Thursday, September 15, 2005

Publishing

Nancy and I spent a good bit of time in Borders. Just like everything else, we have our routines at Borders:


Come in through the Café – Much less a cold air hit.
We head for the 1st tier book area – the ones right inside the front door.
We then move to the next tables, usually some new books. Most books on these tables have paid for their placement. Nancy and I look through each table, studying cover art. We look for the ones that catch our eye. A book has less than a second to catch your eye, and for many books, the cover art can make all the difference. We watch other people at the tables, and see what catches their eye.
I usually move on to the magazines, then the fitness books, then the language books, then the writing books. Sometimes I’ll look through the computer book area, but that gets overwhelming.
Nancy will go through the tables, then move to the sci-fi and fantasy area. She’s a bit more thorough in her perusing. We usually meet up to go home when either of us have to go to the bathroom. The ones at WINTER PARK BORDERS ARE GROSS!!! (hint)


Nancy will usually by at least one book. I have absolutely no business buying any books, paper or audio. I have almost 5,000 e-books on my computer, and usually keep at least 100 on my PocketPC. I have about 20gig of audio books, and keep about 500meg on my toy. I’m fairly sure I could never listen to all of them, even if I listened to all of them straight thru- till I died.

Thanks be to libraries. And, Capt’n Jack Sparrow might be a bit proud of me too.

The last six books I’ve read have been e-books. I figure; if I’m going to be one of the pioneers in the e-book publishing industry, I ought to set the example. Now, a regular book feels clucky, bulky, and a waste of good trees to me. My e-books are just 1 and 0; binary data. No trees died to please me. At least, not for reading.

The future of publishing will look something like this: You’ll go online, download a book, audio book, song, picture, or maybe even a movie, and pay after you’ve used the material. In most cases, you’ll be able to pay what you think it’s worth, not some publisher or marketing agent thinks they can get for it. And, most of the money will go directly to the creator.

No wonder the RIAA and MPAA are scared silly. And agents. They’re a dying profession. Right now, they’re just trying to sue there way to death, and milk as much money out of everyone before they go down. But, mark my words, they will go down. It’s economic and technological evolution.

Hopefully, inventors will figure out ways to make these things happen with few resources than we use now. The more I look around, the more I realize how wasteful, and overconsuming a society we are. I feel guilty having been suckered into it. I feel even more guilty that I still participate. But, what’s a good little consumer to do? Live in an eco-village? Too many feminists for me.

Oh, by the way; My first order of business as Emperor of Blogairia; resend the 19th amendment. It was the downfall of American society.

I studied even more today. Almost a compulsion. Personal Training is something I love, but the market is glutted, at least it is here in Orlando. And when consumer confidence is down, the trainer is one of the first expenses to go. So, everyone be good little consumers, and come spend your money on me!

Pictures are not supported by Blogger for Word add-in, so I'll have to do a lot of cut and paste. Maybe I'll start time-stamping my day for you.

I didn’t do Yoga again. I will tomorrow. I have to. Physical tension and pain are building up again. Advil and Aleve are not good anti anxiety medications. Neither is chocolate, caffine, and sudafed sinus. Ugh.

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