{"id":1471,"date":"2014-02-09T07:45:34","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T12:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1471"},"modified":"2014-03-30T09:31:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T13:31:02","slug":"2-9-14-readers-writers-booklovers-unite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=1471","title":{"rendered":"2-9-14 Readers, Writers, Booklovers Unite!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Reading,<\/a>Hugh Howey\u2019s Rants<\/span><\/h2>\n

Everyone who buys, sells, reads, borrows, downloads, and LOVES books has a stake in moving the publishing industry into the 21st century. It won\u2019t happen easily. Best-selling indie novelist Hugh Howey (Woo<\/i>l<\/em>) launched a well-aimed missile of advice at the industry in his notorious 1\/8 blog post, \u201cDon\u2019t Anyone Put Me in Charge<\/a>,\u201d in which he explains what he would do if he ran one of the big publishing houses. He followed it up with a new barrage on 1\/12, \u201cMy Second Month on the Hypothetical Job.<\/a>\u201d Even if thoughts about publication are not your daily preoccupation, his ideas are lively and thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

For Publishing: A Radical Makeover<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

They would radically change the culture and the economics of the book business, making it better for readers and writers<\/i> in the process. Among his memorable suggestions: get out of New York to cut overhead and get some work done. From home, mostly. (He suggests Houston. Not in August.)\u00a0 He wants them to invest in Print on Demand, which would keep authors\u2019 backlists alive. And he\u2019d devote greater attention to the midlist bulge of authors. As publishers whittle down their emphasis to manuscripts that are \u201csure-fire\u201d best-sellers, reader choice withers. And these are not people you\u2019d want standing at the rail next to you at Santa Anita or Churchill Downs.<\/p>\n

These next three were picked up by Business Insider<\/i> writer Dylan Love<\/a>:<\/p>\n