Highbrow Magazine - digital publishing https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/digital-publishing en The Pros and Cons of Digital Publishing https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2506-pros-and-cons-digital-publishing <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 06/07/2013 - 10:20</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumEbook%20%28Design%20Continuum%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=P74ZbMzP"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumEbook%20%28Design%20Continuum%20Wiki%29.jpg?itok=P74ZbMzP" width="480" height="390" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> At the AWP Conference this past March, more than 10,000 people gathered for a long weekend of readings; panels; catching up with old friends, and meeting editors and publishers at the book fair, which featured table after table of traditional and a multitude of online publishers and websites dedicated to creating writing communities, fostering the literary arts, and providing toolboxes for creating and promoting the work of writers. </p> <p>  </p> <p> When I co-chaired the AWP conference 10 years ago in Chicago, few book fair tables were wired. It wasn’t until late 2004 when the most notable of online writer’s resources was founded:  Web Del Sol, which remains one of the Internet’s premier online literary clearing houses with links to a variety of high-caliber journals, reviews, interviews, and writers conferences.  According to its website, “Web del Sol is a collaboration on the part of scores of dedicated editors, writers, poets, artists, and staff whose job it is to acquire and frame the finest contemporary literary art and culture available in America and abroad, and to array it in such a manner that it speaks for itself.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> In the ensuing decade, the role of technology in the artistic and business aspects of the writer’s life has changed dramatically. The previous two articles in this series dealt with technology and changes in publishing; this article will explore the role of technology in the work of writers.</p> <p>  </p> <p> One of the ongoing themes in the variety of AWP Conference panels that focused on the future of publishing this year had to do with the role of technology in the marketing of books, and how much of that marketing must be done by the writers themselves.  Time and again agents, publishers, and editors emphasized the symbiotic technological relationship between publisher and author. Synced Facebook and Twitter campaigns, the use of Goodreads as a forum to cultivate readership, book/author websites and blogs all play into promoting a book.  With roughly half a million new titles being published each year, “people are finding books differently now” because “no brick and mortar stores can carry all the books” according to AmazonEncore’s Jeff Belle.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2mediumEbooks%20%28goXunuReviews%20Flickr%29_0.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 547px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Goodreads, Shelfari, Scribd and Library Thing among others are some of the places people are going to discover those books. Up until recently, these social networks for book lovers have provided an unfiltered place for readers to come together and share reviews, reading lists, and forum discussions.  The recent acquisition of Goodreads by Amazon.com suggests the importance of such sites to book sales and promotion–and its author toolbar feature allows authors to promote their titles to Goodreads followers.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Although some writers just use these networks to blast blurbs of their latest releases–often without permission and in ways that fail to follow the guidelines of discussion groups and online communities, many writers and publishers have come up with a variety of interesting and innovative ways to promote their work via social networks. To celebrate the electronic release of her most recent book, <em>Pretend the World</em>, poet Kathryn Kysar threw an online Labor Day book party. People from all over the world posted pictures of food, links to music videos, and “played” party.  Kysar admits, though it was more “publicity stunt than anything in response to the question ‘How do you have a launch party for an e-book?’” Still, sales spiked slightly during the weekend thanks to the heightened awareness of the publication.</p> <p>  </p> <p> April Lindner says her experience on a virtual book tour for her first Young Adult novel was positive and she attributes it to better book sales. “Over the course of maybe a week, [she] contributed to four different blogs, with a mix of interviews, brief essays (on a topic of the blog's choosing) -- things like that. It definitely helped with visibility.... The blog entries are staggered, and you can then link to them on Facebook, Twitter, your own Web page.” Such virtual book tours provide access to an audience without requiring outlay of travel expenses, the time away from home, and the bodily wear and tear of long book tours.</p> <p>  </p> <p> On the other hand, it’s harder to gauge the sales success of virtual book tours, and such cyber events may impact the peer-pressure element of buying a book at a “live” event, where the books are on display, available then and there, signed by the author, and you are one of a group of people buying the book. The success of the event is easily evaluated in terms of receipts and seats filled. Most participants in such events want copies of their books signed, as keepsakes of the experience.  They also want the evidence that they were there, part of a “happening.” Cyber events (and e-books) ignore this aspect of book promotion.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumbookstore%20%28ShelbyH%29.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> And this type of promotion isn’t going away; cyber events and conferences supplement the traditional book tour/reading/writers conference experience.  