I went to a Publishing Point Meet-Up today – it was a talk by Mike Shatzkin on “How to Have a Long Career in Publishing.”
Lots of food for thought, still digesting most of it but here’s some highlights.
As expected, doom and gloom on the future of publishing as we know it – which is probably true and isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think the possibilities are exciting and interesting.
I loved having an e-reader, it was light and easy to read on the go. When I read a novel I want it be a linear experience – I’m less fussed about paper and ink vs. screen – I want to get lost in a story without the distraction of augmenting features.
Having said that, in other types of books, bring on the augmentation. For instance a travel guide if you can get me real time pricing, vacancies, community commentary and a gps feature – bring it on.
I was especially interested in some of his points about marketing possibilities for books in a “vertical world.” I agreed with a lot of what he said here, and he definitely gave me some additional thoughts for my job search.
And, lastly for today, I learned in Mike’s opinion, simply by virtue of blogging and creating content, apparently I am a publisher unto myself. Ah Ha Ha Ha.