Scott Pixello's Blog, page 11
November 22, 2013
Ebooks v ‘real’ books
I’m thinking about this as I’m about to offer one of mine, Gagfest UK, on Createspace. I can appreciate the tactile appeal of turning pages but as long as people, especially young people, want to read, I don’t think it matters how.
What’s interesting perhaps is that in the history of ‘delivery systems’, key drivers have been drugs and porn. There are parallels to learn for books here. Like the drugs model, free samples to get you hooked or permafree offers for the first instalment of a serial seems to be the way to go for ebook authors.
Where budgets allow, libraries should carry e-books. If we want our youngsters to read, we have to accept that when they leave the house, they are usually carrying a mobile device rather than a paperback shoved in their back pocket. Since this ‘portal to literacy’ is already in many young hands, it seems incumbent upon us to use it rather than bewail the imminent demise of Barnes & Noble. Getting all nostalgic over vinyl won’t stop downloads.
What’s interesting perhaps is that in the history of ‘delivery systems’, key drivers have been drugs and porn. There are parallels to learn for books here. Like the drugs model, free samples to get you hooked or permafree offers for the first instalment of a serial seems to be the way to go for ebook authors.
Where budgets allow, libraries should carry e-books. If we want our youngsters to read, we have to accept that when they leave the house, they are usually carrying a mobile device rather than a paperback shoved in their back pocket. Since this ‘portal to literacy’ is already in many young hands, it seems incumbent upon us to use it rather than bewail the imminent demise of Barnes & Noble. Getting all nostalgic over vinyl won’t stop downloads.
November 21, 2013
Goodreads- what is it good for?
I think Edwin Starr put it best when he said ‘Goodreads, huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.’ Either Goodreads or war, I can never remember which.
Anyway, I visit a Kindle Board site (now KB for short) from time to time and a regular post that appears there will go something like this: ‘I’m on Goodreads but I just don’t know how to use it’ or ‘I worry that it doesn’t seem to be resulting in any increase in sales’.
It seems to me that some folk don’t really get what Goodreads is for and should perhaps pay a little more attention as the clue is in the title- it is for READERS. I write books but I read too and the interesting thing for me about books is the ideas between the covers or what they make me think of, not how many sales they produce. Now, it’s true if I was absolutely forced to be rich and famous, I’d bravely put up with it, but it’s not my whole raison d’etre, as they say in Spain.
It reminds me of an old Jimmy Carr gag which runs something like ‘I’m sponsoring a child in Africa but I wonder is it doing any good? I haven’t seen any increase in bookings…’
Anyway, I visit a Kindle Board site (now KB for short) from time to time and a regular post that appears there will go something like this: ‘I’m on Goodreads but I just don’t know how to use it’ or ‘I worry that it doesn’t seem to be resulting in any increase in sales’.
It seems to me that some folk don’t really get what Goodreads is for and should perhaps pay a little more attention as the clue is in the title- it is for READERS. I write books but I read too and the interesting thing for me about books is the ideas between the covers or what they make me think of, not how many sales they produce. Now, it’s true if I was absolutely forced to be rich and famous, I’d bravely put up with it, but it’s not my whole raison d’etre, as they say in Spain.
It reminds me of an old Jimmy Carr gag which runs something like ‘I’m sponsoring a child in Africa but I wonder is it doing any good? I haven’t seen any increase in bookings…’
November 20, 2013
Note to selfie
So, it’s the word of the year, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. This has spawned the pic of own’s own bottom (the belfie), to show oneself working out (helfie/helfy) or even one’s own mother (melfie). I’m not making this up.
It can only be a matter of time before we have the National Healfie (a picture of yourself next to an exhausted junior doctor after a 72-hour shift) or a delpie (either a picture of yourself next to a piece of classic Greek architecture or next to French actress Julie Delphy. Or perhaps both).
My favourite is of former British PM Tony Blair, grinning in front of a burning Iraqi oilfield (even if it is a photo-shopped piece of satire).
Is it too much to speak of ‘a selfie generation’? I don’t mean necessarily in terms of being selfish- there is a clear argument that so much interconnectedness via the Net makes us linked to millions of people never possible before. (Although it’s also worth thinking that millions of dollars may be pledged to victims in the Philippines, how many of us could honestly pick out the Philippines on a map?)
What I mean is that technology is driving us in a direction that appears to promote outward-looking interconnectedness but actually is more intrinsically about self-promotion. While Barack Obama or Stephen Fry might have large numbers of Twitter followers, the stats are still dominated by the likes of Katy Perry- individuals whose fame and fortune we’d like to emulate, not thinkers to inspire us to original action.
For a generation for whom all the old certainties have gone (professional, financial, social…) where are the certainties now? ‘Friends’ that you can un-friend at will, TV channels that only show programmes you’ll like and individual shows that will only reinforce rather than challenge your opinions.