Although e-book sales continue to rise, Jeffrey Lependorf of the Council of Literary Magazines and Press pointed out at the AWP Conference that “few presses are doing purely e-books.” Julie Schaper, executive director of Consortium Book Sales &amp; Distribution notes that only 10 perecent of Consortium books sold are digital editions and only 60 percent of Consortium Presses release digital editions. Therefore, the goal is to sell paper editions.</p> <p>  </p> <p> This work has always fallen on the author. Jennifer Joel, an agent at International Creative Management, notes that “the greatest challenge has always been getting a book visible.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Social media, websites, and blogs all help with this visibility. One other way authors can attract attention  is in the form of virtual writing communities: online forums designed to give writers a place to find like-minded authors.  Many of these sites offer writing prompts to get work started; establish deadlines that encourage writers to actually finish pieces; and forums to post drafts of work. Finished work may get rated and ranked, highlighted on the group’s website, and in other ways “published” within the confines of the writing community.  Sites such as The Write Idea, CritiqueGroups.com, Writing.com, Writers Cafe, Critique Circle Online Workshop, Fuse, Authonomy, and Scribophile (which describes itself as “the friendliest and most successful writing workshop online”) provide opportunities for writers who may be shut out from traditional writing communities.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Of course, there’s no easy way to gauge if success within the online writing community equates to success outside of it. Liv Lansdale found a great deal of early success on Writers Bloq, which she described as “a useful incentivizing tool. They had a feature called ‘Staff Picks,’ where they help a writer get noticed by promoting one of his pieces through their blog. They also encouraged writers whose work they particularly admired, or whose works had been viewed and ‘liked’ most by other members of the online community, to blog for them.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The site provided an audience, and as Lansdale prepared for her first chapbook, she believed Writers Bloq might provide a pre-fab community interested in these poems, But the site recently closed the community to become “a small publishing house for the most popular writers -- one or two of which,” Lansdale believes, “were on the staff from the beginning. As it turns out, this was their business model all along.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Like joining any writing community, it pays to familiarize yourself with the goals of the community, the work of its writers (and their level of seriousness), and the aesthetic sensibilities of the membership.  And once you’ve joined, it behooves you to be active and engaged in terms of reading and responding to the writing of its membership.</p> <p>  </p> <p> All of this can feel like a lot of extra work for a writer– whether it’s finding a community or promoting a recent release, technology has added more tasks to the writer’s to-do list.  Publishing is a business, and publishers want to know that writers are going to support their titles and bring readers with them.  In the romantic notions we have about literature, the writer produces the work and someone else does all the work and then the writer gets the accolades, enjoys positive book reviews, and cashes the royalty checks while typing away on the next bestseller.  It doesn’t work that way.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But one can get forget about the first mission of being a writer, so it pays to heed the advice of Simon &amp; Schuster senior editor Jofie Ferrari-Adler, who says this about the changes in publishing and the role of the author in marketing and promoting: “Don’t worry about it.  Write good books.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Gerry LaFemina, a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine, <em>is the author of a book of stories (Wish List), two books of prose poems, and six books of poems, including</em> <em>Vanishing Horizon</em><em> (2011, Anhinga Press).  He directs the Frostburg Center for Creative Writing at Frostburg State University. He divides his time between Maryland and New York.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong><em>Photos: Design Continuum (Wikipedia Commons);  GoxunuReviews (Flickr); ShelbyH (Flickr).</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/publishing-world" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">publishing world</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/online-publishing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">online publishing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ebooks" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ebooks</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/writing-communities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">writing communities</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/online-magazines" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">online magazines</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/print" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">print</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/digital-publishing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">digital publishing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/writers-conferences" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">writers conferences</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gerry LaFemina</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Design Continuum, Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:20:07 +0000 tara 2981 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2506-pros-and-cons-digital-publishing#comments As the Publishing World Goes Digital, Seniors Still Cling to Print https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2481-publishing-world-goes-digital-seniors-still-cling-print <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 05/30/2013 - 09:52</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1newspapers.jpg?itok=AtFyIFhH"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1newspapers.jpg?itok=AtFyIFhH" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/05/will-online-news-kill-print-not-so-fast-say-seniors.php">New America Media</a> and Irish Echo:</p> <p>  </p> <p> NEW YORK--Bridget Cagney’s mother read to her every night when she was a small child. “Then when I learnt to read books and newspapers, and you had to learn quickly in those days, it was the greatest joy of my childhood,” said the Queens, N.Y., resident about growing up in Ireland’s County Cork. “And reading still is a great joy.