That's the thrust of an article in Forbes.  Picking up on a Wall Street Journal Books blog post by self-published author Nicholas Carr, the article raises some interesting questions: But as with other forays into the digital realm, electronic publishing’s benefits come with some drawbacks. Printed books traditionally serve as reliable historical records, but if authors and publishers maintain the power to alter e-books periodically to make them more commercially attractive to consumers, the texts’ validity such texts could be compromised. For example, a book that doesn’t do as well as expected by its publisher may be changed according to consumer feedback....

My previous post discussed the problem publishers are facing with Amazon’s stepping into the role of book publisher rather than just bookseller. On October 17, 2011, one New York Times front page headline read “Amazon Signing Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal.” Read a bit further into the article and one discovers that Amazon isn’t talking about the number of editors it is employing (if any). One also discovers that Russell Grandinetti, a top Amazon executive, says, “The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader. Everyone who stands between those two has both risk...

I have been following the story regarding Amazon’s foray into publishing. It reminded me of an old (early 1960s) hit by Gerry and the Pacemakers called How Do You Do It? So let’s set the question with Gerry and the Pacemakers. As the song asks and says, “If I only knew, I’d do it to you.” And that is the crux of the matter in the latest nose thumbing by Amazon. If publishers cannot figure out what is happening, cannot see the upheaval that is coming, then perhaps they should fold their tents and slither away in the night. The truth is that...

We're going to try something new and I hope it will be a benefit to the community. If you have a job opening that is ebook or epublishing related let me know and I'll publish it here on Friday and Monday. Give me the details and your contact info and we'll get the word out. Let's start out with this one: David Allender at Scholastic is looking for a NYC-based kid's ebook editor/marketer. Contact him for details: DAllender (at) Scholastic.com...

Here’s the tough question: Is there a future for freelance editors in the ebook Age? To which we can add this question: If there is, what kind of future will it be? There are few things that freelance editors can be certain of, but here are some of those few things: Every day our numbers increase as increasing numbers of people turn to freelance editing as either a full-time career or for a second income Every day colleagues, including those with years of experience, are trying to find in-house work and give up freelancing Every day there are fewer jobs available for a larger...

In today’s newspapers were articles about how the conservatives are gearing up to attack President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. The grounds were the usual — too liberal, too activist, too outspoken, too quiet, too something. Similarly, the liberals were gearing up to defend. Role reversals from the Bush years. As the articles noted, a mainstay of conservative judicial thinking is a return to original intent. And that got me thinking — no, not about judicial appointments, well yes, about judicial appointments, but no, not for this article — about who I will vote for in the November elections,...

From the Making Light blog. After quoting a review that takes the book industry to task for being run by accountants who are trying to get nothing but an instant profit, Patrick Neilsen Hayden, a practicing SF editor says: Book publishing was never a heaven “run by editors”, and it is by no means today a hell “run by accountants.” If our “sole interest” was “instant profit,” not only would we never do any number of the things we actually do every day, we probably wouldn’t be in book publishing at all. Just thinking about what I did in the...

The Apple iPad will not kill the Kindle. In this installment of my Kindle shakedown series, I contend that the ideal ereader should not become a multipurpose device like the forthcoming iPad, or the HP Slate, or whatever comes next. It should instead become a fully dual-purpose device, with two screens dedicated for the two purposes of reading and writing. Some say the multipurpose iPad will kill the single-purpose Kindle. I disagree. This year I have discovered the joy of single-purpose devices. Most computers are multipurpose devices, designed to do everything but not always in the best way. I easily prefer...

Earlier this month, as a guest writer on Charlie Stross’s blog, Elizabeth Bear wrote an essay about “the future of web publishing,” centering around the “hyperfiction environment” called Shadow Unit in which she takes part. I couldn’t help but be amused by the subject of the post. You see, history repeats itself. Bear et al may very well be right about being part of the “future” of Internet publishing—but in the format in which they are writing, they have also stumbled squarely onto its past. To note, I do not mean this in any derogatory sense. Though I have not read...

Last night, Paul Biba startled me with an offer: he had received a review unit of Astak’s 5” Pocket PRO EZ Reader, but did not have the time to review it. Did I want to? Did I ever‽ This will make a great opportunity to compare this competing e-book reader to what I remember of the Sony. With that in mind, I am starting a new series of columns: Two weeks with an Astak 5”. I actually expect to have this reader longer than two weeks—Paul believed it was mine to keep, though I will try not to get too attached...