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NaNoWriMo Now Underway
By Andrew SavikasNovember 1, 2009
One of my favorite keynotes from TOC 2009 was National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) founder Chris Baty. It's November, which means the annual event is now underway. Check out...
Second "Open Feedback" Title Now Online
By Andrew SavikasSeptember 30, 2009
Over on the O'Reilly Labs blog, Keith Fahlgren talks about the latest title to go live in our Open Feedback Publishing System, which gives authors and readers a way to...
Four roles for publishers: staying relevant when you are no longer a gatekeeper
By Andy OramJune 17, 2009
In many areas of publishing, there are enormous resources of free online material and innumerable forums where individuals can quickly and conveniently post their own observations. Since we are no longer gatekeepers, publishers have to focus on how we add quality.
New on O'Reilly Labs: Open Feedback Publshing System
By Andrew SavikasMay 21, 2009
O'Reilly engineer Keith Fahlgren has formally launched our new Open Feedback Publishing System over on O'Reilly Labs: Over the last few years, traditional publishing has been moving closer to the...
Authoring Tools from Alpha Geeks
By Andrew SavikasMay 11, 2009
Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) has posted a nice article covering some of the tools he's built or borrowed to make his writing life more manageable. I'm especially intrigued by the Flashbake...
Indigo's Shortcovers Launched Today: A Good Start, But Room for Reader Improvement
By Andrew SavikasFebruary 26, 2009
The Shortcovers website and companion iPhone and Blackberry apps launched today (we posted a sneak preview back in January). Put simply, it's a website for buying ebooks. But there's a...
At TOC: Best of TOC Writing
By Andrew SavikasFebruary 10, 2009
One of my favorite books of 2007 was The Best of Technology Writing, edited by Steven Levy. We decided to try something similar for this year's TOC Conference, and over...
StartWithXML Research Report Now Available for Sale
By Andrew SavikasFebruary 4, 2009
If you weren't able to attend the StartWithXML Forum last month in New York, the accompanying research report is available for sale. The report covers topics like: Where am I...
"None of this is good or bad; it just is"
By Mac SlocumJanuary 22, 2009
Lev Grossman takes a pragmatic look at the changing state of authors, readers, and the definition of publishing: Self-publishing has gone from being the last resort of the desperate...
Slides from "Essential Tools of an XML Workflow" Webcast
By Mac SlocumDecember 12, 2008
Laura Dawson has made her slides available from the recent TOC Webcast, "Essential Tools of an XML Workflow." A complete recording of the event will be posted here soon. View...
Point-Counterpoint: Digital Book DRM, the Least Worst Solution
By Bill McCoyNovember 24, 2008
In the second part of a point-counterpoint exchange, Bill McCoy examines two scenarios: a publishing industry that doesn't embrace interoperable DRM, and one that does.
Change Always Leaves Someone Behind
By Mac SlocumNovember 11, 2008
Seth Godin discusses the realities of digital change and free distribution in an interview with HarperStudio's The 26th Story: ... the market and the internet don't care if you make...
The Barack SlideShow
By Peter BrantleyNovember 9, 2008
President-elect Obama has been very vocal about supporting an open government policy, and so far the signs are quite promising. See for example this page linked off Obama's transition website,...
Report: Random House Shifts Ebook Royalties to Net Receipts
By Mac SlocumOctober 29, 2008
Richard Curtis says Random House has announced a shift in its ebook royalties in a letter recently sent to literary agents. From E-Reads: Commencing December 1, 2008, the new royalty...
How Should Authors Promote Themselves Online?
By Kate ElthamOctober 23, 2008
Publishers can lend a hand, but authors will be best served by leading their own online publicity projects.
Web Publicity Grows Up, Learns the Value of Conversation
By Mac SlocumOctober 20, 2008
Web publicity works best when the audience is spoken with, not at.
Why You Should Care About XML
By Andrew SavikasSeptember 24, 2008
There are two places to look for useful clues about how XML will actually fit into a publisher's workflow: Web publishing and the "alpha geeks."
