Posts Tagged ‘independent book stores’

The Author’s Guild on State of Publishing and My comment

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

http://blog.authorsguild.org/2012/01/31/publishings-ecosystem-on-the-brink-the-backstory/

To which I commented  Monopolies are generally evil, and I hold no brief for Amazon.com– although why Amazon’s evil makes Barnes & Noble and Big Publishing into good guys is beyond me.  B&N with their end-of-the-aisle bribe stacks and books with a shorter shelf life than yoghurt.  Puh-leeze.

I personally have published with big publishers, small ones, university presses, and an independent co-operative press.  While I am, at least for the moment, still a member of the Authors Guild, I do not find them representing my interests.  AG works for  Scott Turow and  others who make a lot of money selling books.  I’m glad Mr. Turow and his ilk have a guild to represent them, but don’t let the Authors Guild fool you into thinking it does anything for people who don’t sell a lot of books.

So we’re living in interesting times.  Lean back and enjoy the ride.

Now that I’ve decided on Kindle, Google sells e-books

Monday, December 6th, 2010

It’s not that any of the behemoth companies are good guys, but I do have a principled preference for opener sources– however, when I held a Kindle in the Staples store, it felt right: so slim and neutral.  I liked the Nook, but in the end, not the color.

But now, Google is starting to work with independent stores to make selling e-books simple:  here’s the New York Times article about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/business/media/07ebookstore.html?emc=eta1

Whatever!

Reversal of Fortunes?

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Is Barnes & Noble in trouble and the remaining private bookstores in a better position to handle physical books in the age of e-books?  See what the New York Times thinks.