I don’t think I’ve blogged about it before, but I’ve had serious concerns for years about Google’s placement of access to content far above creators’ rights and copyright, have followed the Authors Guild/National Writers Union court case and settlement, and ended up after some internal debate choosing to remove my own works from the [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Publishing'
Even More Questions About the Google Book Settlement
February 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Publishing, Web 2.0/Social Media
Tags: copyright·creators rights·fair use·google book settlement
Green Press Initiative Reports Publishers with 50% of US Market Now Have Environmental Commitments
December 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments · Energy & Sustainability, Publishing
Some good news for a change, although their statistic is somewhat misleading: 50% of market share is a looooong way from 50% of publishers. Which is why I changed it in the headline.
Anyway, here’s the press release, in full:
Book Industry Reaches Significant Environmental Milestone
Nov 30, 2009: New York Today, the U.S. [...]
Tags: book publishers·environmental commitments·green press initiative
Ben Franklin: Genius and Contradictions
November 27th, 2009 · 5 Comments · Business Ethics, Entrepreneurship, Ethics: General, Publishing, Transparency vs. Secrecy, propaganda
While visiting Minneapolis, I took in the opening day of the new Ben Franklin exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in downtown Saint Paul. I’ve long ben a Franklin fan. To me, his far-reaching curiosity, big-picture viewpoint, multiple interests, creativity, willingness to question authority and even make fun of it, media and persuasion skills, dedication [...]
Tags: abolitionism·Ben Franklin·Benjamin Franklin·contradictions·diplomacy·ethics·invention·morality·science·slavery
Don’t Publishers Have an Obligation to Tell Authors They’re Publishing?
September 3rd, 2009 · No Comments · Business Ethics, Publishing
While going through the claiming process in the Google Books settlement (if you’re an author, you should do so too–by tomorrow!–so you get royalties if they sell your stuff, or can opt out), I discovered that my very first book, co-authored with a well-known NYC literary agent and a subject-matter expert, had been published as [...]
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Way Too Much Good News for 140 Characters
May 6th, 2009 · No Comments · Abundance and Prosperity, Publishing, Shel's Personal Life, Web 2.0/Social Media
For many years, I’ve been writing about the Abundance Principle: a corollary to the Law of Attraction that I’ve been espousing long before I ever heard of Law of Attraction. Basically it’s the idea that the universe is abundant; there’s enough good stuff for all, despite kinks in distribution. And that if you focus on [...]
Tags: abundance principle·africa·guerrilla marketing goes green speaking tour
The Green and Ethical Wave is Becoming Mainstream
May 4th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Business Ethics, Energy & Sustainability, Publishing
In 2002, when I was writing my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, a lot of the ideas in it were way out in front of the pack. Not a lot of people were talking about corporate environmental sustainability, and pretty much no one was talking about success through business ethics.
I [...]
Tags: business ethics pledge·Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green·Jay Conrad Levinson·John Wiley & Sons·Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First·sustainability
Are Local Papers the Future of Print Journalism?
April 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Publishing, media-general
Interesting piece in the Washington Spectator, noting that the Anniston (Alabama) Star seems to be doing reasonably well, even as big-city papers around the country move to Internet-only or shut their doors entirely. Even the Boston Globe is teetering.
In my own area, I read the Daily Hampshire Gazette, published in Northampton, Massachusetts for over 200 [...]
Tags: anniston star·daily hampshire gazette·hampshire county·newspaper business models·northampton massachusetts·paid subscription newspapers·wall street jurnal
Are You Respecting Copyrights in Your Social Networks?
February 8th, 2009 · No Comments · Ethics: General, Publishing, Web 2.0/Social Media
I’m sure the person who posted was not acting out of malice but of ignorance. Many people don’t think of reprinting an article as stealing, just like they don’t think throwing a toxic cigarette butt on the ground is littering.
Eagan to Joe the Plumber: I won’t fix your toilet if you won’t write a book
December 14th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Publishing, media-general
A wonderfully snarky Op-ed in the New York Times by Timothy Egan, called “Typing Without a Clue“–basically attacking Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin for the book deals they’re expected to ink, and saying writing should be left to the many talented but unappreciated writers out there and not sold off as if it were [...]
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The Power of Patience, Persistence, and Positivity
November 13th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Abundance and Prosperity, Customer Service as Marketing, Publishing, Shel's Personal Life, Uncategorized
No matter how many times I called and got voicemail, I never left a negative message. No matter how many weeks went by with no communication, I always approached each new call without recrimination. I listened politely to the editor complain about the agent, and on other calls, the agent complain about the editor. But when I needed to complain I vented to someone who had no involvement in the deal.
And now, finally, we have a deal that all four parties–myself, my co-author, his agent, and the editor at the publishing house–are all happy with.
Tags: book publishing·positivity
