Monday, April 30, 2007
The Pace of Publishing
Way back in December, I read Dorothea Salo's post on "Why I Am the Enemy," checked "keep new" in Bloglines with the intention of responding to the bit of her post containing a lament about the slow pace of print publishing, and then... well... didn't. (I guess the faster pace of blogging only works if bloggers are on the ball!)
I already talked last year about some of my reasons for the continued viability of book publishing. Now that I've been blogging a bit longer, I still believe in all of those pluses -- but also in the complementary nature of the two formats. I believe that a big chunk of the readers who see Dorothea's chapter in the upcoming Information Tomorrow book will be unfamiliar with her blog, and that her ideas need to be seen by this different audience. I believe that conversation about her work, and that of the other contributors to the collection, will explode online post-publication, and that this is a Good Thing.
ALA Editions posted an interesting book production timeline on their blog a while back, which might provide some insight into why book publishing takes so darn long. And yes, I get frustrated with the slow pace of print publishing as well, but understand it a bit better now that I'm seeing it from the other side.
I already talked last year about some of my reasons for the continued viability of book publishing. Now that I've been blogging a bit longer, I still believe in all of those pluses -- but also in the complementary nature of the two formats. I believe that a big chunk of the readers who see Dorothea's chapter in the upcoming Information Tomorrow book will be unfamiliar with her blog, and that her ideas need to be seen by this different audience. I believe that conversation about her work, and that of the other contributors to the collection, will explode online post-publication, and that this is a Good Thing.
ALA Editions posted an interesting book production timeline on their blog a while back, which might provide some insight into why book publishing takes so darn long. And yes, I get frustrated with the slow pace of print publishing as well, but understand it a bit better now that I'm seeing it from the other side.
Labels: blogging, books, publishing
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That's actually a pretty fast pace for book publishing. Well, I only know the fiction side of things, so non-fiction work might be faster... I thought my book (Logorrhea, small plug) was really fast when I delivered it in October and we published it today, but that's slower than the ideal pace for ALA Editions.
Publishing remains an unknown business to people who aren't a part of it. It's difficult to explain to someone who isn't a part of it.
Publishing remains an unknown business to people who aren't a part of it. It's difficult to explain to someone who isn't a part of it.
I used to be a part of it, actually. I'm less clueless than some.
And I still think the cost-benefit analysis is worth doing. Will I gain more by publishing this chapter in print than I would have gained by placing it in DList as soon as it was written? Dunno. Will be an interesting experiment.
I reread the draft this morning. It doesn't suck -- only made me cringe twice. Probably the best piece of professional writing (in my old or new professions) I've ever done. But... yeah... some bits are out of date.
If you ever revise your publishing book, Rachel, a few words on writing defensively to take into account the slow pace of print publishing might be in order. I'm just spoiled by blogging, I tell you what.
And I still think the cost-benefit analysis is worth doing. Will I gain more by publishing this chapter in print than I would have gained by placing it in DList as soon as it was written? Dunno. Will be an interesting experiment.
I reread the draft this morning. It doesn't suck -- only made me cringe twice. Probably the best piece of professional writing (in my old or new professions) I've ever done. But... yeah... some bits are out of date.
If you ever revise your publishing book, Rachel, a few words on writing defensively to take into account the slow pace of print publishing might be in order. I'm just spoiled by blogging, I tell you what.
Congrats on the book, John! And Dorothea, I have a list of things I'd revise/add if I updated the publishing book, but unfortunately it's unlikely I'll work with Scarecrow again to do it.
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