tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post3217728895477269079..comments2024-02-16T00:48:56.686-08:00Comments on The Man Who Painted Agnieszka's Shoes: Money Follows InnovationAgnieszkas Shoeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-45431413133430363852009-06-08T00:06:15.149-07:002009-06-08T00:06:15.149-07:00how lovely to see you here, catdownunder - our fou...how lovely to see you here, catdownunder - our four felines are very skilled in the interplay between speaker and listener - miaow, ignore, miaow, fingers in ears, deafening squawk, food on the floor, chomp chomp, peace, purr :-)Agnieszkas Shoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-30794472159110002422009-06-07T14:09:49.199-07:002009-06-07T14:09:49.199-07:00I don't know if I have enough paws - but writi...I don't know if I have enough paws - but writing comes in all shapes and sizes. I can purr a litttle in Latin but not in Greek...we cats fully understand the importance of the oral tradition!catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-49273515317513977272009-06-05T15:45:07.875-07:002009-06-05T15:45:07.875-07:00Piers, apologies - you may have gathered I don'...Piers, apologies - you may have gathered I don't get internet access at weekends so will be back Monday - I will say though I've thought about this a lot - I studied Latin/Gree beofre theology and did lots on form criticism and the relation of communities and texts in the oral tradition stage - and it has occurred to me before the internet actually affortds scholars of ancient texts a unique insight into the way they evolve with their communities.Agnieszkas Shoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-45761664090767562282009-06-05T10:52:19.408-07:002009-06-05T10:52:19.408-07:00Hi Dan - So much to digest here - if you have a ch...Hi Dan - So much to digest here - if you have a chance, check out the film RiP: Remix Manifesto (I think you can see portions of it at OpenSourceCinema.org) - one thing that really struck me in this film was Cory Doctorow discussing Napster, suggesting that in a matter of months, Napster created a definitive catalogue of our musical culture at a point in time, and that was pretty astounding, and then such a shame that this was then made criminal. <br /><br />When you mention Derrida, it brings to mind Derrida and Blanchot's idea of the burning of the archive. Q: is an emerging read/write culture a return to something bearing similarities to an oral tradition, perpetuated through repetition and redundancy, rather than transcription? More wayward thoughts ;)P. M. Hollotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01542635131280325135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-85262326794539943902009-06-05T01:08:34.428-07:002009-06-05T01:08:34.428-07:00Hi Piers. I find that comment really surprising. ...Hi Piers. I find that comment really surprising. Like you, I have always thought one of the great things the Web has done for literature is supporting the long tail through Print on Demand technology.<br /><br />I am a huge fan of the open source spirit. I love what you say about quality as well - it's one of the really frustrating things I find about writers that they have this suspicion of anything given away for free that it's going to be rubbish. When I started writing The Man Who Painted Agnieszka’s Shoes on Facebook, involving readers in the writing process, and giving it away, a lot of my writer friends asked if I was doing it because I wasn’t really enthusiastic about the story the way I was about my other writing (when I canvassed writers before starting up the Year Zero Writers collective, it was amazing how many people said – “Oh, you can have this book for it because it’s not my best/I don’t really care about it” – they aren’t involved with it now ). I was really shocked because I’m actually MORE excited by and involved in the story than anything I’ve done before – I think it’s my very best thing to date, and that’s because as a writer there’s nothing more exciting than doing things for and with my readers. I also love working with other writers. I wonder if wiki-novels go part of the way to the collaborative element of the open-source spirit, but it would be great to have a something like a big project to get full, downloadable copies of every novel around in one place (even if we just start with ambitious “unpublished” authors) – but to make it more than just a repository – to have some kind of reader/writer interface at the same time. It’s something I’m always thinking about – it’s such an exciting time to be writing at the moment.Agnieszkas Shoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-58516124952373774352009-06-04T08:59:15.659-07:002009-06-04T08:59:15.659-07:00So many of the people I would classify as "ro...So many of the people I would classify as "rockstars" in the industry in which I work (software development) are open sourcers, and open source software runs the gamut, but is often better quality than production software, precisely because it is supported by a community of folks who are doing what they are doing because they couldn't not do it, if that makes sense. Money is made in the open source world by 1) reducing overhead cost when you use open source components in a project for profit and 2) getting paid for support when a 3rd party uses these components for profit.<br /><br />How this applies to the literary future, I am not 100% sure, but I'm certain it does. The open source paradigm must go beyond 'blogs and 'zines...