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Cagney buys the <em>New York Times</em> about every second day and all three of the Irish weeklies published in New York City. “And Jim gets the <em>Post</em>,” she said of her husband, who emigrated with her in 1967.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Most Seniors Online—But Fewer to Read News</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> The Cagneys don’t own or use a computer, which puts them in a minority among those 65 and older in the United States. Last year, the Pew Research Center for the Internet and American Life announced that for the first time a majority of seniors (53 percent) use e-mail or the Internet.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But a previous Pew survey revealed that most of the older set doesn’t get news from any online source. The study found that only four in 10 members of those 65-74 ever go online for news, and merely one in six members of the “Greatest Generation” (75 and over) do so.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Paul Finnegan, executive director of the New York Irish Center in Long Island City, which encourages seniors to acquire computer skills, said his observations coincide with the Pew Center’s findings.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In an informal survey he conducted in early May of those who attend the center’s Wednesday seniors’ lunch, 40 people said they preferred newspapers as a source of news, while five indicated TV or radio was best for them. Only four chose the Internet.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “That TV/radio figure is a surprise,” Finnegan said. He wasn’t surprised, though, that all four of those who voted for online news are enthusiastic stalwarts of the center’s Saturday morning computer class.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Center regular Julia Anastasio, who sometimes goes online, is one of those who favor print media. “I get the <em>Daily News</em> every day and the <em>Irish Echo</em> every week,” said the native of County Offaly, Ireland. “<em>The Irish Independent</em> [Ireland’s largest-circulation daily] opens up on my computer. I sometimes go to the computer class and I’m getting better. I know how to Google.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Anastasio’s favorite website is that of the Offaly-based Midland Radio 103, where she can read death notices and local sports news, as well as listen to music.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Even more enthusiastic computer users interviewed for this article regard online sources as supplemental, not as a replacement for print media.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I'm computer fluent,” said Neil Hickey, a journalist for more than 50 years. He subscribes, though, to the print editions of the <em>New York Times</em>, <em>Wall Street Journal</em> and several periodicals.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “There are huge advantages to the digital revolution,” said Hickey, an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a former editor-at-large for the Columbia Journalism Review. “I couldn't live without Google and e-mail. The whole world of information is at your fingertips.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “YouTube,” he added, “is a great joy and a phenomenal resource.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> But, Hickey said, “I tell students that, for me, at least, reading news online is unsatisfying and insufficient to my needs.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Views of Three Former Teachers </strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Three former teachers interviewed expressed contrasting positions about the Internet. But all, like Hickey, said that for them print news is primary.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Patrick O’Sullivan, who spent his career teaching Spanish, commented, “You could spend hours at the computer.” The New Jersey resident, who has a second career as a realtor and follows the stock market as a hobby, continued, “But I go online for what I can’t read in the <em>New York Times</em> and <em>Barron’s.</em>”</p> <p>  </p> <p> O’Sullivan is unimpressed with the news he sees online. “Unlike the rich writing he finds in the <em>Times</em>, he said, “There’s no great beauty to it.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Joan Monsoury of Manhattan, said she relies on the <em>Times</em>, NPR News and PBS. She said she doesn’t feel “motivated” to acquire a computer: “If anything happens, I hear about it several times a day.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Former English teacher Pat McGivern is someone who might be expected to take to the online experience more easily than others. Although she is a typist who worked with computers in classrooms before retiring just over a decade ago, she doesn’t own one. Instead, she checks and responds to e-mail at her local library on Long Island.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2newspapers%20%28NS%20NewsFlash%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 376px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> "Computers are a nuisance,” said McGivern, who still clips out newspaper articles to give to friends and family members.</p> <p>  </p> <p> She explained that reading e-mails causes her eye strain after a while. That is not a problem when it comes to print, she noted, but lack of time is.