[contextly_auto_sidebar id="qUIajYbX9hto2gQVHqpXSXAzUoXDE0A8"] WHAT does it mean to be a digital bestseller? We continue to hear that removing the middleman and getting rid of the expenses of print will be good for readers and writers. The experience of Tony Horwitz, a first-rate writer of narrative nonfiction like Confederates in the Attic, shows it doesn't always work out that way. He calls … [Read more...]
How Silicon Valley’s Disruptors Defend Themselves
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CoNTgysgG97fFP472ViQZnWcE75qU22x"] I EXPECT the big car companies were as defensive, back when reformers suggested seat belts and the like, as digital-disruptor types are when they receive any bit of criticism. In this case, the Silicon Valley types lash back that anyone who doesn't buy their cyber-utopian vision is "anti-technology." Salon's Andrew Leonard gets … [Read more...]
What if Music Streaming Collapses?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="0C90MFj4yUbo92uYGLlqaqHIa9YPI4AC"] MOST critical coverage of Spotify, Pandora and the like has concentrated on the frustration of musicians. But a tough, provocative new piece asks, What if these streaming companies simply fail to make profits, and disappear? Here is Michael St. James -- extending the recent David Carr story -- on RebelMouse: Not one of the music … [Read more...]
Are Human Tastemakers Waging a Comeback?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Y8fDWKTQR4PySZdf0pqVQLolQa6bMrQS"] THE phrase "we love you people" may have a new resonance: Apple's purchase of Beats may mean Silicon Valley may be turning toward actual people as "curators" over the faceless algorithms it's been using. Years into a process by which your bookstore or record store clerk found himself made obsolete by an Amazon recommendation, this … [Read more...]
Amazon vs. Hachette Fatal to Non-Superstar Authors
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8GbWVEDH47AifqGz31d8Z6pNMkmzPLRY"] SO far most of the coverage of the battle between Amazon and the Hachette publishers has looked at the impact on bestselling authors like James Patterson and J.K. Rowling, whose work becomes harder to get or impossible to pre-order during the current feud. But a new story argues that the writers really hurt by this are lesser known … [Read more...]
Amazon’s Fight With Publisher Heats Up
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="KtshLQL3I8V52FO3GDD8ottfgo4Dzh5b"] THE battle between the online bookselling giant and the Hachette publishers has taken a nasty turn: Amazon has removed the pre-order button for some books, has removed the discount it usually offers for others, and is fighting with publishers over profits on ebooks. Bestselling writers like James Patterson, J.K. Rowling (pictured) … [Read more...]
Just How Bad is Amazon? A New Backlash
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="9ZV3e0kcKq8CTDdht2tTpvL5mUJdBAL3"] LAURA Miller is one of our day's most lively and credible writers on books and authors. In her latest Salon piece, she says goodbye to Amazon, and documents her frustration over the Hachette mess, in which the online service deliberately slows delivery of some publishers' books. The company's predatory, near monopolistic style … [Read more...]
If Culture Isn’t Quantified, Does it Exist? And, Tech News
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="9uyV3uaURenHexrSfUw92h6J4J7iuLD6"] ONE of the most important stories of the week ran below the fold in New York Times Styles. "Statisticians 10, Poets 0" got at the relentless quantifying that digital technology has made possible. And the things that can't be counted are fading from view. That would be fine, if so many of the things that matter, especially for the … [Read more...]
Can the Internet Destroy the Blockbuster Era? And, Digital Humanities
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="HnOcX1gioiqpT82lL4d0savWjVspAEhp"] IT'S been pretty well documented now that by "connecting" us all, the web has reinforced the growth of a corporate blockbuster culture. Despite the talk about "the long tail," and the web's ability to sustain fringe culture, the most heavily promoted movies, pop stars and so on are increasingly trouncing their less-funded rivals. … [Read more...]
The Struggle of Creative Professionals, and a Gay Bookstore Down
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Qq27kwhxLk22LnK6cMR3w47aN5iOTjFn"] WITH the national unemployment rate falling, and the persistence of digital utopianism, which tells us that we live in the best of all possible worlds, we've put that nasty recession stuff behind us, haven't we? The struggle of the creative class, which has not much abated, continues to be obscured. A new funny and poignant essay in … [Read more...]