Filed under: Copyright, Creative Commons, DRM, Enthusiasms, Industry Change, Kindle | Tags: Amazon, Green Apple Books, Kindle, Mocking, More mocking, Orwell
Green Apple Books in San Francisco has put together two great videos playing old school books against the Amazon Kindle.
In case you’re wondering what amazing tactile – not to mention tethered – experiences the Amazon Kindle offers please check these videos for details.
Many posts on this blog advocate embracing new digital technologies and occasionally mock publishers for dragging their feet in adopting these new technologies and not making books available digitally for their customers. Yes, I am the same guy who writes those posts, too, but recognize this: I am not in favour of brutal, clunky, exclusive, non-customer friendly technologies that cost $400 USD and don’t actually allow you to own the content that you pay for – see Kindle vs George Orwell’s 1984 for more details. That is something that’s too ridiculous to consider.
I believe in digital dissemination and ease of use for ebooks via things like the iPhone and/or whatever technology that is inclusive and open as opposed to exclusive and tethered, but I also believe that the digital revolution in publishing is only going to make publishers make better books and more money.
I’m happy to see the guys at Green Apple Books rightfully mocking the Amazon Kindle.
Filed under: Enthusiasms, Industry Change, Kindle, Social Media | Tags: Book Ninja, Boyd Morrison, Bronwyn Kienapple, Simon and Schuster, Susan Tunis, The Ark
Boyd Morrison is certainly an interesting guy. Not only does he represent the first known instance of a writer completely subverting the traditional submission process for turning a manuscript into a printed work – he went around the slush pile like water around a rock – but he’s also worked for NASA, Microsoft and he’s been on Jeopardy! And he’s an actor. And he lives just a few hours away in Seattle, Washington. All good, as they say.
Bronwyn Kienapple brought this up over at Book Ninja earlier today and it’s bound to generate a lot of discussion.
If nothing else Amazon/Kindle is looking really good right now while Simon and Schuster may come off looking like geniuses. Or early-adopting opportunists but why split hairs? For his part – from my experience with his website – Morrison seems like a shrewd self-promoter with enough technical expertise, writerly talent and gumption to subvert the traditional publishing acquistions process. A trail blazer, you might say.
Both the Ark and another book in the series will be published in hard cover next year. The details of how this happened and who at Simon & Schuster recognized the potential in the author and book is still nebulous.
Some details are available at Susan Tunis’ blog and while we’re all waiting for an official story I’m going to try to contact Boyd for a Books on the Radio interview! For people who are interested in some of the meta-details here’s a link to a Kindle discussion board hosted by the author.
Filed under: Copyright, Creative Commons, Enthusiasms, Industry Change, Kindle, Music | Tags: blip.tv, Cory Doctorow, Digital Rights Management, Doctorow's Law, DRM, ebooks, O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishers
I have finally figured out how to embed video from Blip.tv! I am extremely happy to post this excellent video of Cory Doctorow speaking at the O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in February 2009. The title of Cory’s talk is TOC09 Digital Distribution and the Whip Hand: Don’t Get iTunesed with Your eBooks.
This video saw the first appearance of something called Doctorow’s Law, which states: “Any time someone puts a lock on something you own, against your wishes, and doesn’t give you the key, it’s not being done to your benefit.”
books on the radio 