Five possible indie e-pub revolutions

It's pretty clear we're about to see a new wave of innovative electronic publishing. Most of the buzz has been about mainstream books and magazines. But what about specialty or small publications? Is it possible we're about to see a new generation of indie press?

For the most part, digital publishing throws risk out the window and opens up a world of possibilities to smaller publishers. Here are some publications that could explode as e-publishing tools continue to improve and e-audiences continue to grow.

1. Literary journals

Usually published by schools or small companies, literary journals typically have a much small reach. Specialty bookstores will carry them, and some of the larger book chains might carry the more popular journals. Generally, readers of literary journals know where to look for them.

As e-journals, the potential to be discovered by new, "accidental" readers could increase. It's one thing to hear about a quarterly with content you find intriguing, and another to read that quarterly within seconds of learning about it.

Publication costs would no longer be tied to issue length in a digital journal. Full-color artwork wouldn't make publication more expensive, either. Many of the constraints placed upon small literary journals could be lifted. The potential for new or small journals to build audiences and prestige would be limited only by the quality of content.

2. Zines

The new rules of publishing that apply to the "big" magazines could apply to the smallest homemade publications. A handful of people with some great ideas could generate compelling, off-beat content and build a global audience as easily as paper zines build local followings.

Some of the simplest zines are essentially photocopied paper stapled together and sold (or given away for free) at local shops. They can carry bolder, more subversive content than their "professional" counterparts because, with the minimal setup and publication costs, there's relatively little to lose.

Building and distributing digital zines could quickly become cheaper and easier than their analog versions, without much change to the form. Imagine a photocopied zine with hand-drawn illustrations simply scanned in and packaged as a PDF or e-book friendly format. What's to keep a well-produced zine from finding a loyal, world-wide audience?

3. Pulp novels

It's probably romantic of me to imagine a world where people read serialized detective stories on their e-book readers, complete with brightly colored covers and sensational plot lines. But it could happen, or something like it. The iPhone created a hugely lucrative market for casual games, many purchased by people who never before considered themselves "gamers".

What's to keep a market of "casual readers" from adopting a series of new-school, e-pulp novels? Judging from the number of romance and thriller novels at the checkout counter of every grocery store I've ever visited, it's not a lack of interest.

4. Genre publications

Genre magazines, like those that specialize science fiction and horror, have fallen sharply in popularity over the past few decades, in their physical, printed form. However, a few sci-fi magazines have reinvented themselves online or in digital forms. It helps that a lot of sci-fi fans are also fans of new technology, but this might serve as a barometer for how mainstream fiction readers could adopt e-book tools in the future.

The same could easily apply to romance, speculative fiction, or humor. Why not showcase writers of a particular genre? The audience is already there. If e-reader technology becomes more widespread, publishers would be able to sell subscriptions with little to no publishing cost. Again, the risk is mostly removed, so very little would keep well-edited genre collectiosn from finding their audiences.

5. Comic books

This is a vast un-tapped market. Part of the problem could stem from how awkward it is to read a vertically-oriented comic book on a widescreen monitor. Also, e-book technology has barely gotten to the point where color and resolution come close to matching what's on the printed page. But it's getting close.

The first company to offer electronic subscriptions on a full-color, high-resolution e-reader would be a massive success. Sure, there will always be a market for collectors who fill long boxes with bagged and boarded comics, but for most comic book readers, staying up-to-date with their favorite characters and plot lines would be enough. The technology isn't quite there yet, but in a post-iPad world, it feels like it's just around the corner.

The future of magazines

[Photo: nicolasnova]

Over the weekend, I gave my apartment a long-overdue cleaning. I was a bit shocked to discover that I had three full trashbags' worth of useless clutter scattered around the place. There was a lot of junk mail that, for some reason, never made it into the recycling. There were empty boxes left over from when I moved in August. And there were magazines, some that moved with my from my old place.

I took stock of the magazine stacks. I currently subscribe to four different periodicals—two weeklies and two monthlies. I rarely read all the articles, and generally don't mean to hang on to the back issues. Somehow, they sort of stick around and pile up.

There was a time when I'd keep a library of old Wired or National Geographic issues on my shelf, but then I began to worry I was headed down the path to hoarder land. These days, for the sake cutting down on clutter, I toss them in the recycling when the new issues arrive. (Except for The Believer. That magazine is simply too gorgeous to part with.)

I wondered about the future of periodicals. The Kindle offers text-only subscription options for many popular magazines and newspapers. Sadly, I've tried it, and it's not nearly as fun an experience you get from reading printed pages.

