As a consumer,

I’m still not sure whether e-readers will have staying power and become mass-market devices, or whether they’ll be superceded by some more general device, like a netbook or smartbook or tablet, for which reading will be one of many functions.

I happen to own a Sony e-reader, one of the smaller-sized new models, which I like.  I don’t miss the feel of the paper, or the larger size of the pages, or the tactile message of how much of the book I’ve read.  The most striking negative–for me, anyway–is the lack of a backlist (an issue of publication rights and the subject of a later post).  And, of course, I can’t look for better prices from Barnes and Noble or Amazon, nor can I consider buying a used book instead of a new one.

As an investor,

on the other hand, these questions may not be relevant.  The investment issue is whether there’s a way to make money from thinking through the phenomenon of e-readers and figuring out who, if anyone, will profit from them.  It would be an added bonus if the conclusions were not yet widely known.

Let’s start the process by looking at the Kindle from Amazon.

The Kindle

Two perspectives: (more...)

ชาวเวเนซุเอลาโม้ประวัติศาสตร์และวัฒนธรรมที่เต็มไปด้วยดนตรีพื้นบ้าน. เครื่องดนตรีประจำชาติของเวเนซุเอลาเป็น cuatro "." Ilanero เป็นเพลงที่เกี่ยวกับเวเนซุเอลาทั่วไป. มันมาอยู่ในที่ราบหรือ 'ilanos' ของประเทศและได้ถูกทำให้เป็นที่นิยมโดยศิลปินดนตรีจำนวนมากรวมถึง Juan Vicente Torrealba และ Ignacio Figueredo. แต่ส่วนมากของเพลงยอดนิยมของถูก eclipsed โดยเพลงของประเทศเพื่อนบ้านของตนโดยเฉพาะ บราซิล ตรินิแดดและโคลอมเบีย.Merengue, salsa และสไตล์นำเข้าอื่นๆก็ค่อนข้างเป็นที่นิยมในประเทศ.

ไซมอน Díaz และ Reynaldo Armas singers ชน llanera นิยมจากเวเนซุเอลาเป็น. แต่ purists และรุ่นน้องของ Venezuelans ไม่มากเห็นคุณค่าของเพลงนี้. Neo-คติชนเป็นรูปแบบของเพลงที่จะนำเพลงดั้งเดิมและจัดในรูปแบบอิเล็กทรอนิกส์เพื่อจะเล่นในเครื่องมืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์.

Gaita คือชื่อของเพลงที่นิยมกันของประเทศนี้. มีกำเนิดในพื้นที่ El Zulia. จะเล่นความร้อนมากในช่วงฤดูคริสต์มาสและถือได้แทนชาติของงาน.

มีการรวมกลุ่มศิลปินหลายเช่นยกเลิกโล Pueblo, Huracán del Fuego และข่าว Madera ที่ได้รวมเพลงละตินอเมริกาเช่นแจ๊ส, เต้นรำจังหวะรุมบ้าและ salsa เป็น. Aldemaro Romero มีชื่อเสียงแต่งเพลงแจ๊สชาวเวเนซุเอลาสร้างสรรค์ของแคริบเบียน, waltzes เวเนซุเอลาและงานอื่นๆไพเราะ. Vicente Emilio Sojo มีชื่อเสียงในประเทศและสากลสำหรับการช่วยเหลือของเขาเพื่อ musicology เวเนซุเอลาและการศึกษาดนตรี.

เพลง Calypso เวเนซุเอลาซึ่งมี rhythms ของตนเองลักษณะและรูปแบบซึ่งเป็นเพลงมีรากในตรินิแดด. อาร์เจนตินากลุ่มหินมีอิทธิพล strong บนหินเวเนซุเอลา. เกี่ยวกับคิวบา-เพลง salsa อเมริกันยังเป็นความหลากหลายของดนตรีนำเข้าที่มีความนิยมอื่น. เพลงร็อคยังเป็นที่นิยมมาก. หลายกลุ่มเช่น Desorden Público, Caramelos de Cianuro และ Los Amigos Invisiblesได้ทำให้สถานะของพวกเขารู้สึกในฉาก.

I purchased Hold the Dark: A Markhat Story, by Frank Tuttle, because I enjoyed his previous Markhat stories.

Description: In this installation, Markhat is called upon to find a missing woman, who turns out to be one of a number of missing women.

Overall: ★★★★★

Plot/Storyline: ★★★★★

This is the best Markhat “story” I have read so far. I put “story” in quotes because, although it’s that way in the title, this is actually a novel.