TOC Recommended Reading
By Mac SlocumAugust 6, 2008
What's Really Killing Newspapers (Jack Shafer, Slate) Other institutions do far better jobs at issuing social currency these days. What is Facebook but the Federal Reserve Bank of social...
O'Reilly Author and Editor Air Concerns on Industry Pressures
By Andy OramJune 19, 2008
Andy Oram offers an open response to issues raised by Baron Schwartz, lead author of O'Reilly's "High Performance MySQL, Second Edition."
Cautious Optimism for Britannica's Hybrid Web Community
By Mac SlocumJune 11, 2008
There are a few red flags, but a new project from Britannica shows promise in connecting user-generated content and traditional editorial.
Publisher Offers Tips for Embedding Web Links in Ebooks
By Mac SlocumJune 2, 2008
Morris Rosenthal uses links to guide ebook readers to illustrations, diagrams and other Web material. He shares his best practices in this Q&A.
Author Notes Risks and Opportunities in Free Ebooks
By Mac SlocumMay 27, 2008
A post by Steven Poole looks at the arguments and counter-arguments surrounding free digital books.
Storytelling 2.0: Alternate Reality Games
By Liza DalyMay 16, 2008
Storytelling is no longer passive entertainment. Alternate reality games are one new way publishers are engaging readers and turning them into participants.
Measuring Success on Self-Published Titles
By Andrew SavikasApril 23, 2008
Standard sales measures sell self-publishers short.
Industry Questions Raised by "Potter" Encyclopedia Suit
By Mac SlocumApril 14, 2008
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling testified earlier this week against a publisher that wants to release the unofficial Harry Potter Lexicon, a print adaptation of Steven Vander Ark's popular Potter encyclopedia site. From the New York Times: ... Ms. Rowling...
Q&A with WEbook President Sue Heilbronner
By Mac SlocumApril 14, 2008
In this Q&A, WEbook president Sue Heilbronner discusses her company's Web-based collaborative publishing.
Experimenting for the Sake of Experimenting
By Mac SlocumApril 10, 2008
Satellite radio companies Sirius and XM are both touting aggregated programming that focuses on a popular artist or topic (e.g. the '08 election) for a period of time, then gives way to the next subject. Sirius calls them "pop-up channels."...
How Do Publishers and Authors Get Paid in a "Free" World?
By Mac SlocumApril 8, 2008
Kevin Kelly's eight generatives are a jumping-off point for author/publisher payment in a free system.
Survey of Publisher and Author Reaction to HarperCollins Move
By Mac SlocumApril 4, 2008
HarperCollins' new no-return/low-advance business is generating plenty of discussion. Kassia Krozser from BookSquare: If HC can pull this off, it will restore my faith in humanity. In a low-margin business, it just makes sense for everybody. And now that printing...
A Q&A on O'Reilly???s "Up-to-Date" Publishing Experiment
By Mac SlocumApril 1, 2008
O'Reilly has launched a new experiment with the just-released "Essential Silverlight 2" Up-to-Date edition. Readers get a book that's current when they purchase it, but also get access to updates that can be physically inserted into the book.
Google Docs Soon to Sport Offline Editing
By Andrew SavikasApril 1, 2008
While a few brave souls are already using Google Docs for long-form writing (eg, books), one of the most glaring shortcomings for the platform -- that you have to be online to use it -- is now changing. Over...
Does Skipping Publishers Mean Skipping Libraries?
By Andrew SavikasMarch 31, 2008
When I speak to an audience of publishers, I use Getting Real as an important example of how popular bloggers who want to publish can easily skip publishers all together. 30,000 copies of a self-published PDF @ $19 (with...
Amazon Pushes Print-On-Demand Exclusivity
By Laura DawsonMarch 28, 2008
The intertubes have been flapping today about Amazon's latest move to get its POD publishers and self-published authors to exclusively use BookSurge for printing their titles.
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