The iPad is just around the corner, scheduled for release in March, and will include a full-fledged bookstore at launch. It's full-color screen seems perfect for periodicals, but there has been no mention of a magazine counterpart to the iBookstore.

The New York Times unveiled its iPad app at Apple's event last month, and it looks like a fantastic marriage between the functionality of its website and elegance of the dead tree edition. If the Baltimore Sun were to create a digital version that slick, I'd subscribe to it for the first time in my life.

I'm not suggesting that the iPad will single-handedly save the newspaper industry, but I know that I'm not the only one willing to pay for a high-quality digital newspaper that recreates the print aesthetic.

Sports Illustrated does exactly that with a mockup of its magazine, and it looks amazing. If they are able to deliver the same look and feel of the printed version with the interactivity of a website, I would subscribe in a heartbeat.

Still, there's a pretty sizable technology barrier to overcome. The big publishers with more money to toss around, like Condé Nast, will build digital versions first. They'll figure out how to distribute issues. They can afford to make mistakes the rest of the industry will learn from. All the publishers will start experimenting.

Will Apple open up a magazine section to their bookstore, or will the big publishers create their own digital newsstands? How will the magazine reach multiple devices and a wider audience? Will the advent of digital magazines save niche publications from going under, the way Gourmet did last year?

Personally, if I could switch all my magazines to digital subscriptions, I'd be delighted. There would be far less clutter in my apartment, and I'd be able to keep a library of back issues. That's my dream scenario. I wonder how long it will take technology and the publishing world to get there.

Will publishers take chances on new novelists again?

After writing yesterday's post on indie publishers and electronic bookstores, I began to think of the situation from a different angle.

In the analog world, publishers have all but given up on buying books from new or untested authors. The costs associated with printing, in combination with the low sales over the past few years, make it a very risky decision. Unless it's clear that a book is going to sell like crazy, or that movie rights could be sold, publishers are likely to pass. This is bad news for mid-market literary fiction authors hoping to get their first break.

Enter digital publishing. If Apple's iPad takes off the way the iPod and iPhone did, will publishers be willing to take chances on new novelists again? Digital editions reduce the risk to almost zero.

It would seem to make sense. Publishers could create digital-only editions of debut novels from new writers. If sales really started to pick up, the publisher could choose to print physical editions to sell in retailers, too. The waters could be tested and sales could be generated, simultaneously.

If played just right, I this new generation of electronic publishing could be as revolutionary as the movable type and Gutenberg press. The next few years are likely to be a really wonderful time for writers, publishers, and book lovers.

But that's only if it's played just right. This all assumes that publishers and electronic retailers are interested in fostering new talent and widening the variety of books available. It also assumes that consumers, specifically the ones that stopped purchasing physical books, will start paying for digital editions.

I think a lot of these questions will begin to find answers in the next twelve months as the technology arrives and publishers find their footing on this unfamiliar terrain. Whatever happens, it's going to be exciting.

Apple's iBookstore and indie publishers

There are a lot of unknowns about Apple's new tablet device, the iPad. Essentially, they announced the product with a vague release timeframe, but not many more details.

The major publishers have deals with the forthcoming iBookstore, which, if executed properly, is poised to be Apple's next big killer technology. But that's a big "if".

Right now, Apple's two big success stories are the iTunes Store and the App Store. The App Store makes it very easy for independent developers to design and submit apps to sell through the store. The iTunes Store is much, much more difficult for musicians to break into, and it's pretty much impossible for independent television producers or filmmakers to sell things there.

It's unclear how Apple plans to run the iBookstore, but early deals with major publishers imply it will resemble the iTunes Store with no mechanism for indie publishers to sell books in the store.

As a writer, I would love nothing more than for Apple to open up the doors to small publishers and new authors. They would, and I don't believe I'm exaggerating here, run the future of the publishing world. It would be nothing short of a revolution, and the Kindles and Sony Readers of the world wouldn't be able to compete.

I could see why Apple would want to keep tight control over the books sold in the store would help keep general quality high. Even in the App Store, in which each new app is reviewed and approved by Apple, there is no shortage of low-quality, low-brow, buggy apps. Opening up the doors to all publishers and writers invites a tidal wave of poorly-written, under-edited, sub-par books.

However, if the same five-star rating system used in iTunes and the App Store is applied to the iBookstore (and I see no reason it wouldn't be), new authors and small publishers with high-quality, innovative writers and content would be afforded the opportunity to rise to the top. It's happened again and again on the App Store. Through all the clutter, the gems rise to the tops of the charts. Small developers (or sometimes individuals) create successful businesses for themselves, and Apple revolutionized the way people program apps.

