The Publisher as Curator

Bob Hughes - February 8, 2012

When people defend traditional publishers they argue that publishing houses employ editors who “curate” their particular lists. Thus ensuring quality. (That “quality” is a term broadly defined goes without saying, given the number of bad books published each year.) Being a publishing curator – a fancier term for being an… Read more   

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Charles Dickens and Today’s Author

Bob Hughes - February 7, 2012

Today is the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth. Why is that important for people who aren’t readers of Victorian novels, or English majors or those who follow literary history? Well, apart from his being one of the greatest writers in the English language (alongside such other Victorian giants as… Read more   

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A Digital Presence in the Physical World? Not Likely.

Bob Hughes - February 6, 2012

The biggest online retailer might be considering opening a brick-and-mortar store. At least, that’s the speculation. According to an article in The New York Times, among other newspapers and news sites, since Amazon is in the process of opening more, and larger, distribution centers, can an Amazon… Read more   

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Power Begins to Shift Toward Authors

Bob Hughes - February 2, 2012

Sales of adult hardcover books declined last November. But you probably knew that. Still, the latest figures from the American Association of Publishing show that while year-to-year sales for that month decreased by nearly 21%, e-book sales jumped by 123%. So the increase in e-books more than… Read more   

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Consumers Need Freedom of Choice

Bob Hughes - February 1, 2012

You can’t read an e-book on all e-readers. And you can’t buy a paper-and-cardboard book at all booksellers. So much for the enduring nature of the printed word in book form. Barnes & Noble has decided not to stock physical books published by Amazon. It will offer them online, but… Read more   

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Networking on the Margin

BNI - February 1, 2012

Living on the margin, in any capacity, is not healthy. If you make $50,00 a year and you live to your means and spend $50,000, you have no room for error. In other words, when those inevitable breakdowns happen, you get stressed and have to scramble for the extra money.… Read more   

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Entrepreneurs Should Think in Terms of Books

Bob Hughes - January 31, 2012

Entrepreneurs should write books (or work with people to write them). But should they self-publish? Definitely, says James Altucher, a writer and entrepreneur. In a riveting and informative blog post on TechCrunch he describes how self-publishing has worked for him, and why it should work for any… Read more   

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“Content Will Always Be King”

Rich Christiansen - January 31, 2012

I just read a contrary post by a friend and associate and someone I respect greatly. This man, Greg Habstritt recently interviewed Dan Kennedy–one of the world’s most trusted authorities on direct response marketing, and copywriting. Indeed Kennedy is a brilliant individual; however, I strongly disagreed with… Read more   

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We Still Need Bookstores

Bob Hughes - January 30, 2012

The record store is pretty much extinct. Will bookstores follow? I hope not. An interesting article about Barnes & Noble’s efforts to compete against Amazon showed how even the largest and once-feared retailer can become a victim of changing buying habits and the new realities of the… Read more   

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Being Heard Against the Waves of New Books

Bob Hughes - January 26, 2012

More books are being published all the time. Every year trumps the one before. You may have read that at the Digital World conference this week, speaker David Houle said that more books were published last week than in all of 1950. That’s a nice headline-grabbing remark… Read more   

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