t’s fun to watch the birth of a brand new blog, and a promising new blog is Kristin Lawrence on scholarly publishing.
In a post titled on text taking precedence, she writes
Moving to a text-takes-precedence model, where design gives way to an XML style sheet and printing is offered only on demand and serves just to hold the book together, means we have to focus on content and use and search, not aesthetics.
This reminds me a lot of my days in academic libraries. But over the last few years I’ve come to a rather opposite conclusion. For 15 years I specialized in digital libraries, which primarily is focused on content and search retrieval.
After a move to South America I got involved with book design. For so long I tried to convince myself that the text-takes-precedence model had to work since, after all, that was the basis of everything I valued in developing digital libraries. But I always felt that something was missing and that was largely the aesthetics of digital content.
Most people involved in developing digital libraries and scholarly publishing are programmers, project managers, and administrators. Occasionally, someone in that crew will have learned a few things about Photoshop and labeled himself a graphic designer.
(And I will be the first to admit that I am no graphic designer but I do work with one).
If the future of publishing scholarly monographs is to store the content in XML and generate end-products in various formats via styles sheets, then it’s imperative that those involved in scholarly publishing connect with those who can bring quality design to those style sheets.
These days there are a ton of professional designers well versed in crafting great designs with style sheets. It can be done and it’s vital that individuals within the scholarly community don’t let programmers and administrators convince them that aesthetics does not matter.
his is a post I’ve had in draft mode for a while but haven’t had the time to finish. This morning I saw a couple of articles that reminded me I needed to finish this post. The two articles that made me come back to this topic: How to Beat the Long Tail which links to Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans.
Joe Wikert posted an interview with Jeff Gomez, author of Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age that raises several good points including a future where the notion of what it means to be published is going to change. Gomez says, “The Internet is the best thing that has ever happened to the midlist author.”
Then I saw a comment to Joe’s interview where someone said, “who ever made money selling fiction on the web? (Nobody, that’s who)”.
What are some ways in which the fiction writer can leverage the Web in order to support a life of writing?
I’ve been thinking that a writer could earn a sustainable income by direct sales to loyal readers, either through books - digital downloads or POD - or even through a membership site.
Membership? Have a favorite writer? Not a lot of writers get very far in their blogging because - I suspect - they feel that blogging takes away from their real writing. But many writers craft essays, columns, and stories for publication. What if the author’s own membership site became an outlet for that creative content?
As an avid reader and follower of contemporary fiction I would gladly pay $50 a year (possibly more) for access to writings by my favorite writer. Make that writers. There’s certainly a limit on the number of writers I would support with an annual contribution but I spend a lot of money on books anyway.
How many loyal fans does it take for the writer to earn a sustainable income, either through selling direct or opting for some type of membership site? Do the math.
Keven Kelly writes
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
It’s not a matter of if but when writers will break away from publishers and go independent.
It has not yet happened because most fiction writers are not net savvy or entrepreneurial.
Not just for loyal fans:
A writer also could use online products, either free digital downloads, or a membership site to attract new readers. For instance, I’ve recently developed an interest in Will Self. Since it’s not so easy for me to get his books down here in Buenos Aires, I would consider subscribing on a trial basis to get access to more of his writings, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Then I might be converted into a loyal fan.
A team is needed:
Of course, most writers are not going to be able to handle the slightest technical aspects of implementing such an online campaign, though a few will do so. And writers always will need editors and designers (your online site has to look good if you’re asking people to give you money). But there are plenty of ways to contract with those professionals. In the future publishers will need to shift towards providing that type of team to writers and managing an author’s online presence. If publishers don’t, then others will step in and do so.
I have many more thoughts on this topic but for now you should go read 1,000 True Fans.