Here's my prediction: Apple will only sell books from the major publishers at first. What happens next is entirely up to the level of demand and interest from writers and indie publishers.

When Apple first launched the iPhone, there was no such thing as the App Store. Apple saw no need to open the platform to independent developers. Web-based apps, in the company's estimation, would be enough.

They certainly underestimated the enthusiasm from the developer community, which was extremely vocal about creating native applications on Apple's new phone. Many developers wrote apps that ran on hacked iPhones, and more and more users would "jailbreak" their iPhones to install some of those fantastic homebrew apps. A year later, based purely on the growing number of jailbroken iPhones and developer outcry, the App Store was introduced.

What happens after Apple launches the iBookstore is completely up to the indie publishers and self-publishing authors. If we're loud enough, and if we independently generate (and sell) enough high-quality books on the iPad through the App Store or other channels, Apple will let us in.

The last thing they want to do is open the iBookstore to indie publishers on the first day and have it turn into a wasteland of a few dismal titles. That won't look good on their new flagship product. They'll make us work for it, fight for it, and clamor for it.

Of course, it's easy to speculate about a product and service that haven't been released yet, and which we know very little about. But no matter what happens, the next year is going to be a very interesting and exciting one for the publishing world, electronic and print alike.

Still No Internet

It's stopped being just an inconvenience. At first, I thought I'd be fine without Internet access at home. But I realized last week that it's more than just a conduit for entertainment. The Internet is absolutely my primary communication tool. I use it to reach out to friends and family far more than I use my phone. I use Skype to talk with friends and family. I use email and instant messages to fire off quick notes. I use Twitter to keep tabs on my friends in the neighborhood (and last week, I used it quite a bit for snow updates from around the region).

My lack of Internet access has passed annoyance and is now distressing. I've been writing blog posts and saving them to my hard drive, hoping to upload them whenever I have access to wifi. At work, most every non-work-related site is blocked. Besides, I'm usually too busy to get anything done for outside endeavors anyway.

The library is closed by the time I get home from work. None of my neighbors seem to have open wifi networks. (Come on, guys! Help a guy out.) And what's really amazing is that none of the local businesses in Hampden seem to have free wifi either. So, unless I want to type with my thumbs on my phone, my options are limited to writing offline and posting whenever I happen to stumble upon access.

Comcast has been re-scheduled to come and fix the snapped wire on Saturday between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. I'm not sure how they're going to get back there and actually repair the line. The telephone pole to which it connects currently stands in about two feet of unplowed snow, which has melted and subsequently re-frozen into ice. Trash and recycling pickup has been suspended until alleys like mine get plowed. Still, I'm optimistic that Comcast will perform a miracle on Saturday, which will mark two full weeks without Internet.

More Snow Photos Added

I borrowed some Internet from my friends Josh and Jes (it's the sugar of the 21st century) and uploaded the rest of my snow photos to Flickr. I especially like the one above. As terrifying and surreal as this epic snowfall was, it's also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I've never seen this much snow before in my life, and I'm still kind of in awe of it.

Reunion Show

Last night, I played a reunion show with my old band, Three Track Mind. This was our first show in six or seven years, and it felt great to be on stage with two of my best friends again.

We opened for our immensely talented friends The Slackwater News at a packed Frazier's on the Avenue. (I sure feel like I've been living there, recently!) It's been a long time since I've performed for an audience, and even though I used to do it semi-professionally for years and years, I was startled to discover a whole mess of butterflies fluttering around inside my guts before we took the stage.

Once we kicked into the first few songs, I felt it all come back to me. It was like muscle memory, I suppose. Sure, it was a little rough around the edges, but not bad for only two practices. But now I've been bitten by the bug. I want to play again. I want to keep practicing the old songs, write new ones, and tighten up the set, if only to prove to myself that I can do it better, to prove that I can do it the way I used to.

I Figured Out Why I Don't Have Internet Access

Early Saturday morning, a snow-heavy branch came down and snapped my cable wire, taking my Internet access with it. Sure, it's an inconvenience, and I'm thankful that I still have power and heat. I have a stack of books and an iPhone that gives me some Internet access.

But it's five days later and I'm typing a blog post with my thumbs during the heaviest part of the second storm this week. The snow looks like it's going sideways.

I'm going to make myself breakfast and have a Star Wars marathon.

No Internet Makes Gavin Something Something

I just wrote a great post, and I wrote it by typing with my thumbs on my iPhone. Then it apparently vaporized. Then some swear words were said.

Short version of the lost post: the snow storm knocked out my Internet, so you'll be bombarded with photos and blog posts and at least two podcast episodes when I'm back up and running, which could be as early as my scheduled Comcast appointment on Wednesday, but could easily be pushed back if we get the additional 6-12 inches they're calling for. Luckily, I still have electricity and heat, so I can hunker down and wait for spring comfortably.

