November 21st, 2009 / 11:41 am
Behind the Scenes & Technology

eBooks are probably going to pass away within 10 years

HeideggerThere is no way to sustain interest in reading Catch-22 online. But does eBook also refer to handheld readers like the Nook (whick looks to kill the Kindle)? Cuz I dunno but those things might catch on.

Anyway, Jane Friedman, who used to be the head of HarperCollins but got retired, just started a company called Open Road Integrated Media with the guy who made the movies You Can Count on Me and Boys Don’t Cry (fuckin ICK) (JK). They’re like millionaires or whatever and their plan is to release 750-1000 eBooks next year. Their strategy is to use an unnamed platform to promote the titles on blogs and Twitter. Read about it at NYTimes.

Really what they are is a content marketing system. They’re “publishing” old books which are, you know, like already typed up and stuff, and maybe mostly public domain (I dunno), and don’t need to be manufactured etc — so it’s pretty smart of them to recognize the real work is in marketing the titles. Their secret marketing discovery is the real story. They call it a “multi-platform universe.”

And they’re going to offer self-publishing services. So POD is now ePOD. I think what this means is you send them your book as a PDF (designed to their specs) and they’ll plug it into their doohickey and put you out there for consumption. Which seems like a weird doublething, if you try to think of them as a publisher. Which is how I think of people who put out stories by William Styron and Pat Conroy. But then if they also publish my self-published book, either my book isn’t self-published or they aren’t publishers.

Which I guess is why they call themselves a content marketing company.

Which I guess is just another kiss farewell to doing books with editors and junk.

So maybe not in 10 years, but someday we’re all going to die. In the meantime I’m going to go reread Heidegger’s essay “The Thing,” which I’m sure I can find online somewhere.

20 Comments

  1. Ken Baumann

      I love you, Adam.

  2. Ken Baumann

      I love you, Adam.

  3. reynard

      but i really like rearranging deck chairs!

  4. reynard

      but i really like rearranging deck chairs!

  5. Adam Robinson

      aww nuts

  6. Adam Robinson

      aww nuts

  7. Ken Baumann

      distributor : publisher

  8. Ken Baumann

      distributor : publisher

  9. Jonny Ross

      heidegger looks like he’s ready for blood

      “the next goofy-eyed french pansy to call me an existentialist gets it gooood!”

  10. Jonny Ross

      heidegger looks like he’s ready for blood

      “the next goofy-eyed french pansy to call me an existentialist gets it gooood!”

  11. Stefan

      Do you have a link for ‘The Thing’, Adam? I can’t find it anywhere . . . ???

  12. Stefan

      Do you have a link for ‘The Thing’, Adam? I can’t find it anywhere . . . ???

  13. Adam Robinson
  14. Adam Robinson
  15. dave erlewine

      Heidegger was a Nazi sympathizer, yes?

      Love ya a lot AR, but not on this one. Fuck that Jew-killing bitch.

  16. dave erlewine

      Heidegger was a Nazi sympathizer, yes?

      Love ya a lot AR, but not on this one. Fuck that Jew-killing bitch.

  17. dave erlewine
  18. dave erlewine
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