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.

‘ve been hearing about the free e-books that Random House was offering for a limited time for some its authors, but haven’t had a chance to look at one yet.

When I saw today over at Slush Pile that Beautiful Children, the new novel by Charles Bock, was available through tomorrow February 29, I decided to grab the e-book even though I had absolutely no idea what the novel was about.

I also checked out the author’s stylish and intriguing Web site.

But I couldn’t really figure out what the book was about from the author’s Web site, so I went to Amazon to read the description.

On doing a bit of research for this post, I see that I must have fallen behind in my literary review sources and lit blogs since everyone is remarking that this book has been reviewed pretty much everywhere. Just goes to show that the word free must get my attention more than anything else! Or, maybe I’ve seen the review but just hadn’t paid any attention to it. I don’t know, which also goes to show that this free download helps to make a book memorable. But, what if there were hundreds of titles this week being offered for a limited free download by publishers all across the net? Is this an innovative twist to publishing or a publicity tactic? Either way, I think it’s a good move.

Question to self: Why have I not had The Millions in my Bloglines before today?

On doing a title search on “Beautiful Children”, Amazon returned a prominent display highlighting the free download:

E-book downloads, whether free or at a price, are particularly good for someone like me who lives at the edge of the world, as I’ve previously mentioned on this blog.

A recurring questions: how does someone become aware that a new title is available for download for a limited period? Diligently monitoring the media & lit blogs for announcements? And why does the Random House news announcement page still not have an RSS feed?

f publishing is about creating a narrative experience in print, then why are publishers so bad when it comes to doing the same online?

Everyone in publishing should review the 2008 Digital Outlook Report from Avenue A/Razorfish, a firm with extensive experience in interactive media. (Or, skip the registration and grab a copy from here).

A clean design makes shuffling through the 164 page document an ease. Relevance abounds but I want to focus on one issue, point 4 of the “4 questions that should keep creative people up at night“:

Narrative is the experience. As the Web becomes the preferred destination for brand exploration, digital experiences must become richer, deeper, and more able to tell compelling stories. If your brand experience depends entirely on pages and clicks, it’s time to wonder, “What is my story?”

Is there a story here? Are we designing a page or an experience? What is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the brand story we are creating? Does it move—and are people moved by it?

[Let's set aside the vested interest of Avenue A/Razorfish in encouraging their clients to invest in more complex and costly Web development.]

The stumbling block is often the revenue factor, trying to figure out how to monetize digital information. Of course, the most obvious way is to use the net as a platform for selling your product. Other industries don’t seem to have the problem in understanding that Web experiences fuel sales of physical products.

Tremendous potential exist in creating engaging author Web sites that pull potential readers into the book’s narrative, thereby promoting sales of the book.

That’s why I abhor those sites that provide a generic one-size-fits-all approach to every author.

‘m convinced that e-books eventually will replace printed books as the world’s primary reading material.

And before you say it: just because you don’t want to cuddle up in bed with an e-book, don’t assume, don’t assert, that others share that attitude.

Wide acceptance of e-books largely depends upon functional reading devices but limited distribution of printed books is an even larger issue. Sure, print-on-demand offers a solution but what happens when the quality of e-books are better and more affordable and more accessible than books printed on demand?

I already live in a part of the world where 95% of the English-languages books I want to read are not easily available. That scenario, the lack of printed reading material, really adjusts your perspective about e-books. (Meanwhile, fortunately, I am surrounded by a wealth of Spanish-language books). But I still feel the necessity of an e-book reader. Unfortunately, international shipping to Argentina is not reliable and there’s a huge import tax on electronics. So, my e-book reader will have to wait until some future visit to North America.

What is the future of book design in an e-book world? Very healthy.

Book design, layout, and typography will continue to play the same role in producing e-books as in printed books. Indeed, one could argue that readability may be an even more important factor with e-books. New possibilities with layout and presentation also may be presented through e-book readers. Of course, there will be limitations and some books just will not be as presentable through e-book readers as in their printed counterparts. Essentially, book designers already produce every printed book as an e-book anyway. In all cases, the final production files delivered to the printer are digital files and almost always in PDF. So, there is still plenty need for book designers in an e-book world.

What about book cover design? Very healthy.

The cover image will continue to play an important marketing role in helping people select which e-books to read. Just as with printed books, e-books need some way of standing out in the crowd.

And what about printed books in an e-book world?

People will still want to buy books, but my thinking is that people will be more interested in spending money on specialized books, books not available digitally, books that offer an experience, books that involve a high degree of design.

So, we may be book designers but that doesn’t mean we’re traditionalists. Of course, in a sense, book design is not so much about the book but about the ways that text and images are conveyed to the reader.