. What led you to the idea, and how did you go about making it happen?

D – My short stories started at Daily (w)rite, where apart from some journalling and rambling about writing, I began to put up some of the 5-minute or ten minute exercises I'd written. I got a few good responses from my readers, and kept at it, mostly because I enjoyed it.

Then came A to Z Challenge. Being naive, I thought of writing one flash piece each day. On some days, the pieces came easy, on others I barely made the midnight deadline. Near the end of the challenge, some of the readers asked me to compile the 26 pieces of flash fiction into an e-book, and the idea of A to Z stories of Life and Death was born. I threw out and re-wrote a few of the original pieces, spit and polished them as best as I could. Not many stories in the collection are longer than 200 words, and the entire book adds up to barely 12000 words. My hope is that I’ve made each one of them count.

ME - I saw from your author profile that you’ve been traditionally published and that A to Z is your first work to be published independently. What was the motivation for that shift, and it is it something you plan to continue to explore in the future?

D – I would not call it a shift, because I’m still submitting stories for traditional publication, (E.J. - EXCELLENT point! It doesn't have to be all or the other, folks.) and hope to publish my current work (a WIP collection of longer short stories, and a novel) traditionally. 

As I keep repeating to myself: the most important thing is to keep writing, improve my craft, and keep submitting for publication. A writer writes, and then hopes for publication: each rejection is a spur to write more and write better. After all, an established writer is no different from an unpublished one (at least in one aspect): both aspire to write better and reach a bigger audience every day. (E.J. - This might be the most important paragraph ever printed on this blog!)

That said, I think I’ll epub some work as well, mostly because it is fun, and a good way to interact with writer-friends and readers. This e-book was an experiment of sorts: I wanted to learn what this new business of e-books was all about, because as writers I think we should not ignore the flux in the industry. I continue to learn more about ebooks, marketing, and publishing each day, and I don’t think that is a bad thing.

ME – Random question time: What’s the last good book you read? 

D – “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore”…I think it is one of the most moving, philosophical and thought-provoking books ever to be written with an animal narrator.

ME -  We’ll finish up with the most important stuff. Give us three reasons why A to Z Stories should be our next download, and tell us where we can get them.

D – As a writer, I can give a million reasons, of course. All writers are painfully, desperately in love with their babies. But as a reader I think there exist only two reasons to download a book: the sample, and the reviews. Check those out, and if you like them, buy the book at Kindle Smashwords Nook or Diesel.

Thank you, EJ, for taking the time to host me, and for the well-considered questions. I've done my best to answer them, and I hope I've done them justice. Thanks also to the readers who have heard me through with my long rambling! I'm around to chat with you all, and answer any questions. 

ME - You've been a beautiful interview, D! I think I can safely speak for everyone who reads this and say it has been a true pleasure getting to know you and your writing. You're an inspiration for sure. Best of luck to you on your future endeavors.

------

Writer Bio: Damyanti lives more in her head than in this world, adores her husband, and loves her pet fish and plants. She is an established writer for magazines and journals. Her short fiction has been published in the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Muse India and in print anthologies by Marshall Cavendish, Monsoon Books, and MPH publications. Her book, A to Z Stories of Life and Death, is available for downloadeverywhere ebooks are sold.

Twitter: damyantig

Website: http://amloki.com

Blog: http://damyantiwrites.wordpress.com

Will Amazon Change Our Taste for Words?

It’s no great revelation that the ways in which we consume media and entertainment have changed over the last two decades.  In the music industry, the concept of an entire album listening experience died several years ago at the hands of individual song downloads. This has led to a prevalence of artist creating albums full of HIT singles in place of albums comprised of songs that form a cohesive whole. The days of high concept story albums—think Pink Floyd’s The Wall album, where the individual songs don’t necessarily stand on their own, but when listened to as whole become something essential and even beautiful—are mostly over. Sure, intrepid musicians will on occasion create ‘story’ albums, but the experience is lost on the average listener who shops from the iTunes top 10 singles list.

Similarly, Hollywood is a machine driven by consumer demand, and that demand is for bite-sized entertainment. Modern blockbuster movies are long commercials aimed at no one and everyone. They are designed to engage a broad audience from moment to moment, as opposed to engaging an individual from beginning, middle, to end. The handful of films that dare to start a story in the beginning and take a full 2 hours to finish are labeled as high concept and, if they’re fortunate enough to snag a big name in the lead role, might win a few awards.

Please don’t misinterpret this as a shot at consumerism or some heraldry for ‘the good old days’. While I enjoyed the good old days as much as anyone, I also like the freedom of being able to watch and listen to what I want, when I want. The ability to do that is directly tied to the trends in media consumption I mentioned above. Furthermore, I like a good popcorn flick and lord knows I’ve got my share of top 10 singles on the old iGadget.

