|
Google announced that they're partnering with Sony to compete with Amazon's Kindle. A worthy partner: Sony has a long history with e-books and readers, with development going back to their joint venture with Gary Kildall the early 1980's here in Monterey.
Google vs Amazon seems a worthy fight for us all to follow, but I'm pretty sure Google will win on this one. Their goal is to scan and index everything ever written. If they're successful, the world will never again suffer a tragic intellectual property loss on the scale of the burning of the Alexandria library because all knowledge will be secure on redundant servers. No lack of ego there.
But what does this mean for self publishers? This week Patricia Hamilton of Park Place Publishing invited me to speak to the Central Coast Writers. So many of the writers there are still trapped in the "But I need a publisher!" mindset. Bless Patricia's heart, she was there to deliver the news that self-publishing is a viable option.
I was there to talk about Social Media Marketing, and so I did. But I wanted to scream at those people:
In the future, the only way you'll get to control your intellectual property is if you publish it yourself! Trade publishers are in thrall to Google. Google wants us all to create as much FREE content as possible, so they can index it and sell advertising.
Publishing used to be about a media type: This is a book publishing company, a magazine publishing company, a TV channel, or a radio station. Nowadays, anyone with a personal computer (thanks again, Gary) can do any of these things. Publishing is reorganizing around EXPERTS and their CONTENT.
An expert who self-publishes retains control of his or her IP. Each media type—books, videos, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, and on and on—becomes a profit center or income stream. Yes, in social media, we give away a lot of content. But remember to keep control of the core. YOU need something to sell!
|
Comments (1)
Email
Print