Lately, a strange murmur has rippled across the publishing industry and echoed through my inbox; e books are just a fad, close your eyes, take a deep breath and they'll go away. Despite Nielson's own findings that print sales of adult fiction have declined by 37% since 2009 to the tune of over £150m loss, a brief flurry of physical book sales at Christmas appears to have triggered an industry-wide fantasy. Articles proliferated across the web declaring the e book dead. I must have read Tim Waterstone's quote half a dozen times, "— e-books have developed a share of the market, of course they have, but every indication – certainly from America – shows the share is already in decline. The indications are that it will do exactly the same in the UK.” A revisionist reality began to take shape. And across the post modern boardrooms of the Big Five, I could practically hear the murmurs of denial. At this year's London Book Fair Publishing for Digital Minds Conference, keynote speaker Author David Nicholls characterized publishers as social crusaders saying, “But we should … [Read more...] about Big Five Publishing: A Murmur of Denial
▶ Living Machines – The Rising of the Robot
"Robots are the lovechild of computers and power tools..." narrates Linda Hamilton, veteran of the Terminator movies 1 & 2. The actress who has spent a considerable amount of time being terrorized by robots, gives voice to an interesting documentary on human/robot interaction; Living Machines-Rising of the Robots. As you'll see in the documentary, robots are saving people from the three D's; jobs that are dirty, dangerous or dull. Robots are flying to other planets, communicating vital information and deactivating bombs. They are sentinels who never tire and may be the only way to colonize other planets. But even the eminent physicist Stephen Hawking is not convinced Asimov's Law of Robotics will be sufficient to protect us from the dangers of robotic intelligence. When interviewed by the BBC, Hawking said, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." So, will robots save us or destroy us? … [Read more...] about ▶ Living Machines – The Rising of the Robot
Cringeworthy One Star Reviews of Classic Books
Kindle Direct Publishing has given writers an amazing gift, a way to reach a worldwide audience. Anyone who meets Amazon's standards can publish a book or story, and anyone can leave a review to haunt you. Every KDP writer will eventually have to endure the Amazon one star review. They are part of the new publishing landscape. Negative reviews range from illiterate, crazy diatribes, revealing more about the reviewer's state of mind than the book itself, to pointed critiques by shrewd and pissed off readers. Why do people leave one star reviews? It's simple, they're experiencing a strong emotional reaction. Maybe the reviewer doesn't like swear words, or they had to read the book for school or book club, or they just saw the movie and the book's not the same, or the book conflicts with their personal philosophy about life, or they don't think this is what a story should be. Whether the one star review is a raw, visceral slap or a deeply cutting dissection that stings, they can be a shock for writers who took a big emotional risk to release their work in the first place. … [Read more...] about Cringeworthy One Star Reviews of Classic Books
