Publishing tricks or treats

from xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language

Vook white paper: ErRrrORS in eBooks

A whitepaper on ErRrrORS in eBooks is worth checking out at

It's about how unappealing ebooks can result (and we've all seen them) when one starts with a book first created on a print-oriented platform (e.g. InDesign).

I'll be interested to see what the Vook platform is.

Will Amazon's plan shake up the book publishing industry?

The NYTimes Opinion Pages' "Room for Debate" asks four "Debaters" Will Amazon Kill Off Publishers?

Will Amazon's plan shake up the book publishing industry as more writers have the option of a one-stop shop: agent, publisher and bookseller? Are publishers still needed?

For what percent of writers does this apply, I wonder.

Kindle Format 8

This could be good news. Amazon moves away from its old MOBI-based format to an HTML5+CSS3-featured format, KF8:

Kindle Format 8

The announcement seems to indicate that ePub will be an acceptable input format from publishers, but this remains to be seen.


I was thinking, since a KF8 file will probably be a "container file" (like zip), they could have named it KFC. Maybe they were too chicken. :)

No digital? No books for you!

That there are now major booksellers who will "not carry any book if it were denied the right to sell the digital version" is a sign that the book world is transforming from a print to an electronic orientation. They know this is their future if they are to continue to exist.


see In a Battle of the E-Readers, Booksellers Spurn Superheroes, NYTimes.com, October 18, 2011

Tractatus publico-philosophicus

One day we will say ...

1. There once was a day when the writer looked for a publisher.

1.1 That day is gone.

1.2 The writer and the publisher are one and the same.

1.3 The writer may need the help of a publishing assistant in formatting and editing a book or magazine, and/or a book distributor to promote it, but now the writer retains all rights to his or her work.

2. There once was a day when print took precedence over electronic.

2.1 That day is gone.

2.2 Praise ePub, from which all formats flow.

2.3 ePub + HTML5 frameworks before PDF.

Philip Thrift
cloudversed publishing