A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Freedom of Expression?

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere just enjoying the day. Then our kitty's sensitive hearing was bombarded by a bunch of laughing and guffawing. Following all the noise took him to J. A. Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. There he found a post by Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath. The post deals with an upcoming event to demonize Amazon.

Watch them run around like mice.

According to the post, the group New America is holding an event called Amazon's Book Monopoly: A Threat to Freedom of Speech? The group believes Amazon is somehow capable of stopping the dissemination of books and information from reaching the public. The fact that Amazon's KDP service lets anyone publish anything they want seems to have escaped the group's notice. Of course, the group does include in the event Douglas Preston and Scott Turow who are both well known Amazon detractors.

Panzer says, "How can this New America group say Amazon stops the flow of information to them? Amazon let me (a cat) publish my book Cat Wisdom for humans there. Oh ... Wait a minute ... It's a group of humans ... and ... They think Amazon won't let anybody publish there. That explains everything. My book isn't really there."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post with lots of links. You'll need two thermoses of tea, a dozen muffins and a sleeping bag for a nap part way through your reading today.

Warning: This post has some bad words and bad actions in it. Not recommended for those under 18 years old or those easily offended.

To read this post, tootle over to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Freedom of Expression?:

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Shocking WSJ Discovery: Higher Prices=Lower Volume...

Are you sure you humans know how to add?

Panzer stopped in at Joe  Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing blog today. Our big bad kitty boy found a post by Barry Eisler about price and demand in economics.

Mr. Eisler's post addresses an article in the Wall Street Journal about the rising cost of ebooks and consequent lower sales. After the new contracts traditional publishers signed with Amazon, they (the publishers) began charging premium prices for ebooks ... and ... sales plummeted. Mr. Eisler explains the "correlation between higher prices and lower demand" in sometimes snarky and sometimes humorous terms.

Panzer says, "The folly of human stupidity never ceases to amuse me."

Note: This is a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g post, but well worth the gallon of tea you'll need to finish reading it and the Comments Section.

To read the post, tootle over to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Shocking WSJ Discovery: Higher Prices=Lower Volume...:

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Must. Stop. The Stupid.

They're almost as bad as me.

Panzer decided to pay author Joe Konrath a visit today. It's been a long time since he's been over to Joe's blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishing so he wasn't sure what he'd find there. My bad boy was happy to find that Joe hasn't changed a bit. He's still just as much a curmudgeon as ever.

So ...

Panzer found a post with Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler's take on the Authors' Guild's post, Douglas Preston's letter, the indie authors' letter and everything to do with the Amazon-Hachette dispute. Joe and Barry do the post as a conversation discussing and dissecting it all.

Be forewarned, this is a very, very, very long post.

Panzer says, "I just love these guys. They've got the bad boy attitude down perfectly."

To read the full post, tootle over to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Must. Stop. The Stupid.:

Also More Amazon-Hachette of Interest:
Amazon Poses Possible New Offer To Hachette
Authors' Guild Sends Letter In Amazon-Hachette Dispute
Hachette Turns Down Amazon's Author Offer
Amazon-Hachette Contract Dispute Continues
300 Authors Join Amazon-Hachette Dispute

J.A. Konrath, Barry Eisler and Scott Turow. Oh my!

Over at J.A. Konrath's blog he and Barry Eidler have joined the goings on about Scott Turow's recent blog posting. You've probably heard or read about the DoJ's threat to sue traditional publishers over their agency pricing model. Scott Turow's post pushed Joe and Barry's hot buttons. To read their opinions on the post go to A Newbie's Guide to Publishing then make up your own mind. This is a very long post, so you've been warned.

You know what Panzer says:  more purring and less hissing, guys!

Freedom of Choice

Panzer and I were traveling around the catosphere today and we stopped in at Vincent Zandri's blog.

He's blogging about the freedom of choice available to authors now that we have indie publishing and traditional publishing to choose between. He uses Barry Eisler (and himself) as an example.

Panzer says tootle on over to Freedom of Choice and read Zandri's take on indie publishing.