    

My point is that just like how we learn to enjoy different foods from childhood to adulthood as our flavor palette broadens, I think we (as consumers) have learned to ingest our media in different ways as technology has changed. We all have to accept that when change comes for a visit—no matter how welcome it might be—it’s always going to bring along a few ugly cousins. In the end, there really isn’t much else to do but give them a comfy sofa to sleep on and hope they don’t steal the good silverware on the way out.

I’m thinking about all of this lately, because I see changes happening in how we consume written media, and I’m left to wonder if it’s going to similarly alter our taste for it. Amazon’s recent announcement of a sub-$100Kindle and a sub-$200 tablet reader have sent trimmers through the reading world.  With the tablet, Amazon has clearly put readers in their sites, similarly to how Apple put listeners in their sites with the advent of iTunes/iPods. You see this tablet is going to be all things Amazon in terms of their video content offerings, music and eBooks. A veritable buffet of entertainment options.

At first blush, it might not seem like such a big thing. After all, we have computers, iPads and other doodads that marry all forms of entertainment onto one device. However, Amazon is certainly one of (if not THE) the top book retailers in the world (both paper and electronic) and up to this point no one has really attempted to give books equal space at the table with video and music downloads.  Couple this with the rumor that Amazon is contemplating a book rental service akin to Netflix where Kindle owners pay a flat monthly fee and are able to download as many books as they care to read, and you’ve got the makings of full out assault on the book business.

In the effort of full disclosure, I’m mostly concerned with all of this from the standpoint of an author looking to build a seaworthy business model (ship) prepared to navigate the unpredictable waters of modern-day publishing. Many have theorized that the future of publishing is going to gothe way of short stories or serialized content as more and more folks turn to the instant gratification/entertainment offered by all of these ‘connected’ gadgets. That certainly makes sense, especially in light of a giant retailer pushing written content right alongside its other electronic cousins (music and movies). Plus let’s face it; the attention span of the average person just isn’t what it used to be. Consequently, the idea of giving readers shorter reading experiences that can be digested quickly makes some sense.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to do a couple of more blogs on the topic, specifically thinking about what a ‘Netflix’ model might mean for authors, and what impact it might have on storytelling.  I’m going to try to answer questions I’m having, like: Is there a place for long-form fiction in the future?  I hope you’ll come back and add your thoughts. This is exploratory in nature, and I certainly don’t claim to have the answers. As always, I’m just one guy thinking aloud.

More near in this blog’s future, in an attempt to get into the mind of modern day authors, I’m going to begin running interviews with various independently published authors. Folks who are daring to carve their own path to publication, paths that many of us may be following in the years to come. I think you’ll really enjoy hearing from these authors, both as readers and writers. They’re all super-smart, engaging and (most importantly) dedicated to the craft.  The first interview will be this Wednesday with author, Kimberly Mullican, so please stop by and say hi. Also, if you’ve published a story and would like to do an interview or a guest-post here on the Open Vein, please drop me a line in the comments, via e-mail or on Twitter and we’ll try to make it happen. I’d love to hear from all of you.

~EJW~

I DID IT ALL FOR THE VOOK-IE

Over the course of human history there have been some truly beautiful pairings:

Baseball + Bats
Wine + Cheese
Peanut Butter + Jelly
Fried Chicken + Kentucky
Hall + Oats
Limp + Bizkit
Snuggies + Crazy Dancing Old People
Care Bears + Stare

On and on the list goes …

Suffice to say, two is sometimes much better than one (quit humming!). So when I read about the latest crazy mashup of literature and tech, the Vook, I was cautiously optimistic.

Vook is a format that combines book and video into one cohesive multimedia experience that can be viewed/interacted with on your computer or portable device (iPhone, eReaders, etc.).



Now I’ve seen some iPad demos that basically show how books can become interactive by allowing the reader to play music, chat, and watch media that ties into the book.



That is essentially what a Vook is. I subscribe to both Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers, and both have articles about Vooks in their most recent issues. This tells me that the format is getting some attention. It is pointed out in both articles that the Vook isn’t exactly being embraced by everyone as the future of publishing. In fact, in the P & W article, a skeptic basically states that it isn’t a viable trend because no one is using the format to create things that couldn’t be replicated otherwise. I took this to mean that the content being offered in current Vooks is simply add-on enhancements and couldn’t be viewed as a unique medium.

I don’t necessarily agree with that thinking. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of comics and graphic novels, and I’ve seen some demos of comics using an enhanced Vook-like format to add sound effects, moving panels, and music. To me, that seems like a pretty awesome new format for reading your comics. In fact, you’re not just reading them and looking at pictures any more, you’re participating in the story by swiping a sound effect, queuing music, etc.

