[9295] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: money, commercialization, and publishing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (laura fillmore)
Tue Dec 28 01:07:29 1993
In-Reply-To: <m0pEVgP-000EkTC@garnet.msen.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 93 01:55:25 -0400
To: "Edward Vielmetti" <emv@garnet.msen.com>
Cc: inet-pub@lists.ans.net, "Editorial Inc." <wk00367@worldlink.com>,
From: "laura fillmore" <pl0142@psilink.com>
>: > The best approach, then, is to make e-books free or almost free to the
>: >public--while building in provisions for fair compensation for
>: >publishers, writers, etc.
>
>: OK, Mr. Rothman, the brass ring goes to s/he who figures out how to do
>: this, soon.
>
>it's really easy actually
>
>you are not just delivering "books" on line, you are delivering authors
>
>steven king's latest pulp fiction is eh, no big deal. but provide
>the chance to converse in some relatively intimate forum with
>mr king (or any of any number of other literate folks) and you might
>reasonably have a service that would be worth paying oh a buck or
>two an hour for on line time
We are planning something along these lines in the forms of a Virtual
Book Signing for an author next month, and a Virtual Award Dinner for a
shoot-out we are sponsoring among the "contained" and "distributed"
online publishing models. Both events will involve authors meeting their
audiences live online. We've been trying to do this since last March
15, the date of the World's First Dead "Live Online" show, involving two
literary giants. Then again with Stephen King: No Go. This kind of
event is now happening at CompuServe and other services.
>
>i find the well, probably also some parts of compuserve to have that
>sort of ambiance.
WINsim is neat. I participated in Ziffnet's Paperless Publishing Forum
on CompuServe last week (I got a free account to do this), and someone
else in my office attended as well (at regular CS rates); he tells me
his bill is over $200 for this. Hey, I thought no one was making money
from online publishing! It's a very effective way to communicate; the
Forum was lively and participation turned me into a willing customer.
>who are relatively confident in
>themselves the net as a whole suffices (of course that leaves no
>meter running to collect from) or start a mailing list, online
>support group, whatever reasonable forum matches the work in
>one way or another. in any case you need to establish a channel
>that looks at least like two way communications and that offers
>more than simply a way to get text on people's screens.
>
Kinetic publishing <TM>, a high-quality level of discussion on specific
topics, that's something to aim for. Maybe that's why the shareware
model works so well--one pays *after using* the commodity. The
Shareword <TM> publishing model achieves the same effect. If something
is useful to you, and you think about it and incorporate it into your
life and/or your work, then you pay for it. All roads lead to Xanadu
and Ted Nelson's SilverStands <TM>.
Do you note a disturbing trend in the above paragraph, made evident by
the clumsiness of ASCII? It's nothing less than the atomization of
discourse: people are trademarking the tiniest things lately!
> i don't know if it will sell more books? who knows. are you looking
>to sell more books, or make more money, or get good publicity, or
>what?
The definition of "book" might change to accommodate its new
incarnation(s), shedding its shell, so to speak. Thus waffling, I can
say yes, selling "books" would be great, and if they produce an income
stream, then even better, because that means more books will follow.
The publicity serves as oil: balm for battered egos out there making
camp in the wilderness; lubricant for the engine of change.
Beyond that: why this? Why not selling bagels or driving a bus?
(Yesterday, someone tried to enlist me in the local Fire Department.) It
seems like the obvious work to be done, and despite what you say in your
opening sentence, it's not "really easy actually". If it were, why can't
I ask my neanderthal 27-pound Zenith laptop (flying at 2400), what route
I should drive down to New York tomorrow, leaving Boston at 13:30 PM:
NY, NJ, PA, then MA in 30 hrs., trying to beat the snow expected Weds.
evening (rumors of blizzards in the Midwest). I've got a family of six
to round up and would pay $50-100 for this intelligence, which involves
linking a travel book, a map, a weather service--and a human brain.
Yet, all the options open to me involve gophering to a weather service
through the World and hoping that someone's volunteered to keep it up
to date. No restaurant guide, no Triptik, no Motel 6 Coupons. I could
go buy a four-figure Newton tomorrow and hope the info was hardwired
in, but that's a long shot, despite the "Big Players" behind the
creation of this product. If the problem's so simple, SOLVE IT!, and
let's get on with things.
Laura
