If you are at all interested in how the business of publishing may change in response to some current disruptive technology shifts–and particularly if you’re interested in looking at the question from an author’s point of view–you should really pop over to Charlie Stross’ blog and read his post there outlining some thoughts on the question and asking for reader comments. This is one of those cases where the “don’t read the comments” rule does not apply: there are a couple of hundred comments there now with a pretty high signal-to-noise ratio, and lots of interesting (and some very scary) ideas are being kicked around.
(0 Comments)Posts Tagged ‘economics’
I love how the article’s author is so sanguine about this aspect of his analysis, dropping it deadpan in a single sentence at the end of the piece: “The bad news for authors is that their royalties will decrease since they are based off of retail sales price.” Surely the simplification of the production and distribution system should result in less profit for publisher/distributor/vendor–i.e. the parts of the system simplified–and not in less profit for the bit that remains just as hard as ever?
(0 Comments)It just occurred to me that risk and entropy are the same thing
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009I have an amateur interest in economics that I indulge from time to time, primarily by reading economics-focused blogs. While I was doing that this week I was interested to see Brad DeLong (whose blog is definitely worth following) point to a discussion from the Economist about compensation for bankers and the relation between that [...]
I love effective visualizations, and the Billion Dollar gram is a very simple and effective way to help normal people understand the relative sizes of some of the ridiculously large dollar values attached to various government, corporate, and public initiatives. As someone who enjoys data visualization I appreciate it. As a human being, I can’t get past that items across the top row without feeling a combination of almost blinding rage and terrible, terrible shame.
(2 Comments)The Dismal Science vs The Invisible Hand: A Movie
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009One of the reasons I often find things I like in the Guardian is because where else would you find someone like Mark Weisbrot (the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and economics PhD) writing a review of something like Michael Moore’s new film, Capitalism: A Love Story.
Regardless of what you think [...]
Natal Day Link Post
Monday, August 3rd, 2009Holiday Monday has kept me too busy to properly blog, so you get a bit of a tab-closing list instead.
I’m not sure that it covers anything new, but the piece from More Intelligent Life (the quarterly from the Economist) about authors and drinking was a fun read anyway.
I’ve seen some stories about tough people in [...]
Visualization And Facts
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Are you familiar with GapMinder? It’s a great resource for visualization of all kinds of interesting data.
One particular visualization that I’ve been thinking about lately is this presentation of life expectancy, average income, and population for several countries over time. It tells a primarily positive story about what’s been happening in the world over the [...]
Saturday Night Shotgun Post
Sunday, July 5th, 2009While I’m uploading some MP3s for a music post a little later tonight, let’s do the tab closing dance:
Did you see the story about the scientists who unfroze the blob of 120,000 year old life in the Arctic? I can’t do my usual thing of making the news sound like a creepy SF or Lovecraftian [...]
A What-Day-Is-It-Anyway Miscellany
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009I have now been on vacation long enough that I don’t remember what day it is. I think “if it’s Wednesday it must be San Francisco” logic may apply.
With that in mind, here’s a list of a few things that caught my eye during my little bits of hotel-room surfing after the child goes to [...]
Thursday evening notes
Thursday, May 7th, 2009Watching Maine becoming #5 this week, it occurs to me that while the process may be terribly slow from the perspective of people who just want to be treated equally (and I know I can only say that off-handedly since I already have all the privileges–white, male, straight, etc.) the whole thing is pretty much [...]
Sales of foundation garments for the gentleman of the house as an extremely reliable economic indicator? Maybe not as silly as it sounds at first.
(0 Comments)QOTD: Trent Reznor
Thursday, April 9th, 2009“One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, ‘Wait – you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the f**k made that [...]
Finally, someone has realized how to use the power of the web to expose the deep power of GOP economic thinking to the masses on the web. Pop over to the GOP Problem Solver to find out how to solve all your problems. (The second stage joke actually made me laugh out loud.)
(0 Comments)SF Authors Say Smart Things: KSR on climate & social justice
Thursday, March 19th, 2009Does the word postcapitalism look odd to you? It should, because you hardly ever see it. We have a blank spot in our vision of the future. Perhaps we think that history has somehow gone away. In fact, history is with us now more than ever, because we are at a crux in the human [...]
Observational Items
Thursday, February 12th, 2009I believe that it is not hyperbole to say that the existence, even in conceptual form, of the Chompr is the final clear sign that Western society has slipped completely into decadence. First of all, if you can’t hold a sandwich in your hand, you shouldn’t be trying to eat it. Second of all, you [...]
Someone with a Voice
Trish
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