To me, it feels very insecure, like family and friends who insist on posing in front of landmarks for photos, as if we wouldn’t believe they’d been there if they didn’t. The selfie is like a tag, a feeble cry that ‘I was there’ with visual evidence, as if without this ‘proof’, we’d be nothing. It feels, like my post from a while back on autographs, as if we need to confer value by imposing the self. What real difference is there if a book has a name scribbled in it or not?
It can only be a matter of time before we have the National Healfie (a picture of yourself next to an exhausted junior doctor after a 72-hour shift) or a delpie (either a picture of yourself next to a piece of classic Greek architecture or next to French actress Julie Delphy. Or perhaps both).
My favourite is of former British PM Tony Blair, grinning in front of a burning Iraqi oilfield (even if it is a photo-shopped piece of satire).
Is it too much to speak of ‘a selfie generation’? I don’t mean necessarily in terms of being selfish- there is a clear argument that so much interconnectedness via the Net makes us linked to millions of people never possible before. (Although it’s also worth thinking that millions of dollars may be pledged to victims in the Philippines, how many of us could honestly pick out the Philippines on a map?)
What I mean is that technology is driving us in a direction that appears to promote outward-looking interconnectedness but actually is more intrinsically about self-promotion. While Barack Obama or Stephen Fry might have large numbers of Twitter followers, the stats are still dominated by the likes of Katy Perry- individuals whose fame and fortune we’d like to emulate, not thinkers to inspire us to original action.
For a generation for whom all the old certainties have gone (professional, financial, social…) where are the certainties now? ‘Friends’ that you can un-friend at will, TV channels that only show programmes you’ll like and individual shows that will only reinforce rather than challenge your opinions.
To me, it feels very insecure, like family and friends who insist on posing in front of landmarks for photos, as if we wouldn’t believe they’d been there if they didn’t. The selfie is like a tag, a feeble cry that ‘I was there’ with visual evidence, as if without this ‘proof’, we’d be nothing. It feels, like my post from a while back on autographs, as if we need to confer value by imposing the self. What real difference is there if a book has a name scribbled in it or not?
November 19, 2013
Democracy in action
Three cheers for Canada- they do like to put on a show.
The embattled Mayor of Toronto has apparently had to cancel a trip to Ireland. When asked what was the reason for his interest, he replied, in between expletives, that someone had told him about the brilliant ‘craich’ there (allegedly).
The embattled Mayor of Toronto has apparently had to cancel a trip to Ireland. When asked what was the reason for his interest, he replied, in between expletives, that someone had told him about the brilliant ‘craich’ there (allegedly).
November 18, 2013
Doris Lessing
A word or two on Doris Lessing, who passed away recently at the age of 94. A literary icon, whose works are perhaps better known than widely read, she was a key figure in mapping the continent of Africa as it came out of colonial rule and the position of women demanding a greater role in sexual politics, most clearly in The Golden Notebook. However, she also wrote passionately about a broader range of themes including domestic abuse and mental illness and a striking series of apocalyptic science fiction. Perhaps her greatest strength, in an age of manufactured media sound-bites, was a willingness to be outspoken and at times provocative, most obviously suggesting that 9/11 was less traumatic than the years of IRA terror in the UK. I would not want to re-open wounds by horse-trading numbers of victims but Lessing was actually correct that in pure numerical terms, more people died as a result of terrorist acts during the so called Troubles than on 9/11. Anyway, a sad loss.
November 17, 2013
Mondays- the CIA & Oprah
Ah yes, Mondays. In terms of my feelings about this particular day of the week, I'm somewhere between The Boomtown Rats and The Bangles. Now that was an after-show party.
With the Enid Blyton post I was just trying to see if I could put enough emotive terms in one subject line to get placed on a CIA watch list. It seems to have provoked twice as many views as normal. Maybe I've tapped into a hitherto unknown subculture.
Been watching Oprah Winfrey promoting her new film The Butler, which looks interesting. It seems a pity, after her show-stealing scenes in The Colour Purple so many years ago now, she doesn’t act more often. It reminded me of her inspirational quote- ‘The biggest adventure of your life is to live the life of your dreams.’ Although, to be fair, she probably wasn’t thinking of my dreams about Beyoncé and a giant tub of chocolate chip ice-cream. I think Oprah must dream a lot about big hair.
With the Enid Blyton post I was just trying to see if I could put enough emotive terms in one subject line to get placed on a CIA watch list. It seems to have provoked twice as many views as normal. Maybe I've tapped into a hitherto unknown subculture.
Been watching Oprah Winfrey promoting her new film The Butler, which looks interesting. It seems a pity, after her show-stealing scenes in The Colour Purple so many years ago now, she doesn’t act more often. It reminded me of her inspirational quote- ‘The biggest adventure of your life is to live the life of your dreams.’ Although, to be fair, she probably wasn’t thinking of my dreams about Beyoncé and a giant tub of chocolate chip ice-cream. I think Oprah must dream a lot about big hair.
