Monday, April 26, 2010

More random odds and ends

It's been one of those weeks. I'm so totally focused on my new project, my hands hurt. I've been watching Smashwords, and for those people who don't know what it is--it's a low-cost e-book retailer, like fictionwise on steroids.

Automated ebook formatting of word .doc(xs).

I'm just...amazed. I'd heard of it, but only as part of other conversations. Fanfic and alternative stuff, mostly. I'd sort of lumped it in with lulu. It's almost the same concept but free.

They get their money off a small commission on sales, do no editing, but also don't care if you get it edited. Sort of a cream-will-rise to the top philosophy that seems to be working.

It's...the future of publishing. The new Kindle upload is a late adapter. And...it makes e-pubs and NY sort of pointless. Not that NY is going anywhere. There are too many people out there who won't read e-books. It's a generational shift, and might take another hundred years.

Sort of like from illuminated manuscript to printing press.

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