Anyway, I'm going to go back outside and work on freeing my car, which is still halfway entombed in ice. I hope you are warm and safe, wherever you are.

SNOWMG

I'm back home and it feels great. I'm stocked up on food, movies, books, and a little Scottish friend who will keep me warm (pictured above). In the past hour, the snow's pace has really picked up and it's sticking to everything. Foot's Forecast has issued this new warning:

Some professional forecasters believe models may be under-estimating strength of the surface low, and as such, NWS offices may have to issue additional Blizzard Warnings. Details before the 5:00 PM news. If your preparations are not complete, step away from the computer and go do that now.

Right now I'm sitting on my couch with the blinds open watching it snow. Its beautiful. I love the way my neighborhood looks in this kind of weather. Maybe I'll head out for an adventure later on, especially if it involves an impromptu tweetup at Frazier's.

Super Bowl Snowpocalypse 2010: The Snowening

I am so stoked for the storm we have on tap. According to the latest numbers from Foot's Forecast, we could see 26 to 34 inches by the time this whole thing is finished tomorrow night. Here's my favorite part:

SATURDAY Heavy snow continues overnight and into the day across much of the Mid-Atlantic south of the PA/NY border, accumulating 3-4" per hour in some locations for 4 or more hours. Thundersnow, lightning and gusty winds are possible. Coastal winds increase to gale force as the secondary low wraps up along the North Carolina coast while moving slowly northeast.

Did you read that? Thundersnow! THUNDERSNOW!

Naturally, everybody is flipping out and over-shopping. I stopped by my local Super Fresh last night around 11:00 pm to pick up some half-and-half (I need my coffee if I'm going to be stuck in my apartment all weekend). I figured the crazy rush would be over, and I'd be in and out with no problem.

Wrong. There were more people than shopping carts, and the checkout line (which was more of a mob) stretched all the way across the store to the entrance. People had their carts loaded as if they were stockpiling food for a two-week lockdown in their lead-lined zombie-proof bunkers. So I decided to come back in the morning.

When I returned around 6:00 this morning, Super Fresh was essentially cleaned out. There was no meat, no milk, few eggs, barely any vegetables, and no bread.

I overheard one employee say, "I have never ever seen this before. We have nothing in the back." Everyone working there looked shell-shocked and exhausted.

Are people really planning on eating that much food over what essentially could be a three-day weekend? I suppose, since the Super Bowl is on Sunday, people wanted to stock up on food for the grill and/or crock pot. But still, all the meat? All of it?

For continuing coverage, be sure to keep an eye on my Flickr set, Super Bowl Snowpocolypse 2010: The Snowening, and of course, up-to-the-minute-ish continuing coverage right here on The Gavin Show.

So, the real question is, who's ready for take this thundersnowpocalypse party to Frazier's tonight?

A Creative Narrative

Out in these here Interwebs, there are more than a few awesome, incredibly talented writers that have devised creative and unique ways of telling their stories. Some have been around for years and years and have earned loyal followings. Some are new and are still finding their voice. But they're all harnessing technology to deliver their narrative directly to an audience. Here are a few examples.

• A Softer World - Daily comics of a very unique sort
• Shadow Unit - Episodic, paranormal crime fiction that takes place right here in Baltimore!
• Diesel Sweeties - Immersive, lovable, sometimes raunchy pixelated scamps
• John Hodgman's "Today... in the Past" - Over on his "Areas of My Expertise" page, John Hodgman has fictitious factoids about history, in the style of a page-a-day calendar, yet completely made up

I'll add more as I remember and discover them.

John Scalzi Explains (In Play Form) Why Publishers Aren't Going Away Soon

I found a writer with an immersive web presence! He's science fiction author, non-fiction writer, and general astute observer of all things literary, John Scalzi.

He has a "more-or-less daily" blog called Whatever, which he has been writing since 1998. He speaks candidly about his writing process, as well as the business-related intricacies and frustrations that go along with being a full-time writer.

A lot of people wonder why publishers are still relevant in a world where authors have such great direct access to their readers. He wrote a short play on the subject, and it's as astute as it is hilarious.

He has been very vocal about the dust-up between Amazon and MacMillan publishing, who briefly locked horns over the issue of e-book pricing. It's been dramatic and strange, and both companies are trying to figure out where the publishing world is headed, especially now that Apple aims to shake up the e-book world with its iPad.