The plot was original with a gritty, noir setting. The fantasy world of Markhat was enthralling. Mr. Tuttle really knows how to draw the reader into a different world by showing the way things are, instead of just telling about it.

The storyline moved at a fairly fast pace. There were some twists and turns that left me gasping, once even bringing a few tears. Although the book is filled with Vampires and other odd creatures, it is still a very ‘human’ story.

Although this book is part of a series featuring the character of Markhat, like the others, it can be read as a stand-alone.

Character Development: ★★★★★

Markhat was a wonderfully deep character with an interesting past that was revealed in bits and pieces throughout the story. He was always ‘in character’ with believable motivations.

Mama Hog was also present in this installment. I was happy to see her again as she is the perfect companion and mother-figure for Markhat.

The new characters introduced in this book were also very well-drawn. Each had their own motives and personalities, making them likable or easy to hate, as needed.

Writing Style: ★★★★★

Mr. Tuttle was in his usual fine form. There was humor interlaced through even the most gruesome portions. The humor was sometimes blatant and, at other times, a bit obscure, but always there if a reader cared to look, and I did.

The descriptions were vivid. The dialogue was snappy and in good form. Everyone spoke with just the right amount of accent to be believable and have a unique voice. The sentence structure was complex, but flowed easily.

Editing/Formatting: ★★★★★

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG-13 for Blood and Gore, Oblique References to Prostitution, Violence

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You can start with this one, or try the Markhat Novellas:

Dead Man’s Rain

The Mister Trophy

Warning: You will become addiced to Frank Tuttle’s Markhat stories, so read at your own risk!

Also, if you want to check out a free preview of Frank’s brand of humor, go to this Amazon Kindle Forum Post: Herding Behavior of New Kindle 2

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Well, I made a mistake. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I forgot to contact Frank Tuttle about getting comments for this post.

The good news is that I sent him an e-mail, and I am quite certain he will provide comments later. When I receive them, I will post them here, so be sure to check back!

(Response written for a class.  Y’all read, so I’d like to hear your thoughts as well.)

If you’ve ever walked into my apartment, then you’ve probably noticed the one thousand plus volumes holding up my living room walls.  Yes, I love reading and writing, but I also love the book as an entity, as a tangible artifact.  Once, I had the opportunity to assist in the creation of a book and delighted in feeling possible paper textures.  If you ask me about my favorite kind of book, I will tell you that it has thicker, rough-cut pages with a paper cover that has the flaps of a hardback.  I like pages that connect with my fingers as I hold the book open, that capture deep pools of ink when I write in the margins.  My dream since I was four was to have a library of my very own, and I still maintain that dream today.

When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I worked in a used bookstore.  Books in used bookstores smell like basement funk and the stinging stench of what we use to clean their covers.  The pages of these books are worn soft like jeans, often crinkled around the edges.  When I worked at said used bookstore, I had just about zero extra money and was new to the city and thus didn’t venture very far past work and my apartment.  After I had been working at the store for a few months, I ventured blindly into a Barnes & Noble.  Standing in the aisles, feeling the crisp edges and covers, smelling the inky printer smell, it was a downright erotic experience.

My friend, Rick, who does things like hook me up with Sweet Valley books, told me a tale a few weeks ago from that very store.  He had a concerned customer who was convinced that print books would cease to exist all together come July.  As in, like, six months from now.  Poof.  Gone.  Forever.  God rest books.  And with the disappearance of books would be the disappearance of this bookstore, the same bookstore that hawks vinyl, cassettes, and VHS alongside its books and DVDs.

That being said, I have no fear of the future of the book.

Okay, sure, maybe the book as I treasure it is destined for the vinyl bins, relegated to some kind of nerd’s paradise.  What might we otherwise gain, though?

In the panel Joel set up for us last week, we talked about the possibilities of book digitization.  This was mostly in the realm of nonfiction, but the options could be there for fiction as well.  Maps, pictures, video, sound.  There are people who read books and there are people who interact with books.  Digitized books with wamboozle features would be an interact-er’s paradise.

Think of how things exist on the Internet now.  One of the coolest things for me to read and write blog-wise is when there is a chance for play between text and other features.  The comic space between text of one variety and pictures of another.  The juxtaposition adds layers made otherwise unavailable.  Take Dinty Moore’s latest essay extravaganza.  Sure, textually, the piece isn’t much, but the novelty of using Google Maps adds a little something to it.  There’s a joy to be found in each of the pinpoints.