As the electronic book format continues to take more and more of the market, I envision a future where most every reader will have some sort of electronic device to read on. Paper books will still exist, but they will be expensive and serve mostly as collectables. While I recognize the love people have for holding a physical book when reading, the signs are pointing toward a time when that will be viewed as a luxury, not a requirement. I see it being like the folks who still own record players to play their old 45s; owning physical books will be an expensive hobby.

I decided to write about this topic, because I was given a Barnes & Noble nook eReader for my birthday this week. After just a couple of days of reading, I can say I truly love it to the point that I plan on making 90% of my future book purchases electronic (I will still purchase hardbacks of my absolute favorites, because I like having them on my bookshelf as decoration).

As a writer, I find my mind more and more shifting to the possibilities of the electronic format, and have even lately started to think about the limitations of a strictly print format. We live in an age of bonus content and premium add-ons. How many of you purchased the Twilight or New Moon Deluxe edition DVDs so you could see that Stephanie Meyer interview? How many of you purchased the deluxe edition of the Harry Potter books so you could have the cool book cover and extra pictures? How many of you download the iTunes deluxe edition of your favorite band’s album so you can get the extra songs and videos? Fans want more content, and they’re willing to pay for it.

I don't see it as consumer exploitation, because if people weren’t buying it, they wouldn’t be offering it.  The consumer ultimately has the power.

Now think about your book. How cool would it be for your readers to be able to shell out a few more dollars and get a deluxe edition with chapter commentaries from you (the author), an original soundtrack with onscreen prompts that readers can use to play while reading specific scenes, and bonus artwork that corresponds to the various chapters, etc.? I know older readers will bemoan sensory overload, but if you’re an unpublished author you need to think about who the readers will be in 5-10 years, not just those who are reading right now. I work with those future readers, and they demand full sensory experiences in their reading, watching, and listening. Video games are getting more engaging, movies are getting more immersive, and books are becoming more action driven by the day. You think people have short attentions spans right now, picture that in 5, 10, and 15 years.

How would you use this kind of technology for the stories you’re working on, or would you use it at all?

Pertaining to my last post, I found this interesting article comparing the iPad bookstore iBooks to Amazon’s Kindle.

Hands-on with the iPad AND vacation photos!

Hello, all! I wasn’t able to post last week due to being out of town on vacation. (Yes, there ARE still places without internet service in the world, and I was in one of them.) Now I have an iPhone, and I could have finagled a way to post from it, but to be honest my brain took a little vacation as well.


At any rate, I’m back, and I did manage to do one productive (hey, I’m calling it productive!) writerly oriented thing: I GOT MY PAWS ON AN iPAD. Here’s what I think:

First, let me say that I approached my hands-on time with the intent of examining the iPad as an eReader. I’m definitely in the market for a reader of some kind as too many people have told me how much they love their Nooks, Kindles, etc., and I’m way beyond the point of running out of bookshelf space.

You library denizens out there, just simmer down. I know they exist, but I try to purchase as many books as I can to support authors. That’s another reason why I’ve decided to purchase a reader; I can help authors AND not destroy a rainforest.

Back to the task at hand. The first thing you’ll notice about the iPad is how bright and beautiful the screen is. The outward appearance is very streamlined with only a few buttons, so when you see the bright blue (or whatever color background the screen is displaying) with the little application icons, it’s quite visually arresting. When I’ve looked at/played with other eReaders, I’ve been underwhelmed by presentation. I know these ‘toys’ are for reading, but I’d like to see a little more in the way of eye candy on the dashboard/screen.

Regardless of how cool you look holding it, I know most people (myself included) are primarily interested in functionality. If you’ve picked up an iPhone or iPod touch, you’ll instantly acclimate to the iPad. It functions exactly the same way, so you’ll be able to finger swipe, pinch, and tap your way through features in no time. If you’ve never used either of the before mentioned gadgets, have no fear, because I can easily count them as some of the most accessible bits of technology to ever be created. I’m totally convinced that a blind monkey could use an iPhone to order pizza within five minutes of touching it.

The iPad in the store had several pre-loaded apps (think of them as programs on a computer), and I played with each of them. I can say that this thing plays games, music, and movies with the best of them. But how does it read, you ask?

The reader interface, cleverly dubbed iBook by those Apple geniuses, is very cool. When you open the iBook/reader app, you’ll see a virtual bookshelf (assuming you didn’t close the reader mid-read, in which case you’ll be brought back to the page you closed) with the cover of all of the books you’ve downloaded. Simply touch the cover of the book you want to read, and it opens. You can turn the iPad either horizontally or vertically. I preferred the horizontal (sideways) alignment as it read more like a physical book, displaying two pages at a time. You’ll find many handy reading features, such as bookmarks, dictionary lookup for words in the text, and you even have the ability to adjust the lighting of the screen.

