Guy LeCharles Gonzalez › Comments

"Jeff Lemire's Essex County trilogy is highly recommended. Also, Orbiter, by Ellis & Doran; Bluesman, by Vollmar & Callejo; and, on the nonfiction side, The Influencing Machine, by Gladstone & Neufeld." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"re: My tweet, it was in reference to Hugh Howey's ridiculous "bitch" post, not anything being discussed in this thread. You have to admit, though, that the past three years have seen some extremely self-righteous advocates for self-publishing who believe there is only ONE TRUE RING and vehemently berate any who suggest otherwise." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"Turow is a perfect example of lose/lose, but put any writer in that seat and you have the same challenge, whether it's Bob Mayer, Amanda Hocking, or Seth Godin. No one writer can speak to the myriad authorial (is that a word?) experiences the way a trade publisher or tech startup can for their respective constituencies. Believe me, I struggled with that during my run at DBW, and even in the initial brainstorming phase for StoryWorld. A good publisher, editor or agent, can speak to the larger issues at play, while offering a broader perspective on the specific challenges authors face because they work with a wide range. That said, a follow-up roundtable of *only* writers, from a mix of media and genres would definitely be interesting." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"I think Bob nailed a key part of this, and Jane somewhat alludes to it: writers who don't actively engage in other media are less likely to grasp the opportunities. Everyone's looking for the big Star Wars example to prove transmedia's viability, and ignores the various examples in comics and gaming, in particular. It's all about a strong IP; a deep, immersive setting; and, ideally, a writer who understands how their story might extend into other media. I don't know if J.K. Rowling knew the potential of the world she was creating, or was simply at an advantage because of the genre she was working in, but "transmedia" isn't some airy notion lacking concrete examples. It also isn't an opportunity for every author, and I don't know of anyone with a clue who argues otherwise." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"I think the primary challenge with author involvement in a discussion like this is that it's ultimately a lose/lose scenario as authors are an even more diverse lot than publishers or cutesy tech startups. Exhibit A: Scott Turow You're also not giving Hunter due credit. While far better known for his more recent tech endeavors, he's also a writer, and that background informed the founding of Electric Literature which is explicitly focused on literary fiction and continues to offer a traditional print product. I've met him a few times and his passion for literary fiction is legit, not just some whimsical playground for technological disruption. As for expectations of authors, maybe I've missed something in my purposefully filtering out most of The Industry! The Industry! chatter of late, but is there really a notable demand for authors to become multidisciplinary artists, or is the gist really focused on awareness of the opportunities beyond the book, and caveats that those..." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"I think it speaks to social media's "soft" connections, literally and as it relates to volume, plus (as in your first example), one of focus. On Twitter, ~80% of what I post is publishing-related, so the occasional personal tweet can seemingly come out of left field and likely be missed. A personal email to someone you have a relationship with is always going to be more effective, as long as it's used selectively. And for marketing in general, Godin's "permission marketing" is still one of the most relevant concepts people need to understand, and one of Amazon's major strengths. Email is far from dead." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

""library patrons will be able to find way fewer new e-books to read." Or perhaps simply fewer new "Big Six" ebooks? As they pull back from library lending, I suspect we'll see savvy small and mid-size publishers jump on the opportunity to increase their own discoverability. Also, there's the possibility of the Douglas County model seeing wider adoption in 2012: "Assured About Security, More Publishers Agree to Sell Ebook Files to Douglas County Libraries" http://bit.ly/zdbiyI" - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"Thank you! I'm so glad someone else saw through this disappointingly hollow effort. The book is actually quite good (and worth reading), and fills in many of the gaps you noted. It does a much better job of telling its two stories and making the connections between them; it's like Scorcese would have rathered the film had been titled Georges and the studio forced the kids on him. (Oddly enough, it was the movie's trailer that inspired me to read the book.)" - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"I never had an open policy on Facebook, but decided about a year ago to winnow it down even further to actual friends and family, unfriending ~150 casual acquaintances and continuing to unfriend anyone who's solely using it as a marketing channel. (No! I'm not flying to Calilfornia for your poetry reading. Stop inviting me!!!! Also, stop adding me to groups!) It's partly because I don't trust Facebook as a corporate entity, and partly because it has always made filtering and privacy an unnecessary hassle; a nice side benefit is my main stream has become a lot more relevant and has kept me engaged despite my desire to ditch it completely. It comes down to use case, really. As a syndication channel for your public activities, the new Subscribe option seems to work nicely (I don't use it myself, nor have I activated it for my own profile) and bypasses the 5,000-friend limit. As a public/private hybrid, aggressively winnowing your friends while offering up the "subscribe" option, and..." - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Um... Kobo's cute and all, and I know some really smart people who work there, but Matt Welch comes off sounding like a tool in this interview. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Always nice to have an author you like say something nice about you! :-) - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

LOL! Funny because it's true! - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Buy me a drink one night and I'll explain the behind the scenes story of why this article is so awesome. #jobsatisfaction - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Posts like this just leave you feeling defeated and hopeless, but thankfully there are teachers and librarians out there who refuse to give up. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Posts like this just leave you feeling defeated and hopeless. :-( - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

I'm a fan if paper.li but if scoop.it is built around more active curation, I'll have to check it out. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Yes. Containers are a byproduct of a customer-centric approach. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Boom. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"I think writing off G+ is not just premature, but also illustrates just how wrong our impatient Microwave Culture has gone. The platform launched four months ago, opened to the public a few weeks ago, and is still very much an early Beta release with existing features actively being tweaked and new ones rolled out on a regular basis. While the gurus may have moved on (thank god!) and the hype is dying down (thank god!), I'm seeing activity from regular people steadily tick upwards, not unlike what happened when Facebook lagged MySpace because it was just for kids. PS: I'm cross-posting this comment as I'm curious to see where you get more activity. :-)" - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

If you work in media and you're not regularly following DVorkin's tracking of his work at Forbes, you should be. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

There's a truly sad statement about our culture embedded in this. :-( - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Interesting. This tweet was apparently deleted, but not before Google scraped it up. Who's behind the Vook account these days...? - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"Stories connect events and create meaning; they also connect people to each other." Good stuff from Philip Martin - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

As hacking goes, this is awesome! - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Raccah is one of a handful of publishers who are really walking the walk. Love her! - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Oh, yes! And those who do tend to get transmedia faster than those who don't. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

As always, Don offers some much-needed perspective on what's happening in the industry. It's not about the latest ill-conceived e-reader, it's about the practical, behind-the-scenes adjustments that will really change the way business is done by the publishers who have the vast majority of the business. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

"Social media" is finally being put into perspective, as one facet of a larger whole, neither more nor less important than anything else. It's a tool that will work for some, and be relatively pointless for others. And yes, surprise, it takes time and resources to be effective. Who knew? #duh - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Woot! One project down, several more to go! - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Another always fascinating update from DVorkin on Forbes' continued evolution. - Guy LeCharles Gonzalez