Publishing, and other disasters...
When my wonderful publisher told me, quietly, that his distibutor was filing for bankruptcy, I processed this news as "I hope you aren't expecting a check from us anytime soon."
Which, to be honest, didn't faze me. I didn't edit Half/Life expecting a big payoff, and I'd gladly forgo a few bucks to help Softskull in any way. Besides, they've weathered worse.
But this great post at David Silverman's blog helps me to understand things in another way. A much bigger, scarier way. If you have any interest in matters of publishing, independent press, free exchange of thought, or good literature... I suggest you skip on over there and read it.
Also, it makes me want to buy David's book.
Which, to be honest, didn't faze me. I didn't edit Half/Life expecting a big payoff, and I'd gladly forgo a few bucks to help Softskull in any way. Besides, they've weathered worse.
But this great post at David Silverman's blog helps me to understand things in another way. A much bigger, scarier way. If you have any interest in matters of publishing, independent press, free exchange of thought, or good literature... I suggest you skip on over there and read it.
Also, it makes me want to buy David's book.
3 Comments:
Thanks for the link, Laurel. I've been following this. Mediabistro.com has an RSS-feedable blog, GalleyCat, that's been following the story.
Thanks for the kind words about my post. As an update, I've heard from Richard Nash at Soft Skull that there is hope for a survivable solution. Although the long-term issue remains the beneath-the-radar consolidation of buying power in publishing, printing, and distribution.
All the best, and I hope you do read my book!
If anybody can do it, Richard can. He's come back from worse, believe it or not. (Not all the presses will be so lucky. And it still doesn't hurt--at all--to send folks to the SSP website to do a little shopping.)
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