I’ve now handled both an IPad and a Nook as well as my brother-in-law’s Kindle. The IPad is very attractive, but I’m not sure why it isn’t a computer– my husband’s new big screen is very attractive as well, The Nook felt very nice in my hand, and I could imagine sinking into the telling of a story on its dull but easy-to-read screen. I downloaded a free copy of The Eustace Diamonds which turned out to come from Google scans, and while the text was easy to read, there were dumb little page breaks from the old short pages. Still, the idea of all of Trollope there in my hand when I go on vacation…
Archive for April, 2010
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
Well here’s something exciting: John Edgar Wideman is not only publishing a book of microfiction on Lulu.com, he is judging a contest of microfiction and will include the winner’s story in an edition of his book! Here’s a note on Huffington Post.
Is this the beginning of the end of Publishing As We Know It? A well known writer with awards, a MacArthur grant, and, I presume, options, has chosen to go with a digital self-publishing company? What next? Universal wi-fi?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Chris Echaurre sends this link to an interesting piece about novelist Colm Toibin and technology: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63J69X20100420?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=76 . Toibin, who writes with a (gasp!) ink pen claims to be a technophobe and says he tried a Kindle once and didn’t like it, but at the same time feels the Internet has changed his life and the lives of others, especially previously isolated individuals like gay men in small towns and others who have felt alone and can now feel part of a community.
Also, Kim W. and John A. recommend Ken Auletta’s article in the New Yorker on publishing and the price of ebooks: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Check out Verlyn Klinkenborg in the NYTimes, analyzing the difference between ereading and book reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/opinion/15thu4.html .
The Beauty of Non-Specialization
Monday, April 12th, 2010I write occasionally about how I began life as a book maker: how I loved to cut little pages and staple them together, color the covers, invent trademarks, and even, if I didn’t lose interest, writing an actual story to fill the pages.
It would appear that I am ending the same way, as a full service book maker. Yes, I have a book coming out from a university press in a couple of months, published in the conventional way, and yes, my book on writing novels is about to be published by a smaller press, and yes, I intend to continue to get attention (and cash) from large commercial presses.
But this digital age is allowing me to have a wonderful time making books again. I am formatting some of our Hamilton Stone Editions books for e-readers; I keep web sites with information and reviews for Hamilton Stone and for myself. I am learning how to do a (hard copy) book cover using templates provided by printers, and how to make a book block that is readable and attractive.
One of the most wonderful things about childhood has always been that healthy human young are generalists: they dance and sing and throw balls and cook and run and pick flowers and pretend and make art and act and tell stories. Growing up is, from one angle, all about specializing. By the teen years, some of us are athletes, some are Brains, some are artsy, some are musical, some already making money.
So I feel that this digital world is enlarging my scope again.
A Real Male American…
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010In today’s NYTimes the obituary of Dr. Edward Roberts, inventor of the Altair 8800 microcomputer. He worked in the early years with Gates and Allen , who wrote something called “Microsoft Basic” for the little machine, and then it was off from microcomputers for hobbyists to personal computers for consumers and the world. So this guy Roberts sold his business for a tidy sum, went to medical school in the late 80′s and became a family practitioner! Still tinkering in his spare time, making stuff. Reminds me in his interests and approach to life (moving on) of my dad, my people, really. Tinkerers and jettisoners of the past. A real American of the male persuasion.
And what has this done to/for all of us in the arts? Changed everything of course. I could do without the barrage of ads on the internet, though.