So much business these days is built on lies and broken promises.
But they package it as Branding and Influence.
We’re led to believe (if we’re unthinking folk) that dealing with a top brand that has market influence is the best thing we can do.
The fact that our world is splitting some seams and losing its stuffing through climate change and economic peril (to mention only two of the major crises underway) is primarily due to “top brands” that have major “market influence”.
I scan a ton of news to find material for this blog and, some days, finding information of solid worth is severely hampered by a flood of nearly meaningless drivel…
There’s an organization called Digital Book World that says some strange things about itself:
“…Digital Book World has evolved into a year-round platform offering educational and networking resources for consumer publishing professionals and their partners — including agents, booksellers and technology vendors — online and in person.”
That seems straightforward and yet, why do they call themselves a “platform” rather than an organization or company?
And, rather than addressing the needs of “book publishers” which one might think would follow from their name (Digital Book World), they say they’re helping “consumer publishing professionals”, which lets them focus less on authors who write books and deal more proactively with “content producers” who create… maybe not books… perhaps “content containers”?
So, these folks will be having their DBW Global on September 16, 2020.
However, Publishing Perspectives had an article, back in march of 2016, entitled: After DBW: ‘Perhaps We Don’t Know Anything’. (“DBW” being the Digital Book World Conference…)
Bear in mind, this was four years ago (as of this Editorial Insertion)—sad to say, things aren’t much better now…
A few excerpts:
“…one of the recurring ideas of this year’s event was a series of cautious admissions that perhaps we don’t know anything.”
Publishers Marketplace’s Michael Cader said:
“Our industry is full of anomalies…”
New York University Prof. Scott Galloway said:
“These four companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google) have effectively seceded from the US.”
Annenberg Innovation Lab Director Jonathan Taplin said:
“The result of this industrial hegemony is that platform, and not content, is becoming king.”
So have we come from “books” to “content” to “platform”—from “objects of value” to “aggregations of data” to “an empty stage”?
I’m sure there were a few presenters at the conference who made sense; but then, that’s just a bit of sense in a stew of nonsense…
If you’re wondering how folks who think this way make money, it’s pretty much the same way astronomers hold on to their jobs of “studying” proposed fantasies instead of the actual universe—they’re capitalizing on a financial climate that is no-holds-barred: do-whatever-you-can-get-away-with. And, wrap it in addictive packaging with elusive promises…
So, where are e-books in the digital book world?
It depends on which kind of e-book you’re after…
The content producers standing on compelling platforms will sell you run-of-the-mill genre stories.
Independent authors will sell you books that may be of lasting worth.
But then, my last two statements are generalizations…
The scary thing to me is that those generalizations seem to be rapidly transforming into accurate perceptions………
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