The Future Of Publishing Blog by Thad McIlroy

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October 29th, 2009

The Top Ten Blogs on the Future of Books, Media and Publishing

Eoin Purcell has an excellent blog on publishing, and one of his very useful entries is called “The Top Ten Blogs on the future of books, media and publishing.” Though it’s going on three years old, all are still active and valuable. I list a selection of my favorites here: http://thefutureofpublishing.com/pages/Friends.html I’ll keep adding to…

September 19th, 2009

What Makes a Great Author Website?

A colleague of mine who is a noted Canadian historian, and a prolific writer, asked today what makes a great web site for an author. So I began an exploration: Most publisher websites for authors are pathetic, placeholders with short bios and links to books. A case in point is Canada’s “most venerable” old publisher,…

September 17th, 2009

E-books Won’t Stay Ugly Forever

A subject which receives far too little coverage in the great eBook orgy is just how much is lost in the conversersion from books-on-paper to eBooks in one of the many eBook formats. What is lost: nearly every visual element, from typeface choices to page design. As this May 2009 article on Wired.com states: “Ultimately…

September 15th, 2009

Will Authors of the Future Need Publishers?

A good follow-up to yesterday’s post about Daniel Menaker’s post on trade book publishing comes from Nathanial Bransford’s popular blog (81 comments so far on the entry). Titled, of course, Will Authors of the Future Need Publishers? Bransford makes several important points. 1. Book sales are off 2.5% for the year as of July, compared to…