November 16, 2013
Don't try this at home
Just been reading about a performance artist in Moscow who decided to make his point (ouch) by nailing his scrotum to Red Square. Yes, that's right, I said Red Square.
Call me old-fashioned but whatever happened to writing a stiffly-worded letter to one of your elected officials? I suppose this guy may not have much faith in democracy but he's not going to be doing anything stiffly for the foreseeable future.
I've heard of nailing your colours to the mast but this is more a case of someone nailing their 'mast' to the colour.
Call me old-fashioned but whatever happened to writing a stiffly-worded letter to one of your elected officials? I suppose this guy may not have much faith in democracy but he's not going to be doing anything stiffly for the foreseeable future.
I've heard of nailing your colours to the mast but this is more a case of someone nailing their 'mast' to the colour.
Enid Blyton- Nazi porn shock horror
Now that I've got your attention, here's the thing. What might have been. If Enid Blyton's Secret Seven had only put their initials on the shed where they held their meetings, they might have produced a neo-Nazi version of the group who spent more time discussing shady Argentinian bank accounts than Uncle Quentin's strange behaviour (although I've always suspected the two things were connected).
Why am I thinking of this? Well, apart from my mind naturally throwing up this kind of stuff, I was interested in the announcement yesterday by Canadian Police that they had 'penetrated' (their word, not mine)a worldwide pornography ring. So far, so good. The problem was that certain parts of the media reported this with the headline 'Huge Porn Bust', which, I have to say, may have attracted the very people they were looking to catch here. It could have all been part of a cunning sting operation but I somehow doubt it.
Why am I thinking of this? Well, apart from my mind naturally throwing up this kind of stuff, I was interested in the announcement yesterday by Canadian Police that they had 'penetrated' (their word, not mine)a worldwide pornography ring. So far, so good. The problem was that certain parts of the media reported this with the headline 'Huge Porn Bust', which, I have to say, may have attracted the very people they were looking to catch here. It could have all been part of a cunning sting operation but I somehow doubt it.
November 14, 2013
Typhoons, IKEA & Cluedo
Has the world gone completely mad? Probably. At exactly the same time that our TV screens are covered with images of extreme human suffering (not talking about having to watch the skeletal Miley Cyrus here) in the Philippines, someone is calmly prepared to pay $142 million for a series of Francis Bacon paintings. I appreciate beauty is in the eye of the beholder (if you can spot where it is in that particular artwork) but aren't we witnessing an incredibly obscene act of wilful blindness? Oh, smell the irony. The giant pink diamond bought in Switzerland for $50 million plus or the Warhol work in New York makes government responses to the typhoon just seem pathetic (which in the case of China they are). Three cheers for IKEA, I say- there won't be many times they manage to outbid the world's second largest economy (even if they still produce furniture I can't assemble).
Possibly the final thought on JFK:Isn't the place you deposit books called a 'library'? So Lee Harvey Oswald was in a 'Library Library'. With the lead piping and Colonel Mustard, we presume. Has no-one else thought this is a boardgame waiting to happen? No? Just me then.
Possibly the final thought on JFK:Isn't the place you deposit books called a 'library'? So Lee Harvey Oswald was in a 'Library Library'. With the lead piping and Colonel Mustard, we presume. Has no-one else thought this is a boardgame waiting to happen? No? Just me then.
November 13, 2013
P.S. to the apostrophe
Last year, Waterstones, that well-known chain of book stores splashed out on a new piece of equipment- a white flag and raised it in the ongoing battle with the buying public who apparently can't cope with using apostrophes correctly.
Waterstone's (as they used to be called) chain of stores are now the only one left in the UK.
This is a slightly old story you might say but I'm just interested in the moral outrage it caused at the time and where it's gone now. Has the world ended? Was this the slippery slope that led to Sainsbury's and McDonald's also ditching the pesky squiggle? Well, not yet.
So what's the driver behind the move? Laziness? Stupidity? Well, perhaps some but it's really all about technology and email/website addresses, which don't think like our English teachers would like us to.
The vocal moral guardians ignore the fact that languages change over time (spelling, syntax, vocab, the lot) & maybe we're just on the cusp of a major change as tech penetrates our lives more and more. Maybe we should embrace it rather than get umpty. Or is it indicative of moral decay? Wadja fink?
Waterstone's (as they used to be called) chain of stores are now the only one left in the UK.
This is a slightly old story you might say but I'm just interested in the moral outrage it caused at the time and where it's gone now. Has the world ended? Was this the slippery slope that led to Sainsbury's and McDonald's also ditching the pesky squiggle? Well, not yet.
So what's the driver behind the move? Laziness? Stupidity? Well, perhaps some but it's really all about technology and email/website addresses, which don't think like our English teachers would like us to.
The vocal moral guardians ignore the fact that languages change over time (spelling, syntax, vocab, the lot) & maybe we're just on the cusp of a major change as tech penetrates our lives more and more. Maybe we should embrace it rather than get umpty. Or is it indicative of moral decay? Wadja fink?
