The story seems innocent enough. A new contest for writers. Send in a book length manuscript get chosen and receive a publishing contract. An age old, time tested marketing theme.The problem is this story is not about publishing, books or publishers this story is about a social networking site that has turned up its pr engine.These days social networking is a hot play, publishing is not. With the recent mega-payment buy outs of MySpace and YouTube the social network sector is a blaze with websites trying to follow the formula and cash out.There is a good chance Gather.com is one...
The Devil’s [Publishing] Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary was Ambrose Bierce's comic take on Noah Webster's Dictionary. It was originally published as the Cynic's Word Book by Doubleday, Page and Company in 1906. The title was later changed when Bierce was editing his collected works in 1911. Since it's publication the concept has spurned hundreds of imitations.The latest versions to hit the blogwaves deal with the book and publishing industry.Here are some highlights:Cover Art - the design of the book jacket, generally produced in-house by the publisher's art department, all of whom are near-sighted psychotics who never actually read the book and routinely forget to...