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May 31, 2007
Mike Shatzkin on "the end of trade publishing"
Mike Shatzkin's BEA talk is absolutely essential reading for anyone involved in trade publishing. He looks into the future and forecasts that "general trade publishing" will increasingly lose ground to "niches and community," and I don't doubt for a second that it's true.
Change is seldom sought; it is usually forced. But in the media world, more than in most others, we are living in an era of blistering change. The future web -- and even unconnected digital devices enabled by the web -- are going to be more content-rich than we have ever imagined, and much of the content will be free.
That's our biggest competitor right now in numerous markets -- Free!
Tech, travel, cooking, gardening, how-to, all of these categories are eminently "nicheable." The key will be to become involved, known, trusted, and linked-to in the online communities that you aspire to reach. Publishers and authors both will need to bring a laser-like focus to individual markets.
Via Publisher's Lunch
Posted by matt at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2007
Chronicle Books Turns 40, Goes Green, Starts a Blog
Congrats to Chronicle Books: a new blog, a new building, and now they're one of the sponsors for the upcoming Maker's Faire in San Mateo. That's how I found their blog. I love their list and I hope I can sell them something this year.
My last book with Chronicle was the very cool Jamming the Media by Gareth Branwyn, but that was 10 years ago!
I admire their green aspirations --
"As a publisher, though, you can’t help but feel guilty about all the trees that go into our craft. That’s one reason we prefer to print our books and stationery titles on papers from sustainable forest growth. We’ve also tried to refurbish the building in an environmentally conscious way. For example, we’ve installed solar panels on the roof. All the old carpet tile was removed and immediately reinstalled in two local projects. And many of the furnishings are crafted here in the Bay Area and have been created from recycled materials."
Posted by matt at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
The ad rocked, Gears of War, Gary Jules and Tears for Fears
The Gears of War TV ad was about the best video game ad I've ever seen, and the game rocked too. Here's the ad again, in this speech about how the eventual viral spread of the ad was entirely unintentional, via Chris Webb.
Microsoft Admits extremely viral Gears of War Ad was unintentional.
I never saw one mashup online, but I wanted to buy the game each time I saw the ad on TV. Frankly, to me the mashups aren't nearly as interesting as the orginal ad, but it's a great marketing story. And for such a gruesome (and fun) game I love that the hook is the simple poem at the heart of the "Mad World" lyrics. It's haunting.
The Gary Jules cover on the ad is an edited down version of the orginal lyrics, roughly:
all around me are familiar faces
worn out places, worn out faces
hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
no tomorrow, no tomorrow
and I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
the dreams in which I'm dying
are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
when people run in circles
it's a very very mad world...
The cover even hit #1 on iTunes.
Posted by matt at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)
May 9, 2007
Scott Kelby Profile in USA Today
Hey, I'm quoted in USA Today this morning as background on this nice profile of Scott Kelby.
I'm responsible for telling reporter Jeff Graham that not many people get rich writing computer books these days, but on the bright side I think what Scott Kelby has done as a Photoshop author and evangelist is inspirational and an excellent model for all sorts of authors who would benefit from thinking of ways to expand their platform and profile.
Jeff notes that I'm in New York, which is off by a fair hair ;-)
I remain the only literary agent in Hangtown, aka Placerville, aka Dry Diggins.
Posted by matt at 9:56 AM | Comments (0)