I just finished the first draft of a new book. More on that later… For now I want to concentrate on “next steps.” By which I mean the publishing process.
I have a literary agent so that’s taken care of. But, of course, the entire “digital vs. analog” question is before me. As I’ve said elsewhere, all options are in play; I prefer reach, which means both print and all (most?) eBook formats will be supported. That said, a recent piece on “the rise and fall of personal computing” by Horace Dediu caught my attention:
The above graph essentially shows mobile platforms overtaking the PC. That has strong implications on how we access information going forward. We know, for example, that mobile platforms are ideal for media consumption. We also know that eBooks are the growth component in the publishing industry. That, along with speculation that Apple is coming out with a much-anticipated ebook creation app AND Amazon’s new-found commitment to HTML5, tells me one thing:
The real action is in the ebook space. And given the trend lines, that is not about to change anytime soon.
Which, naturally, makes me wonder what Apple’s new app will do to my creative workflow. Right now, I use Microsoft Word for book creation. It’s an old stand-by in the publishing industry and it’s got industrial-strength features. But it does virtually nothing for the creation of eBooks. And that, my friends, is a problem.
What if Apple brings out another tool that makes for a seamless transition between publishing and eBook formats? What if that same tool offers lots of features that support eBook interactivity? Oh, oh… Danger straight ahead…