Franz Bieberkopf
Forum Replies Created
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Herb,
While I think your argument is largely correct, there are some exceptional examples:
https://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/12/amanda-hocking-self-publishing
I agree, though, most self-publishing successes we hear about are those who have benefited from large distributors.
Maybe we’ll see more stories like the one above. It does seem more like fluke than design, though.
One thing that starts to happen with more people publishing is that the signal-to-noise ratio skyrockets. I do wonder if taste-makers and large distributors will be strengthened or weakened by that.
Addendum:
I do think all of this is quite apart from the question of production. There’s an ironic bit in the article above:
Just the editing process alone has been a source of deep frustration, because although she has employed own freelance editors and invited her readers to alert her to spelling and grammatical errors, she thinks her ebooks are riddled with mistakes. “It drove me nuts, because I tried really hard to get things right and I just couldn’t. It’s exhausting, and hard to do. And it starts to wear on you emotionally. I know that sounds weird and whiny, but it’s true.”
In the end, Hocking became so burned out by the stress of solo publishing that she has turned for help to the same traditional book world that previously rejected her and which she was seen as attacking.
Franz.
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Craig,
There’s a lot of unsubstantiated guesswork in there, passing for “analysis”, don’t you think?
While he stressed that his numbers were only estimates — Apple does not break out sales to businesses in its earnings statements — he defended them as “in the ballpark.”
… not a particularly convincing argument.
Also there’s this:
“He attributed Apple’s recent high corporate sales growth rate to what he called “clandestine” acquisitions of Macs by higher-level employees — who are sometimes reimbursed by their firms — iPad purchases by IT departments and small businesses buying computers and tablets for both personal and business use.”
That sounds to me like his big speculation is that office workers are buying laptops and sometimes getting reimbursed. That may or may not be true but I think it’s important to qualify what he means by “enterprise sales”.
Franz.
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Bill,
I still think that (amongst other things) you’re confusing the production problem with the distribution problem.
It isn’t clear to me (nor, from what I’ve read, anyone else) how the distribution issue is going to evolve.
My references to writing, photography, and music are all good examples to look to in this respect.
Franz.
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Bill,
I’m sure it is possible that magisto will “drive content” to some extent, somewhere on the internet (and I’m being quite sincere about that). I don’t think I’ve made any claim anywhere against that idea.
But nothing in your post above challenges the fact that at some point Turner’s broadcasting facilities are going to need to buy new systems – it may or may not be of interest to see what their decision is.
I don’t see these two things as connected.
You can look to writing, photography, and more recently music production as good examples of specialized technologies becoming widely adopted (I think the trendy word is “commoditized”, isn’t it?).
Anyway, specialists need tools. I’m interested in a certain set of tools that specialists use.
Franz.
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[Paul Harrison] “Turner Studios may be Gulliver in a land of Lilliputians.”
Paul,
Wasn’t Gulliver made king or something? Before he went home.
Anyway I think you and Bill are muddying the waters a bit – yes, more people have access to media production. That is quite beside the issue of what tools broadcast outfits will use.
You should also catch up on the YouTube story here particularly as it relates to broadcast as a model.
Franz.
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[Christian Schumacher] “I am convinced that “something” was said in that regard. It is more than a “link bait”.”
Christian,
I disagree. The only thing he attributes to the speaker is “a clear warning to Apple”, the rest is all his interpretation and extrapolation – not attributed to the speaker.
What that “clear warning” would have been, who knows?
Franz.
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[Bill Davis] “The future is what’s happening globally with the use of the new tools.”
Bill,
See magisto post, below.
Franz.
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Christian,
It’s a bit weird that there’s no actual quote in that link.
Franz.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “What I wonder is what algorithm they use to find “the interesting pieces”.”
Jeremy,
I’m imagining an editing farm somewhere in Viet Nam.
Franz.
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[Jeremy Garchow] ” It is a scripted piece, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. So in that regard, it’s linear.”
… though, as Godard would point out, that isn’t an uncontroversial point.
Franz.