status quo

I heard a report on NPR this morning about the National Book Awards (banquet was last night, I believe) and dug around a bit to confirm it was all boys. Worst thing, I ASSUMED it was all boys anyway.

One clip from the banquet muchly annoyed me, too. Not only did it refer to Publishing as a sinking ship, practically in the same journalistic breath it claimed that "real books" will always be around and this E-publishing thing is just some fly-by-night medicine show.

No one seems to get, or be willing to say out loud, that it's not in Traditional Publishing's best interest to encourage Epublishing.

Uh huh. That's what the music industry thought, too. Go ahead, Traditional Publishing. Dig in your heels. It's your funeral.


I even recently heard an agent, someone I generally respect, claim that publishing ebooks is as expensive as publishing traditional books. Um. In what universe? Sure as hell not mine. I can self-publish to Kindle, nook, etc, as I've discussed recently, and I'm seriously thinking of doing it because I'd like a practice run at publicity and I have a fantasy novel, well-received by agents but no takers, which I think is pretty well suited to e-pub. Also, I'd like the damn thing to be read and I've had some folks tell me they'd love to read more of my stuff. Like, actual fans and people who READ. (Feel free to chime in here and tell me you'd buy my book and at what price point, knowing full well that I would probably offer it for free here on the site, or a new-and-improved site.)

I appreciate ALL forms of publishing and books. I like seeing my stuff in print on my shelf. But I also LOVE sending someone a link to my story. So easy and I think, honestly, I garner more reads that way.

I think ebooks are very appropriate for books like QUENCHER and the rest of our series, because honestly, how many times are you going to read an erotic romance, except for certain bits, over and over and over...gahhh. Romance novels account for the most books bought, and recycled/thrown away. So I like reading sexy and/or short fiction online. But when I lay on my back in bed, I prefer to sink my teeth into a novel. My favorite format? The paperback. It's easy to hold, which is important for someone with little hands and carpel tunnel symptoms. A light little Kindle might be the ticket for me. But for my shelves I prefer hardbacks.

One of my partners at Electric Spec brought up an intriguing point the other day. Humankind has advanced admirably with the help of fossil fuels. Will the loss of fossil fuels stop us in our tracks?

Huh. I guess if everyone has the same attitude that Traditonal Publishing has, re: status quo, it very well might.

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