When I was traveling through the Midwest about a month ago, I randomly took a copy of the Wall Street Journal from the lobby of my hotel on the way out one morning, and on the front page was an article about the growing popularity of digital books. The reporting focused specifically on the rise of self-publishing, explaining (1) how an amateur author had uploaded a manuscript she’d been unable to sell for years and had gone on to sell enough digital copies that Amazon will soon be printing a hardcopy version of the book to be sold through their site, and (2) how an experienced Sci-Fi writer was selling digital copies of his early, out of print novels, which allowed him to easily distribute hard to find work to his fans, as well as make a comfortable living for himself.
Why am I telling you this? Because that Wall Street Journal article was published on June 6th, 2010, while on February 5th, 2010, I also wrote about how the rise of digital books will revolutionize the publishing industry, allowing up and coming writers the opportunity to circumvent the big publishing houses, and providing established writers more control over their work (as well as more money). I’m not telling you this to highlight my superior intellect or prescience; rather, I’m pointing out the five-month discrepancy in lead-time as yet another example of We Have Beards superiority over the dead medium that is traditional print media. In your face, print media!
Of course, this is coming from someone who only last week wrote a review of Aristotle and Flannery O’Connor: talk about timeliness. Then again, it would be difficult for most newspaper writers to publish a story about O’Connor, considering most of them have never read her work. Boom! In your face, print media!
