The Threshold

Every. Thing. Changes. Tomorrow.

Publishers Versus Readers

Avid Readers Want Both eBooks and Print Books

He also noted that a staggering two-thirds of avid readers surveyed were 45 or older. In contrast, only 28 percent were in the 18+ bracket. Publishers face two unique challenges: keeping the baby boomer readers as they retire and building new readers with a younger generation.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

I did that here: Apple’s iSlate Gives Book Publishers False Hope

What I have to add is this:

People grow up. Those who grow up with any sort of impulse towards self-direction and initiative understand that reading is important. They also grow up to understand that people need to be paid.

What I said in the prior post still stands, generally. Instead of selling to an existing — and shrinking — pool, enlarge it:

In a London pub, Studs meets a Welsh miner from the Rhondda Valley. “You’re from Chicago; you must know Nelson Algren.” Whiskey flows. Then the old boy sings out the titles of all Algren’s books in a mellifluous Welsh accent. — R.I.P. Louis “Studs” Terkel

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

How the hell was that miner reached?

Apple Wednesday January 27, 2010 Preview

Not a timeline; an aggregation:

1) New version of iWork
– demonstrated on a conventional Mac
– later demonstrated on the iSlate/iPad
– then demonstrated on the iPhone
– digital book creation demonstrated — writers pay attention to this!

2) iSlate/iPad
– new UI demonstrated
– gaming demonstrations
– video demonstration
– eBook demonstration
– digital book demonstration — with a sample from Disney

3) iSlate/iPad dock
– with surprises

4) Apple Digital Book Store
– Children
– Young Adult
– Adult

5) New iWork.com
– collaboration features via iSlate/iPad

And one hell of a surprise.

Sales for the first year of iSlate/iPod will exceed sales of all models of Macintosh combined for that year, at least in the U.S..

Philip R. Cable: Make Movies That Make Money!

Make Movies That Make Money! — The Low-Budget Filmmaker’s Guide to Commercial Success by Philip R. Cable

The term “low-budget” can refer to anything from a $10 million indie flick to a student film produced on borrowed equipment with little or no money. Low budget filmmakers can range from seasoned auteurs attempting to shed the shackles of major studio control to novice talents trying to break into the industry.

Designed for would-be filmmakers of all experience levels, this book explains how to make a good, commercially successful, low-budget movie in the current multi-million dollar Hollywood climate. The purpose is not only to show how to get movies made and distributed, but also how to maximize a film’s potential for significant profit.

Written in practical, understandable terms, the book covers everything from commercially viable genres to the most efficient film and video formats, along with tips on hiring stars, pursuing investors, distributing and marketing a film, and keeping track of expenses.

Philip and I have spoken to one another now and again since the late 1970s.

The Internet Lets Us Learn From A Master

The Cute Way To Offend Delicate Sensibilities

Look how Goddamned weird this is.

What a post!

Genius master animator John Kricfalusi posts stills from a Bob Clampett Looney Tunes cartoon, pointing out nuances we civilians never would — and on top of it all, he’s also seeing things he never noticed before!

I don’t know if John K uses a Mac. I hope so. I sooooo want him to do a digital book as only he can. He’d blast publishing into somewhere else in one damned shot!

Previously here:

Respect The Artist!

Digital Books: From “The Kiss” To “Avatar”

Anyone who saw this:

The May-Irwin Kiss (Edison, 1896)

Would have never been able to imagine it would — or ever could — someday become this:

Avatar: The Movie (New Extended HD Trailer) (2009)

With digital books — Vook, Enhanced Editions, et al — we are at the stage of The Kiss.

But it will take us faster to get to the Avatar stage because we have more prior knowledge — and technology — than Edison’s crew did at the beginning of moving pictures.

Writer 3.0 For Book 3.0

Imagine’s “Transmedia Storytelling” Deal

“Studios gobbled up pre-branded properties like Asteroids and Battleship, but as an exec I would hear pitches from writers and see nobody coming with visuals, and there was nobody at the studio managing intellectual properties over all divisions,” Kadison said.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

I really hate the term “transmedia.” I hope we’re not stuck with that. I also hated “multimedia” too, by the way (and strange it was never applied to comic books first — or at all!). People think a new buzzterm is like a magic wand that can automagically create something.

Anyway.

In a prior blog I did a few posts about what I was calling “Writer 2.0.”

Well, the Axis of eCrap (formerly Axis of E) — eInk, ePub, eBook — is coming to its deserved end. And so is Writer 2.0.

In its place will be digital books. And Writer 3.0.

What Apple’s iSlate Means To Bloggers

For quite some time I’ve wanted offline and portable reference copies of my past two blogs: Mike Cane’s Blog and Mike Cane 2008.

There were two problems with this desire for either a printed or electronic copy:

1) WordPress exports a hinky XML file that chokes services that offer printing of blogs

2) How do I deal with a post such as this, with several embedded videos?

An electronic version in ePub? My god, what a lot of work for something that’d only wind up looking fugly, lack the videos, lack color in photos, and be verrrry slow for accessing on an eInk screen.

It was only tonight that it hit me that I’ll finally be able to have digital books of my blogs. Apple will make that possible with iWork. And iWork can embed video (cough, cough).

I’ll be able to easily access past posts offline as well as do all the real indexing I’ve always wanted to do for cross-referencing years of related posts. And I’d be able to read all of them comfortably, leisurely sprawled on a sofa or on my bed with an iSlate.

I couldn’t sell these due to rights issues. That was never the point. I’ve wanted these portable reference editions for myself.

But all of you who have blogs with material that only you own? You could sell digital book copies. An annual compilation of your posts.

Anyone who has a blog should begin to get very excited about what’s coming from Apple!

The Apple TV That Isn’t But Will Be

I stated earlier that Apple is going to need a YouTube-like service to snatch away all of those videos being fed into Google’s advertising wallet by iPhones (and soon probably the next-gen iPod Touch too).

Apple TV would be a natural name for it. But that domain is taken.

Apple watchers, keep your eye on that. At some point, Apple will have them evicted.

Can We Get This Lovely iBook Prototype In 2012, Apple?

This will amp up your iSlate lust (as if it isn’t already high).

Designer creates a prototype for a dual-screened Apple digital book reader, called iBook. Lovely piece of hardware. Software is so-so, but the line-tracker feature is clever and something Apple should, um, acquire.

Watch.

Additional:

Martin Perhiniak website