Origami Unicorn

Preserving Things Digital

What happens when the power fails. EContent Magazine takes a look at the ways and means and purpose of preserving things digital.

Letters From Writers

Publishers Weekly abstracts four letters from writers from the blog, Letters of Note. Some writers compose their letters thinking of a wider audience; others are less guarded. Vonnegut's letter is particularly interesting to a genre reader because the events he is condensing turned into Slaughterhouse 5.

A Look at the Espresso Book Machine

Books! Printed right before your eyes! Old books, new books, and journals with blue, or any other color, covers... The Scholarly Kitchen talks about what's like to own and run an Espresso Book Machine.

Borders CEO Sees Light at the End of the Tunnel

Or maybe he's whistling Dixie. AnnArbor.com reports on a local business.

When Amazon's Cloud Goes Dark

A lot of sites go down and stay down. The WSJ reports and do does the NYT, both sites updating as the situation changes. A practical lesson in why concentration also demands backup.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Futurebook argues that blogging now near-essential to writers. So what, I wondered are the Big Names actually doing.

First, the marketing machine that is Stephen King. This appears to have been crafted by and maintained by other hands. That last of "Stephen's Messages" was posted in 2009.

Second, J. K. Rowling's site, another elaborate creation, which appears to have been abandoned in 2009.

Lois McMaster Bujold. A site, a newsletter, no blog.

Well, let's look at someone whose ascent to fame is more recent: Naomi Novak. In addition to her website, a LiveJournal page, last updated in October 2010.

Lawrence Watt Evans. Pay dirt. LiveJournal, updated this very day. Also a reader-supported serial in progress.

And continuing our random walk, Charlaine Harris, who has a website and a blog that appears to be updating roughly every ten days.

You're welcome to continue this research. Offhand, I would say the newer the writer, the more likely it is they are speaking directly to their audience.

A Kindle Book Experiment

So what happens if you publish a book for Kindle? What happens if you sell it for a really low price? One British author tried it with three books in three genres. Stephen Leather reports, with real numbers, on how that worked out.

It should not come as a big surprise that people with ereaders are willing to download inexpensive content, even things they might not pick up in the store. It's a potential positive trend for all authors, but, as always, the ultimate end result probably depends on how appealing the content is.

So far, he's picked up a nice piece of change.

Realms of Fantasy Relaunch Begins

The magazine is beginning its relaunch, with its former editors back in place. Their website tells what's going on, and they start the machinery back up.

The Future of Libraries and eBooks

Library Thing discusses the possible impact of the growth of ebooks. The only thing that is certain is change.

Scanlations and Other Copyright Problems

An interesting blog posting associated with theBookseller.com, which explores some of the problems of copyright, including for-the-love scanlations: scans and translations of comics posted online.