Shut up already.

Hasn’t the proliferation of news online made it clear that we’re moving ever-faster to an environment – if not a world – where our information might remain the same but the delivery mechanism has become more portable?

I think so. And I’m not saying that as a guy with a vested interest in having you devour my words. I’m just as happy to have you read my slogan for Gulf Oil on a billboard as I am to have you snicker at my Worries blog posts.

For those of us with messages to share – or even longer pieces like books and manifestos – we’re just crafting the story or the article, not creating the medium.

Now that my little soapboxing is complete, let me tell you the real reason for this post. A friend of mine asked me about online publishing as a viable option for her mother’s book. I went off on a tangent about trying out Lulu or other services and about how fantastic it was that she was moving forward with her plan.

“STOP,” said my friend.

Her mother had already used an online publisher and my friend was asking about promoting and selling the book. There were already cases in the trunks of all her family members and they were struggling to get recognized by the box stores as a ‘real’ book.

Aha! That’s really the trouble. When you have an idea for a book, if you don’t go through the traditional channels you’re out in the cold. For now.

Doing things yourself isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…in most cases.

It’s different with news, opinion and shorter pieces, but books still maintain a special place in the publishing world and in our consciousness. The battle against the Kindle shows that people still want a book they can leave on an airplane and not freak out about. Once you’ve left two or three Kindles on planes you might start to rethink the device at $400 a pop.

Essentially, I told my friend that she could use some social media tools to spread the word, she could set up a fan page on Facebook and get her mother on LinkedIn to share some expertise about being an author and about her topic matter.

I added that there was no guarantee and that the books might remain unsold. But if you’re doing it alone, the best you can hope for is to get people talking and reading about the book. Then someone in a publishing house might notice. Then you might get a break. Then you might sell some books.

It’s a tough business. But for those who have a story to tell, a message that must be shared, the hurdles are worth it.

What do you think of self-publishing and our slow transition to reading everything online?

Keep reading! Please.

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© Jeff Cutler™ for Jeff Cutler™ - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, kindle, Leo Laporte, lulu, publishing, self-publishing

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This morning I sat at a local Barnes & Noble store looking the part of the starving writer, composing a column on my iPhone while sipping a black tea.

As I pecked out words with a single finger, I wondered why people gravitate to a venue that offers overpriced food and drink, uninformed staff (except for the lifers who love books), proprietary wifi and skinflinty clients.

Don’t jump on me for calling kettles cheap, I was at this B&N to meet someone. But I will concede I was too thrifty to spend $4 for two hours of Internet access. Especially when I could hop on the scooter and Wijack at the mall or at Panera down the street.

Further characteristics that drag this particular bookstore down are its proximity to towns where the populace is dotted with SUV-driving moms who can hardly manage to pilot their craft in a traffic lane, much less position them in a parking spot. This means the lot I saw out the window was a breathing example of Badparking.com.

Digression seems to make my pecking finger ache, what with all the added typing, so to the point I’ll proceed. Where are all the breakthroughs?

That is, where are the cars that park themselves between parking stripes, where are the intelligent scanners at the doorway that don’t go off when you ENTER the store, where are the coffee clerks who can leave room enough for milk and sugar in a cup of tea or coffee, where are the transporters, and where are the free Wifi zones so people can connect to the Internet anywhere?

Seriously, why does anyone get their coffee poured right to the top of the cup if they’re going to add condiments? They just pour off 1/10 of the fluid into a plastic bag or stagnant carafe at the coffee station. Wake up. You paid $6 for that coffee, stop wasting it. Extrapolate the value and a cup of coffee is 16 times more expensive than a gallon of gas. Would you pay $64 for a gallon of gas and then pour off $6 of it? I didn’t think so.

When my mind wasn’t wandering this morning, my friend Matthew and I spent a few minutes discussing the next big things. We decided that if anyone had any brains at all, they’d be focusing on building the infrastructure to service any number of products coming to market in the next few years.

An iPhone unlocking technician, a flying car mechanic and a coffee recycling centers all over the nation were just the tip of the iceberg. I actually can’t tell you here what we really came up with because Google will likely want to buy our intellectual property soon. But it was along the lines I’ve mentioned above.

Speaking of lines, people can’t keep themselves within those painted on the pavement. In fact, while standing and bidding each other adieux, Matthew and I were almost run into by a woman in an SUV. She pulled into a spot next to my scooter and parked slighly over the line into my spot.

After a slight verbal spar that didn’t come to blows, but could have, Matthew and the woman came to the understanding that she was a female dog and that he should try some anatomically difficult act with himself.

My take on the entire afternoon, from the expensive coffee to quasi-trained staff and idiot women drivers, was that for four dollars I never would have been able to get similar entertainment anywhere else. Not the movies, not the free Internet and not at a coffee shoppe.

I consider it an investment in living. And for $4, that’s pretty darn affordable.

-30-

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© Jeff Cutler™ for Jeff Cutler™ - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, bread, coffee, freakshow, idiot women drivers, people watch, starbucks, tea, wijack, wijacker.com

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After four months, I’ve queried dozens of outlets, have been in contact with multiple editors and other journalism professionals, have started work on a couple books and have created a path to follow for the remaining 2/3 of this journey.

I am still positive that I’ll be able to remain free of the shackles of my previous existence (that being an onsite freelancer for myriad clients) and forge a living and a creatively fulfilling life with columns, commentary and larger works.

More details to come on what’s ahead in the second segment. Suffice it to say, this is where the real ‘artist’ phase takes place. The guts of each book need to be slapped onto pages and deadlines will reveal themselves in the glory we all cherish (sarcasm).

Keep reading and I’ll keep you updated!

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Post tags: 1/3, books, columnist, Jeff Cutler, progress report

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