Amazon's reaction to the pricing dispute? They made all MacMillan books unavailable for sale on their site. All books. Printed and digital. That's roughly one-sixth of their book catalog. It's unclear exactly what Amazon hoped to achieve by this, but they succeeded in making a lot of authors very, very unhappy.

Scalzi did a great job of covering the issue from the perspective of a writer who had his books removed from Amazon without warning or explanation.

I can't say it any better than he said it in his post, "All The Many Ways Amazon So Very Failed the Weekend". It's worth the read, if only to get caught up on the soap opera-like drama occurring in the publishing world right now. And then I recommend "A Call For Author Support" which discusses ways readers and fans can support their favorite writers by purchasing books from places other than Amazon while the spat continues.

Alice Sebold

This is getting out of hand. Alice Sebold doesn't even have her own website? The Lovely Bones was just made into a movie! If I wrote a novel and it was turned into a big Hollywood production, I'd set up a website just to gloat about it!

An Explanation

I never sufficiently explained my assignment for this week. Basically, I'm supposed to look at the way writers are representing themselves online. Are they showcasing their work? Are they expressing their personalities? What works? What doesn't? And most importantly, what can I share in class that will get me an A?

Steve Hely struck out. Michael Chabon has a neat little site he hammered out in an afternoon. I had to think: Who is a fiction writer and tech-savvy enough to set up a site for his or her writing? Or, at least, tech-savvy enough to hire someone to do it on his or her behalf?

I had an idea. Dave Eggers. He's got McSweeney's going for him. Surely he put together a neat little presence for himself and his writing endeavors!

Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. What is it with writers? Once they get famous enough to have a Wikipedia page, they neglect to build a website?

Actually, that's awesome. I've just set a goal for myself. Let me write that down. "Become famous enough for someone to write a Wikipedia page about me." Wow, I'm learning already!

Michael Chabon

I'm changing my tactic. I'm going for the heavy-hitters. I though I'd be cute and go for the relatively unknown or off-beat authors I like, but many of them appear to be new to computers or just haven't gotten it together to build a website yet. I figure, hey, let's go for someone who's pretty well-known in literary circles and who probably has his act together enough to run a website which showcases his work. Arbitrarily, I decided to pick Michael Chabon.

Is there an emoticon for sighing heavily in exasperation?

His website is made up of six pages, and it looks as if he built it himself using Apple's iWeb. On the one hand, hey, good for him. He's super-famous, yet took the time to hand-craft his own little corner of the web-o-blog.

On the other hand, he's so super-famous that he apparently doesn't need to link the giant photo of his latest book to any kind of website that sells it. Essentially, this design tells the reader, "You know where to find it," or, "You already own this, right?" On both counts, Mr. Chabon is probably not wrong.

His "Appearances" page is disappointing, but probably mostly because the four cities listed aren't anywhere near me.

Then he has some ridiculous photos, including one of himself on the deck of the Enterprise. Ridiculous, yes, but equally awesome.

Then comes the exciting stuff: two great "bonus tracks". One is called "The Kingdom of Snow and Ghosts", and the other is "Sailing by Ear".

I was so ready to tear him apart for being lazy with his website (No list of books? No blog?), but then it hit me: this is perfect. It gives a sense of his personality, tells you what his newest book is, lets you know where he'll be appearing, then lets his own words take care of the rest. There's no Flash movie to bombard you when you arrive, and no layers of sales pitches to get to the writing. Sure, he has the benefit of already being a well-known and successful author, but this is a formula that could work for writers across the recognizability spectrum. Well done, Mr. Chabon.

Steve Hely

Over the holidays, my dad gave me a copy of a novel called How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. I'd never heard of him, but he has his own Wikipedia entry. According to the back of the book:

Steve Hely was a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman and the Fox animated comedy American Dad. He is also coauthor of the comic travelogue The Ridiculous Race.

I'm on page 107 of How I Became a Famous Novelist, and it's great. It's funny, smart, and delightfully tackles the clichés found in modern literary fiction, the airport thrillers, and cuts right to the core of what Americans like in their pop culture (food comes up quite often).

So, I figured, this was perfect. I'd swing over to his site and write about it here. That would be some easy material for the first assignment in my Electronic Publishing class. How does he showcase his writing online? What does he do that works, and what doesn't work as well? One problem: he doesn't seem to have a website. He's on Twitter, and other than a few interviews, he doesn't really seem to have a place to hang his digital hat.

He has a blog set up for Pete Tarslaw, the main character in his novel, called End of Books. I only skimmed it because I don't want to accidentally stumble into any spoilers.

So, my search continues. I should keep a running list of author links in the sidebar here. You know, assuming I can think of some writers that actually have websites. Thanks for making this assignment just a little bit tougher, Steve!