Deep thoughts
Sunday, 31 January 2010Anyone who thinks the fight going on over ebooks right now between Amazon and publisher Macmillan isn’t a big deal might consider that books have been a literally fundamental technology for us Westerners for at least the past half-millennium or so, and that this current dispute is really about who controls the medium. Which is, of course, the message. Anyway, good thoughts and summary here (via bulicks).
Sometimes my authors refer to me as their ‘press agent’ and I’m like, No girl, YOU are your press agent. Books are not iPods or makeup where a publicist and marketer are *required* to craft stories and consumer experiences. Authors and to a degree editors do that within the book itself. It’s as perfect a self-contained Thing as you could ever get, which is probably why it’s been a literally fundamental technology for us Westerners for at least the past half-millennium or so. My favorite part of the Steamboats piece is where he’s like, “Leave aside whether ebooks are worth doing at all,” I hope he writes more on that later.
@Brian: “Ents, do your worst!” is pretty classic.