Even more generally mundane enterprises like the dictionary can have newfound exuberance on the Internet.  One of my favorite TED Talks is by Erin McKean.  (I really suggest you listen to her talk.  As a generally word-conservative person, I found her to be incredibly persuasive.)  The gist of it, though, is that the dictionary made to be a digitized replica of print misses out on the greatness offered by the Internet.  And, lo, McKean later launched Wordnik, the coolest dictionary ever.

We have the chance for smaller triumphs as well.  The Atlantic is teaming up with Kindle to release short stories.  Short stories!  The form we all trumpet in school but bemoan is losing its publishing place as magazines have shucked their fiction sections and literary journals collapse.  And then here’s a chance – the first of what can only be many – to bring back the form, much to the delight of all of us hoping for a publication or two in the next decade.

The book is a beautiful and wonderful object.  But if the nothingness of pixels can make it that much better, then I’m on board, and I’m ready to explore.

Since its unveiling last month, the iPad has been labeled a Kindle killer. The parallels are obvious—the largest (and newest) Kindle has the same size screen, both have Internet connectivity, and both can be used to read books. But that just about sums up the Kindle’s selling points, and the iPad’s features list continues on out the door. So could a full-color touchscreen tablet computer and a B&W eReader really be considered the competitors the media continue to make them out to be?

Heck yes, if Amazon has anything to say about it. Last week, Amazon acquired touchscreen maker TouchCo. The small startup had developed a new way to add touch screen technology. (Kindle direct competitor the Sony eReader already has a touchscreen version, which outsells its cheaper alternative.)

Meanwhile, the technology for adding color to the E Ink device has long been in the works. The exactly-like-paper interface has long been the biggest selling point of eReaders, but despite the development of a color version by E Ink four years ago, nearly all E Ink displays are in black and white. The acquisition of creator E Ink by PVI last year seemed to pave the way for a color Kindle by the end of this year.

But does Kindle really care? They’ve released an app for the iPhone, enabling the Kindle’s parent company, Amazon, to continue to benefit from other devices. If users are willing to put up with the eyestrain from reading hundreds of thousands of words on an LCD screen, Amazon is willing to take their money on ebooks. (We can debate over how much Amazon makes or loses per ebook right now—their ultimate goal could just be to make us all dependent on them for all our ebook needs.)

Then again, maybe they do. The New York Times takes a look at job listings for Amazon’s Lab 126, developer of the Kindle:

One job opening in particular, for a Hardware Display Manager, tells the applicant that “you will know the LCD business and key players in the market.” The key point here is the word “LCD,” which means the Kindle is possibly exploring color (unless they are hiring an LCD manager to simply gain an understanding of the color-display market).

Other job openings include Wi-Fi specialists (the current Kindle has only a 3G wireless connection), and openings for someone to “lead the software development teams that develop and maintain the applications.” The applications division could signal a move to create more apps for the Kindle, or someone who will manage the latest app store developments after Amazon announced a new software development kit was released last month to independent programmers.

What do you think? Is Amazon gearing up to pit the Kindle against the iPad—and will it be enough?

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

It is no secret that I have enjoyed the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” By Spencer Johnson. Back in 1990 when this book came out I was working for Boeing and their management grabbed onto this book and made just about everyone in the company read it.

Never have so many managers read a book and failed to understand its true meaning.

At the time the managers at Boeing were using this book to explain to the lowly employees not to get upset when they changed things it just meant that the cheese had been moved and that we should move with it.   However, later that year when our division failed to win a government contract and we had to shut down and the vice-president looked at me in disbelief because he could not believe that he had to move and take a demotion.

I looked at this sad vice-president and said that the cheese had been moved.

The vice-president looked at me and in all honesty looked at me and said: “But I’m the one who moves the cheese.”

The problem as you can see is that people who are in a position of power tend to think that they control “everything”.  While they do have a great deal of influence I would draw the line and say that there are some things that they do not control.

Recently we just John Sargent, Chief Executive of Macmillan publishing demanded from Amazon.com that they raise the prices of their e-books.  Sadly Amazon.com after a few days did back down and raise their prices.

Even Rupert Murdoch chimed in saying, “We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99….we think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books.”

Both John Sargent and Rupert Murdoch seem to believe that they control the market place and that they are the one’s who decide where the cheese is.  The question that I ask you is do they control the market place or does the consumer decided what is the fair market value of an electronic version of a book?

Too often companies try to use old business models in the new internet economy and discover that they either need to change the model or come up with new models to fit with today’s internet marketplace.

