Aug
12
What’s a poor author to do?
August 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment
My idol Mark Morford, deviant journalist and author, and sexy, sexy man, talks up the state of the printed book in the age of iPad/Kindle/eBook at a Las Vegas brain-trust where bookish people convened to grok the concept of saving/reinventing book publishing in a mere 72 hour time slot:
…”I was first sort of amazed to learn just how few of these otherwise smart and well-informed folk had much of an idea how the book business works, from imprints to distribution, contracts to cover art. No one really knew how books get made, who makes which decisions, how little control authors have, what we’re expected to do nowadays, and so on.
So immersed am I in the wicked funhouse of medialand, it struck me that few in the general populace know — or care — how it all works. Not that they should, but still.
No big deal, that. But it ties straight into the second surprise, which was far more troubling, albeit still understandable. For few also seemed to have much sense of just how bad it’s become for books and authors, how much corporate consolidation has occurred, how increasingly extinct is the “undiscovered author” or killer book deal, how few writers can make a living at their craft anymore..”
This week’s Debriefer takes a beady-eyed, legal-eyed look at the emerging world of e-book formats and the related contractual issues they raise… what’s a poor author to do? Plus the usual transatlantic banter between Donna and Peter as they thrash out the business that is book!
Presented by Donna Ballman and Peter Cox. Click here to listen.
P.S. More very smart and bookish podcasts are always updated and ready for you here, on Writerscast.