That SXSW panel, New Think for Old Publishers was a doozie by the sounds of it. Kassia eviscerates the event:
Let me be clear. Absolutely clear. Not one word spoken in that session, either from the panelists or from the audience, was new or innovative. The panel, well, we’ve all heard job descriptions before. The audience? That was one very long line of people saying the same things we’ve been saying to the publishing industry for ten years. And yet the publishing people treated our comments as if they were items to be added to a list.
A list that will be filed in a drawer along with other conference ephemera.
I talked about selling books not formats. Kevin Smokler of Booktour.com asked the same simple question he’s been asking for a long time. He wants an efficient way to get your author tour data into his system so that the readers who have signed up to get notifications about signings in their area get those notifications. That is all. He wants to help you, but you’re not helping yourselves.
Another person asked you to stop suing writers of fanfic and maybe work with them. Others wanted more engagement from you, more outreach, more information. One author noted you publish 3500 books a week…how does her book even begin to stand a chance in the market? And more and more and more.
We barely got started, and time didn’t allow all of us to speak. You gave us an hour to answer a question you’ve been spending over a decade on? [more...]
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