</p> <p>  </p> <p> McGivern, who is studying the Irish language at Lehman College, said she hardly has time these days for the <em>Times</em>’ extensive arts articles she likes, plus the <em>Irish Echo’s</em> coverage of music and arts “and to know what's going on," McGivern said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>‘Watered Down’ Print</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> If the <em>Times</em> contains too much, McGivern finds that other print media offer too little. She recently dropped her subscription to <em>Time </em>magazine. “It's too dull and watered down,” she said. She had similar complaints about Long Island’s Catholic paper, which recently changed to a magazine format.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “We had very intellectual Catholic publications coming into the house in the 1950s. Now, they’re all very watered down. There’s not much in the way of theology,” she said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Maurice “Mickey” Carroll stated, “There’s a lot of garbage passing around as news.” He should know. Carroll was the reporter for the defunct <em>New York Herald Tribune</em>, who was in the basement of Dallas police headquarters when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot dead live on national television following the Kennedy assassination.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Today, said Carroll, who worked for nine newspapers, the <em>Times</em> among them, “You’re getting blogs, opinion, amateurish stuff. It’s neatly printed. It looks the same.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Now the director of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Carroll stressed that in the past, “You knew how to behave with facts. It was in your blood. Even with new digital media, you hope that they will absorb the same standards.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Optimistic about the economic viability of professional journalism, though, Carroll said, “Fingers crossed, say a prayer, it will sort itself out.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Still, Carroll worries that the rise of cable news and the multiplicity of sources online means that people can cherry-pick the evidence to suit their argument, a development he feels undermines the national conversation.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “TV is a big trap for seniors, particularly male seniors,” said Pat McGivern. “My friends in the Midwest are more liberal, but my friends in New York-- some of them listen to the guys who rant and rave.” She added that a member of her family believes that NPR is under the control of communists.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Newspapers’ ‘Serendipitous Aspect’</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> Carroll said he “surfs the headlines” online. “Every now and then I look at <em>Politico</em>,” he said. But he believes that looking through a newspaper yields better results. “The serendipitous aspect,” he said. “That’s lost [online].</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I’ve got to have a newspaper in my hands. But that’s because I’m old,” Carroll said, with a laugh. His friend Francis X. Clines, a member of the <em>Times </em>editorial board, told him that he’s typically the only person in the elevator at work with the newspaper under his arm. “None of the kids have it,” he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> For some seniors, it is more than a case of what they’re used to; it’s what they like.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I love the feel of the paper,” said Bridget Cagney, who sets aside time to read at the end of the day. “I get a great sense of warmth when I look at headlines in [the Hudson News stand] Grand Central.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Cagney emphasized, “I can’t imagine giving up the paper. I deplore the day that we have to.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <em>This article is adapted from a story by Peter McDermott for the  Irish Echo through a MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellowship, a project of New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America. </em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Photo:</strong> <em>Today’s New York newsstand is packed with print—from the</em> Times <em>and</em> Post <em>to such as ethnic-media fare as</em> El Dario, the Polish Nowy Dziennik, Jewish Press <em>and all three Irish papers.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong><em>Irish Echo </em></strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong><em>Photos: New America Media; FS NewsFlash (Flickr, Creative Commons).</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/irish-echo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">irish echo</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/printed-word" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">printed word</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/newspapers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">newspapers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-times" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New York Times</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-post" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york post</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/digital-news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">digital news</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/online" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">online</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/digital-publishing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">digital publishing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/printed-newspapers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">printed newspapers</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american media</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/npr" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">NPR</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Peter McDermott</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 30 May 2013 13:52:55 +0000 tara 2937 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2481-publishing-world-goes-digital-seniors-still-cling-print#comments