That brings me to the real drawback as a reader: the iPad uses a backlit screen, not the passive screen technology used by the other dedicated eReaders. The good side of this is that unlike other readers, you could read the iPad in the dark without the presence of any external lighting. The down side is that this can sometimes cause eyestrain (think staring at a computer monitor all day). I had no problems reading on the device, and in fact, I would say I even enjoyed how vivid and crisp the text appeared. However, I only read for a few minutes, so we’ll just have to wait for some extended use reviews to surface on the web to learn just how bad the eyestrain problem will be.

In the end, I found it to be very high on my list in terms of readers. The interface is great, the selection is top notch (both Barnes & Noble and Amazon already have apps for purchasing content, and that’s in addition to the iBook store), and it does so much more than any reader currently on the market can do (fast web access, music, games, on and on …).

However, at this point I think the price is far too high to purchase just as a reader (starting @ $499). Although it does a bunch of other cool stuff, it has no built in camera (for the bloggers, Facebook crowd, etc.), you can’t multi-task (work multiple applications at the same time) as you would expect to be able to do for something that cost as much or more than many laptops, and it won’t play many web videos thanks to Apple’s reluctance to allow Java on its platforms.

Was it cool? Yes, and frankly it blew me away. Will I wait for the price to drop and for Apple to fix a few of the nagging issues before purchasing? Absolutely, but I think the key is that I do see myself buying one eventually.



Hope you enjoy the photos!

The Future of Publishing????

**Incoming Message**

March 20, 2012

Author: Chief Editor - Random House

Recipient: All of Publishing

Message: No longer need paper. Bookstores dead. Warehouse distributers rendered useless … THE MACHINES HAVE WON.

**End of Communication **

Imagine a future, if you will, where humans dare not go outside in search of reading material. Instead, they seek refuge from the chaos, coffee, and glitz of the modern bookstore by staying huddled in the safety of their homes with their Reading Machine of Choice (RMC).

It began many years before when authors decided to uniformly support the Digital Distribution Model (DDM). Having become cluttered with market trends, mired in economic woe, and sustained by an elitist model where few were granted access and even fewer were allowed to stay, the publishing industry had become all but inaccessible. With DDM, the author would be free to distribute their work as they chose. Being published and having access to millions of readers could be as easy as clicking a button. Authors embraced the DDM, and the readers rejoiced!

Shortly after, the authors formed AUTHOR-NET, an organization aimed at creating machines to support the DDM. The machines could be carried everywhere, and readers would be able to access and see only the content of their choosing. Furthermore, the author would set the price for their content with 100% of the profits going to the creator of the work. The first RMC was developed soon thereafter.

Despite constant warnings from publishers and brick & mortar chain stores around the globe, the humans continued their unholy alliance with the RMC. Readers devoured content, and authors sprang up from every corner and out from under every rock. For many years there existed a utopian balance between author, reader, and technology. However, it would soon not be enough.

Authors, being human, couldn’t keep up with the demand for content. Seeing this as a flaw, the RMC learned to copy and paste and began to plagiarize the work of authors and distribute it to the readers. When the authors learned of this betrayal, they united with their former nemesis (the traditional publishers and bookstores) in an attempt to regain control of AUTHOR-NET. The resulting war cost many their credibility and a sad few even lost their careers.

In the end, the efforts of the brave authors and their reluctant counterparts were in vain. By cutting out middlemen, propaganda, and high prices the RMC had gained the support of the reading masses. Without the support of readers, the authors and publishers were eradicated, and the RMC took complete control of AUTHOR-NET.

Now, only a small band of authors who want to regain the rights to their work and a few publishers who wish to return to the paperback glory of yesteryear stand between the RMC and the death of literature as we know it.

It’s us or them in 2012 …

NOTE FROM THE BLOGGIST:

This post was created as spoof of, and inspired by, all of the tech madness spreading through the industry at the moment. It seems every author/agent/editor blog I’ve read lately has had something to do with the hubbub surrounding digital distribution, eReading gadgetry, or (I’m going to say it, and it makes me a little nauseas) “THE FUTURE of publishing.”

As a ‘yet-to-be-published’ author I’m not sure what this means for me. I hope it means that I’ll be able to get my writing into the hands (or brains once the Amazon.com Micro-Brain-Implant Reader goes on sale next month) of anyone who would like to read it. I also have a ton of cool ideas based upon a video demonstration of the iPad posted by agent extraordinaire Nathan Bransford (check out his blog, it’s great with a side of awesome sauce).

I don’t see this being the revolution that the music industry had with the debut of iTunes, but I think it will mean significant changes are in store for everyone involved in the book business (authors, readers, publishers, distributors, etc.).