2017 Year in Review

2017 Year in Review

2017 was an interesting year--often in the sense of the old Chinese curse. The past year eluded hard and fast valuations like "good" or "bad" but instead ushered in great change. It was a year that saw many a seemingly invincible cultural edifice demolished, yet demolition precedes new construction. Since…
January 1, 20184 Comments
The Necessity of Good Books

The Necessity of Good Books

Reader D.J. Schreffler writes: Here I talk about good, not just in the sense of enjoyable, but with a sound moral foundation. Stories--and ideas--are like food in many ways. They can be an acquired taste, people may differ on whether they like them or not, they can nourish (or not).…
December 26, 20175 Comments
Amazon Ghettos

Amazon Ghettos

Following my recent posts about how the fundamental realities of publishing have changed in the new Amazon/indie-dominated landscape, a reader passed along a number of eye-opening revelations about how authors and publishers are unintentionally consigning their books to "Amazon Ghettos". The Amazon sleuth explains: Amazon’s algorithm is set up to…
December 13, 201714 Comments
The Perfect Publisher

The Perfect Publisher

Ebooks are here to stay. Amazon enjoys overwhelming dominance among book retailers. Indie has matured into the preferred publishing model for authors. These developments, among many that have turned the book industry upside down in recent years, are widely known. Yet publishers, and even most indie authors, continue to employ…
December 11, 201720 Comments
Never Go Full SJW

Never Go Full SJW

A friend and reader writes: Haha, it's official -- Tor newsletter just went full retard.And with that, I'm going to unsubscribe. He ain't kidding! Here are some highlights. Tor.com kicks off with a bit of garden variety historical revisionist boilerplate. Sure to be the talk of the junior college faculty…
December 8, 20179 Comments
Comics Need Professionalism

Comics Need Professionalism

Emery Calame's comment on my previous Marvel-related post merited a guest post of its own. This is not a popular sentiment but I think what is needed is professionalism oriented around maintaining the brand and IP. A fan who feels like they know Spider-Man probably should not be writing Spider-Man…
December 7, 201713 Comments
Customers Matter

Customers Matter

Presented for your education and enrichment: the story of Marvel Comics' implosion in two pictures. First, a Twitter exchange in which a weeb comedian rushes to the defense of Moon Knight scribe Max Bemis. And now, a Marvel sales graph. According to the chart, in February 2017 45% of Marvel's titles…
December 6, 201717 Comments
Hired Gun vs. Auteur

Hired Gun vs. Auteur

Are IP-based movie productions better served by engaging auteur directors who will control every aspect of the film, or do such projects reap greater benefits from a more mercenary approach? Bradford Walker offers a definite answer and compares DC Comics' movies to Marvel's as an example. Following on from a…
December 4, 201710 Comments
Garbagereads

Garbagereads

I predicted that Goodreads would follow Twitter down the way of the social media dodo almost two years ago. Back then I thought that their admins' lack of integrity would drive away all but a remnant of hardcore SJW readers. Now it looks like base greed might lead to an…
November 30, 20178 Comments
Indie Pub Eras

Indie Pub Eras

The world of indie publishing is a dynamic market that has undergone dramatic change in a remarkably short time. To better understand this rapidly evolving industry, it behooves us to take a look back at the stages of indie pub's development. Pre-Kindle Before Amazon's introduction of the Kindle eReader, traditional…
November 28, 201712 Comments