Northshire Bookstore, Espresso Book Machine Watched with Interest

D. C. Denison of The Boston Globe reports on the adoption of the Espresso Book Machine at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, VT. The Espresso, which the employees call “Lurch,” resides in a corner behind the sales desk, steadily producing books on demand.

Northshire Bookstore manager Chris Morrow looks forward to the day when the machine is connected to an expanded catalog of titles. The store may be able to offer customers access to millions of writings.

Northshire is the first independent bookstore in the United States to install the Espresso. As such, the book-seller is being watched closely by the industry. Success here could mean success elsewhere.

The machine has the potential to be a crucial addition to small book stores and libraries. Such leverage could grant independent book-sellers an edge over large chain stores, forcing the big box stores to alter their business model.

Northshire’s is a first generation machine; newer machines are about half the size. According to The Boston Globe, the newest version of the Espresso costs from $79,000 to $95,000 and is available for lease for between $1,250 and $1,650 a month.

 

Will the Book Industry Repeat the Mistakes of the Music Industry?

Author and blogger Susan Piver worries that the book industry is about to repeat the mistakes of the music industry. She would know. She now works in publishing, but was a record label executive from 1990-2001.

She says publishing is where the music business was about 10 years ago in terms of the digitization of product and attempts to leverage social media. While attending the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, she heard a lot of, “We don’t know what to do, but let’s do something.”

The “somebody do something” mentality duplicates the kind of hoping-for-the-best attitude espoused by long-time executives in music who simply could not or would not question the viability of the professional cocoons they’d built for themselves. I noticed a lot of talk of waiting and seeing how things are going to work out before making any earth-shaking, world-class responses to a world that has already changed.

Publishing’s business model is aligned to old rules which aren’t in play anymore. We like to talk about how the cloud and social media are changing everything, but the book industry has been behind in the game for a long time. When I listen to publishing executives talk, I hear the fear in their voices. That’s not good.

Ms. Piver continues:

Downloads did not kill the music business. Shortsightedness and turf-protection on the part of music business executives did. Piracy and changing distribution schema will not kill the publishing industry. Shortsighted infrastructure-protection on the part of publishing houses will.

Publishing’s desire to protect itself against mis-understood technology, practices and market desires could harm consumers. Readers are crying for the book industry not to repeat the mistakes of the music industry. Librarians and educators are crying for the book industry not to repeat the mistakes of the music industry. Authors and book-sellers are crying for the book industry not to repeat the mistakes of the music industry.

Piver goes right to the heart of the problem when she decries the commodification of book-selling:

Commodification of bookselling is the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room, not e-books or DRM (Digital Rights Management) or the Kindle.

Books are commodities, but shoving a select few items towards the consumer at the expense of small publishers and booksellers, variety and even meaningful literature is setting us all up for major problems.

Piver expresses many more well-considered thoughts in her post.

 

David Gallaher Proposes Firestar Action Figure

Robot 6 lists Six comic book action figures that need to be made right now. David Gallaher, Chris Mautner and JK Parkin contribute to the list, which includes:

1. Firestar
2. The Ti-Girls
3. Guy Gardner
4. Atomic Robo
5. Snake and Bacon
6. Bandit, Tinker and Pirate from We3

My vote lies with David Gallaher‘s choice of Firestar. He makes a strong case.

I thought about a character whose history dates back almost 30 years. Playing the lead role in one of the best Marvel cartoons, she starred in her own limited series, was in a couple of coloring books, was a member of the Avengers, an enemy of the X-Men, a founding member of the New Warriors, and is currently starring in Marvel Divas.

Who better to stand alongside those Iceman and Spider-Man action figures?

Guy Gardner and Atomic Robo are also great suggestions. What action figure would you like to see made?

 

Five Ways to Improve Your Writing This Week

We all want to improve our writing. Whether novelists, biographers, poets, hobbyists or even technical writers, it’s important that we always grow our craft through positive habits, organization, education and sharing with others.

Here our five ways to improve your writing this week:

Kill your television habit.

More time is wasted by mindless television viewing than just about any other activity we can engage in. Plan your viewing. Only watch the few DVDs and programs that will be beneficial to your writing and uplifting to you and your family.

