Still, I kind of like the idea of a book doing market research for its publisher. That would be harder to stop, because it has a good use: figuring out what kinds of books you like and how you like to read them. Of course, the real problem is that a lot of people prefer novelty and hate being bored by repetition. I suspect it's rather harder to find that sweet spot between something that's new and neat, and something that's weird and off-putting, and I'm not sure that any home-based research will help writers reach that sweet spot more often than something as simple as an old-fashioned slush pile will.
]]>We've seen some "viral campaigns" aim at the same methodology, and generally miss, though some hit.
Really beautiful takes time, money, and luck.
]]>I remember the ads on the back pages of US comic books back in the early 60s. They gave me fleeting glimpses of another country, another civilisation. I managed to hang on to a few of them and now they make me see an era long gone, a distant world.
The feral books will live gloriously for some years and then they will displaced by another predator. They will become museum specimens, some of them. I hope some collectors will grab them at the peak of their flashing beauty. Enjoy life when it goes by you.
]]>I turned off WiFi the first time I took the reader on a plane, and have left it turned off ever since. After reading that some vendors actively used their readers to spy on users, I suspect that I will never turn it back on. (But never is a strong word, so ...)
]]>If they have the list of works you've already read, they can feed that to a computational engine that implements the concept of beauty as compressibility (see here), snapshot it at "present day", then spawn thousands of copies and throw the slushpile at them to figure out what you'd like to read next.
I don't think anyone's done it yet, so I don't know how well it'll work, but someone's going to try for a better recommender than "guessing at a preferences bin and recommending what others in the same bin recommend" at some stage.
]]>He has automated the composition of his ridiculously esoteric titles, collecting the contents by spidering the Web and mining professional databases. A few luckless researchers or librarians sometimes buy them.
As far as I know, he hasn't started writing novels yet.
]]>Up to now we have relied on publishers to do this for us, they select authors and put the time and effort into letting us know who is worth reading. Authors published this way have by and large passed the quality test (OK - Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer slipped through).
This has now changed. As self-publishing accelerates the problem of separating out the dross is only going to get more difficult. The open question is whether the publishing industry has the ability to, and can afford to, adapt. This is where putting adverts into books may come in as a misguided attempt by publishers to reduce book prices. I think few readers are that price sensitive and it would be a bad mistake to try this route.
Clearly authors need to treat writing as a business requiring planning and marketing but this is nothing new; Dickens spent much of his time promoting his own work. It has been interesting to read Charles Stross's comments both on his process and the publishing industry in general. It interests, although does not surprise, me that his process is a production line rather than an artisanal workshop. Having read his books, the conceptual thought and plot organization obviously happens but the blog suggests more the mechanistic grind that happens once those decisions have been made.
So how are we going to find books to read?
Whilst I maintain a list of "approved" authors there are not enough to keep me in reading material - please note CERTAIN AUTHORS MUST WRITE FASTER :-). I read a lot admittedly, it's that or my brain eats itself, which is why I look at the self-published material. I have had some pleasant surprises with cheap, well written, literate, books and I have also found a small number of books written by the functionally illiterate who can write a good story (really weird experience).
I read blogs to identify new writers; Stina Leicht quoted by wishamc @29 is a great example, I wouldn't have read her work without this blog. I also read comments and lists to identify new authors. This suggests that the future requires a much more "social" approach to marketing - it's no longer a matter of getting a good review in the TLS. I doubt that this is a huge step for the publishing industry.
]]>Stronger than that; we know readers who buy hardback or paperback aren't sensitive to price, because those that are buy second-hand or pick it up in the library.
]]>It's one of the few forms I don't particularly mind - but it is untargeted and unsolicited advertising.
]]>Nope.
Spam is attention theft without consent -- it tries to sneak into your eyeballs even if you deny permission.
In contrast, you go into a bookshop of your own volition: there's implicit consent.
(This goes for any shopping experience you initiate, too.)
]]>Here's the thing: would you read a book with ads in it, if it was free? That's how a lot of web sites work. That's how TV works. Given how desperate publishers are for income, it wouldn't surprise me to see them try the same model - and e-books are the perfect vehicle. Plus, then they could charge a premium for "ad-free" versions. And the less scrupulous (or more desperate) the publisher, the more aggressive the ads are going to get.
Sadly, I think OGH is right on this one.
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