(Moderator’s note: Inserted photo shows Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia being interviewed at SXSW on Geek Entertainment TV. Also check out GETV’s Feb. 28 grilling of Anil Dash about Typepad problems, as well as a Drupal Boys interview.)
This is tangentially related to e-books, but I thought readers might be interested to know I’ve been blogging about South by Southwest Interactive conference. You can read all my notes about the SXSW 2006 Conference here. Honestly, I had intended to make some ebook-specific entries about the book digitalization panel, but my bluetooth keyboard was doing wacky things with Abiword on my Nokia 770, so I lost a lot of notes. (You can see my partial thoughts on that panel here.) A few random notes:
- The highlight of the conference was Burnie Burns’ rant about AT&T and the idea of “net neutrality” and charging content providers like Google and Itunes for priority access (Listen to the mp3). After noting the curious resemblance of AT&Ts new logo to the Death Star, Burns said. “It looks like it’s half-built, but don’t be fooled; it is fully operational.”
- Curiously, the Associated Writers’ Program conference was being held at the same time in the very same building. On one side “writers” were discussing “literary topics,” while on the other side, “content creators” were discussing new ways to use media. And yes, some of those content creators were actually writers in disguise. (See Dan Wickett’s coverage of the AWP side of the building.)
- Oddly, for a geek conference, there were tons of p-book signings. At some sessions audience members received complimentary copies of the speaker’s book. (That’s one advantage to signing with a major publisher, apparently).
- At another panel discussing the cultural impact of portable devices (here’s the mp3), I wait in line to ask a dumb question: “Now that I have a large number of portable devices, will the industry start to standardize the types of batteries and rechargers?” Not likely, the panelist replies. HW manufacturers are so busy implementing features that they make decisions about batteries at the last minute. Standardization is unlikely to come anytime soon. So hang onto those multiple battery rechargers!
robert said:
> (That’s one advantage to signing with a major publisher, apparently).
actually, it’s more an advantage of doing a large press run.
and yes, you also have to be smart enough to know that
giving away those copies will “prime the pump” for sales.
but it’s a lot easier to “receive” that enlightenment when
your per-book cost is twenty cents instead of two dollars.
dan poynter has been telling self-publishers for years that
they absolutely must do a large press run out of the gate,
and go the p.o.d. route only _after_ that first run (if then),
so their unit-cost is low enough that they’ll seed reviewers…
-bowerbird
“Now that I have a large number of portable devices, will the industry start to standardize the types of batteries and rechargers?”
And almost to the point, will they make then user-replaceable?
Companies don’t really give a thought to what we’ll do with the device we buy today three years down the line, because they really want us buying a new device in three years time.