Just looking back at a few industries…. When was the last time you bought Kodak Film for your camera?  Are you buying as many compact disks as you use to or are you downloading singles to your MP3 player?

Both the camera industry and the music industry have felt the impact of the internet economy and have or are learning what the new rules are to survive and make a profit. While Kodak was once a powerful company they truly did not control where the cheese of the marketplace was.  The future was digital cameras not in traditional film.

Now we have John Sargent and Rupert Murdoch telling consumers that we will buy our e-books at full list price of $15.95 because that is where they want the cheese to be.  The real question is will us as consumers accept this high price tag for our e-books?

Personally I am going to go look for my cheese else where.  I do not like Macmillan Publishers and Rupert Murdoch cheese I think that it is just a little too rich for my taste. If more people do as I’m going to do and move on looking at other companies for their e-books at a more reasonable price I think that some of these powerful men will have discovered that someone has moved their cheese.

Star Wars has bestowed pop culture with countless gifts. From films to TV shows, books to comics, memorable characters to enduring quotes, Star Wars is one of the defining pop culture phenomenons in history. No matter where your interests lie, Star Wars has something to offer. Like sports? Check out The Top 10 Star Wars Sports Crossovers. Love cats? There are billions of cat/Star Wars mashups.

As a writer, I like words. What has Star Wars contributed to the English language? Besides an infinite number of planet, spaceship and species names, Star Wars has created some of the coolest words not found in your trusty Merriam-Webster. Here’s a list of the top 6 Star Wars words that deserve a spot in out everyday lives:

1. Datapad: first introduced in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, the datapad made its way onto the screen in the Prequel trilogy. Basically a super-advanced PDA, the datapad has since appeared in almost every Star Wars story. With real-world gadgets like the iPad, Kindle and Netbook, why not just use the collective term “datapad”?
2. Transparisteel: the window of the future. A completely clear metal, transparisteel makes up anything that would normally be glass: windows, viewports, helmet visors, etc. And it even becomes opaque to counteract super bright lights and explosions! Wouldn’t home specifications sound so much cooler if they included lines like, “double-paned, sliding transparisteel windows”?
3. Snap-hiss: Another Zahn creation, this onomatopoeia is exclusive to Star Wars, and a fan favorite, showing up in countless books and comics. I mean, how else do you describe that most magnificent of sounds, the ignition of a lightsaber? Until lightsabers become a reality, I can see snap-hiss becoming a popular exclamation, à la, “Snap-hiss! That movie was awesome!” Use it, it’ll catch on.
4. Bacta: The Star Wars answer to super-aspirin. A cure-all, bacta is (usually) in liquid form; submersion in bacta heals wounds (as seen in Empire Strikes Back after Luke’s encounter with the Wampa on Hoth). No post-battle dialogue is complete without a mention of bacta patches, bacta tanks and even bactade. Start calling Neosporin “bacta” and your Star Wars friends will love you.
5. Sabacc: The Star Wars equivalent to poker, sabacc is the go-to game of chance in any Star Wars tale. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian are legendary players and Expanded Universe authors have spent a significant amount of time detailing specific rules, variations and strategies. Poker is so 2010…sabacc is for badasses.
6. Hydrospanner: The Star Wars Swiss-Army knife. First mentioned in Empire Strikes Back, the hydrospanner is the most used tool in the galaxy. No one really knows what it does, but whether fixing a droid or tinkering with a spaceship, characters always reach for their trusty hydrospanner.

These are just a few of the many Star Wars words that have risen above the rest to become staples in Star Wars lore. What are your favorite Star Wars words? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) recently surveyed its member presses about digital publishing strategies and programs.  According to the AAUP,  the survey had two purposes:

1. To share the responses to seven questions specifically about digital strategies, technologies, and concerns related to their book publishing programs.
2. To expose new and updated information on specific e-publishing programs at member presses

Roughly 45% of then-current members (59 publishers) completed the survey, representing presses of all sizes, from all regions. Of the individuals who responded, 39% are press directors, and 24% reported job titles directly relating to digital publishing, including positions in production, marketing, IT, and administrative departments.

One of their survey questions was: Our press makes content available in the following formats. Respondents could choose all applicable formats. Formats are listed in order of greatest adoption. Two presses skipped this question.

Other responses included:

• HTML (1 press)
• XML (3)
• EPUB available soon (6)
• iPhone Apps available soon (2)
• Other file formats for readers with print disabilities (1)
• Kindle titles available soon (2)