<br /><br />On her weblog, Elizabeth Hand, whose writing I have always enjoyed, discusses some of these issues, such as reprint policies, fanbase, and etc. This really got me thinking:<br /><br />"I read a good line the other day, in a review I think of that film about the heavy metal ban Anvil -- the reviewer noted that one casualty of our current culture is that there's no middle ground left for an artist between success and failure. I think he meant commrcial ground, but we judge so much now in commercial terms that if you're not a commercial success, there's not much room left to be a success d'estime. .<br /><br />Still, I was never in this for the money. (Good thing!)"<br /><br />http://community.livejournal.com/theinferior4/467574.html<br /><br />I honestly think that if the amazing access to information we now have should be good for anything, it should be to support this "middle ground" or "long tail". The challenge is realizing the "how".<br /><br />By the way, I've really enjoyed your writing, and look forward to furthering this discussion. Cheers!P. M. Hollotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01542635131280325135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-23999692059425872392009-06-04T00:14:13.187-07:002009-06-04T00:14:13.187-07:00No, Piers, it's absolutely "on topic"...No, Piers, it's absolutely "on topic". I'm talking about how to make a living because everyone needs to pay the bills, and the average writer dreams of the day s/he can finally give notice and pay the bills with words rather than waitering/pen-pushing/pulling pints/answering calls. <br /><br />But I'm pretty sure that in writing as ain everything else, if you do it FOR the money then you'll never really make it. And I do wish people would stop saying "Ah, but look at commercial writers like Dan Brown and John Grisham and Martina Cole" They are hugely successful because they're good at what they do. It happens to be the case a lot of people like what they do, but that's by the by. It's like sport - top footballers get paid more than top bog-snorkellers because people like watching football - that doesn't mean that just because they went into football they're lesser athletes.<br /><br />As writers our first priority is always to be the best writers we can. What I'm trying to do a bit of with these posts is to get writers around to the idea that there's more to being a great writer than working on your characterisation (not that there's not a time and place for that as well).Agnieszkas Shoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-35155749885182208052009-06-03T09:33:38.323-07:002009-06-03T09:33:38.323-07:00At the recent #hackedu conference in Boston, one o...At the recent #hackedu conference in Boston, one of the discussions raised the question "how can we enable teachers to become rockstars" - it is obviously loaded terminology, but I feel it is useful to refactor the word "rockstar" to mean, literally, someone who *rocks* at whatever they do, and are able to reach people specifically because of this identity.<br /><br />In this case, monetization is a peripheral issue, so maybe this is off topic. I do feel this is a very important discussion, though.<br /><br />For instance, I would classify Nick Bantock of Griffin & Sabine fame as an example of a literary rockstar. Also James Joyce, who I'm sure would own the web domain www.possofporterpease.com, were he alive today.P. M. Hollotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01542635131280325135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-28213220764072125752009-06-03T05:54:07.192-07:002009-06-03T05:54:07.192-07:00Hi Piers. Yes - a lot's been made of blogging ...Hi Piers. Yes - a lot's been made of blogging doing this, but I'm not 100% convinced - twitter much more so. And newspapers with serialisation and the cliffhanger, of course.<br /><br />I actually blogged on how writers could become rockstars (interesting, isn't it, that things like the Punk Fiction anthology show the whole world's prepared to accept that Rock stars can become writers - just that fewer of them want to be than vice versa!). Not literally, of course, but the idea was that we make our money by other means than selling books. It's fairly mainstream for writers to make more money by doing guest appearances/speeches/columns, but I did - daft as it sounds - suggest selling T-shirts. What first got me thinking was the fact I was quite prepared to fork out £10 for this year's "Murakami diary" and I realised that fans of writers are actually prepared to pay for merchandise the same as rock fans. I think I wrote in particular about special editions and customising.Agnieszkas Shoeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07831763071877082489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020036606005757534.post-64573937227100786452009-06-02T12:42:07.008-07:002009-06-02T12:42:07.008-07:00I like your breakdown - I'm always fascinated by t...I like your breakdown - I'm always fascinated by the way medium transforms narrative structure and vice versa. Honestly, I think you hit the nail on the head in a previous post, where you discuss learning from the music industry... doesn't matter if you are recording on four track in your basement or an expensive studio, if you can tour and sell a few t-shirts, you will make money. If writers were rockstars, POD would apply to merchandise other than actual books. How can a writer become a rockstar?P. M. Hollotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01542635131280325135noreply@blogger.com