Saturday, June 21, 2008

Now HERE is a clever idea

Of course I read Smart Bitches Trashy Books regularly. You should too.

Anyway.

Recently Hillel Italie, the AP book reporter stopped by the SBTB blog to answer a few hilarious questions. Take a look at the interview here, but pay special attention to the last question: the eb00k reader.

Hillel Italie suggests that publishers might begin sending advance copies electronically. I think that's a great idea. We all know most books sent out for review end up in a stack teetering precariously toward the moon, untouched, unread, and certainly unreviewed.

I had lunch yesterday with one such industry persona who described her office as a cross between a library and a hurricane.

Think of the cost savings of sending only electrons!
It would also cut down on a very interesting secondary market: selling review copies to bookstores.
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9 comments:

  1. Pamala Knight6/21/08, 4:01 PM

    the eBook ARC would also serve to keep a certain agent out of the slam, just in case another nefarious type decides to lift her copy and then cry foul on the train, n'est-ce pas, cher?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janet Reid6/21/08, 4:50 PM

    ah yes, the great subway theft of
    Nothing To Lose

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan Helene Gottfried6/21/08, 4:57 PM

    Am I living in an alternate universe from you, Janet? I've already seen eARCS and even gotten one for review. It's happening.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Janet Reid6/21/08, 5:26 PM

    I haven't seen them yet, and I haven't seen a drop in the number of printed ARCs either.

    I'm on the lookout now though! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. H. L. Dyer6/21/08, 11:49 PM

    It's uber-geeky, I know, but I recently learned how to use Palm Markup Language to create an ebook (.pdb file) from my manuscript (keeping my bold, italics, centering, etc.) with a clickable table of contents.

    Right now it's purely for my own amusement/convenience on my Palm Pilot. I would love if it was actually useful to someone else. *snort*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pamala Knight6/22/08, 10:48 PM

    Speaking of the great subway theft of 2008, did anyone see Kevin Nance's interview with Lee Child in the Chicago Sun Times? It's here:
    http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/1017964,SHO-Books-childq22.article

    ReplyDelete
  7. Susan Adrian6/23/08, 12:04 PM

    Excellent article, pk! But the link was broken in your post. Let's see if I can link it here:

    Interview with Lee Child

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pamala Knight6/23/08, 3:15 PM

    Thank you Susan!

    I've been a big John D. MacDonald fan for so long and it was refreshing to read about the sublime Mr. Child's inspirations.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sandra Cormier6/23/08, 10:58 PM

    E-pubs send out electronic ARCs all the time, but I like the uniqueness of a paper ARC. I received my first a few months ago.

    ReplyDelete

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