Create a valuable daily habit.

Replace the television habit with a new habit — one that will help your writing. Read a how-to book, play a word game or do a creative exercise. Refuse to waste the gift of another day.

Eliminate the clutter.

How much time do we spend searching the piles of clutter around our homes for a vital bit of writing or information? Assign everything it’s rightful place, and keep it there. (This is a good way to justify the purchase of a new filing cabinet or book shelf to your spouse.)

Learn something new.

Water that doesn’t flow becomes stagnant. In the same way, our writing becomes tired and powerless when we don’t make a conscious effort to improve our craft. Try something you’ve not done before. Find someone who can teach you something you don’t know. These lessons don’t necessarily have to be about writing. Learning new things in and of itself gives us fodder for the writing process.

Share with someone else.

Share your experiences and what you’ve learned with another writer or creative type. We can only take in as much as we’re willing to give out. Don’t let the good news stop with you. Tell a friend, make a tweet, write a blog post or click a “Share This” button.

 

Social Media is Changing Media, Politics

Clay Shirky, speaking at TED, shows how our use of social media tools is changing media and politics.

 

Ray Bradbury Never Mentioned Prunes

Speculative fiction author Ray Bradbury appears in this vintage commercial for Sunsweet Prunes.

 

Traditional Publishing Vs. Self-Publishing

Authors Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss discuss the advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishing and self-publishing.

 

Neill Cameron's A-Z of Awesomeness

Inspired by Garen Ewing’s A-Z of Comic Strip Characters from last year, freelance comics writer and artist Neill Cameron is creating an A-Z of Awesomeness from the world of pop culture entertainment — comics, film, animation, television, literature, etc.

So for each letter of the alphabet I am going to let people suggest a character, and I will then draw that character, on a daily basis. Got it? You are also allowed to suggest what that character should be doing, with bonus points awarded for imaginative alliteration.

You can check out the list and make suggestions at Neill’s Blog.

 

Pink Cross Foundation Champions Women

I first discovered Shelley Lubben and the Pink Cross Foundation through social media site MySpace. Shelley uses the application to reach out to porn stars and those addicted to pornography. It’s just one of several tools employed by her faith-based 501(c)(3) charity.

The Pink Cross Foundation offers emotional, financial and transitional support to adult industry workers. The foundation also reaches out to those struggling with pornography offering education and resources for recovery.

Shelley was once a porn actress and prostitute. After years of abuse within the industry she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder and substance abuse. She was prescribed anti-depressants, Lithium and sleeping pills and recommended psychiatric counseling for many years.

She eventually reached a breakthrough. According to thepinkcross.org:

After finding God through Christianity and enduring eight hard years of recovery at the Champion’s Center, Shelley conquered the horrible effects of her past and became a Champion in life through the power of Jesus Christ. Ten years later Shelley began her mission to go back to the porn industry to reach out to porn stars and sex workers offering them solid help and hope. Shelley is also on a mission to smash the illusion of porn and help people overcome pornography addiction.

Shelley and her husband Garrett founded the Pink Cross Foundation. In addition to their work with porn stars and porn addicts, they combat community deterioration due to pornography and prostitution, educate the general public and attempt to influence legislation surrounding the porn industry.

Shelley Lubben and the Pink Cross Foundation can be found on MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube. The website offers a blog, forums and chat. Porn is not glamorous. Get the facts. Get help.

 

25 Women of Sci-Fi, Plus Two

Total Sci-Fi compiles a list of 25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi.

Some are no-brainers such as Ripley (#1) and Uhura (#9), but some selections are real head-scratchers like Claire Bennet (#11) of Heroes and Pris (#13) of Blade Runner.

The list earns serious coolness points for including Marina (#25) of Stingray. However, there’s no place for Mikaela Banes (#17) of TransFormers in a group like this — especialy ahead of Wonder Woman (#22).

Total Sci-Fi limited themselves to TV and film, but apparently “film” doesn’t include web-based video, or they would have included Penny (Felicia Day) of Dr. Horrible and Anna Diaz (Rosario Dawson) of Gemini Division .