All interesting and useful stuff. I would be interested to talk to some of those that enlisted outside help in getting the final finished product together about their experiences (particularly those of using elance etc for these kind of services).
What's great about Authority is that it essentially validates itself the more and more popular it gets.
Hi, thanks for making yourself available to questions (and congrats, of course)!
I wanted to ask you about (for want of a better phrase) softer metrics and your experience of writing a book. How has your new status as author impacted on those?
Great to see 99designs in there. I am of the opinion that digital marketplaces will be the future of self-publishing services, by providing writers with the opportunity to connect with providers with 'in-house' experience. Can make a massive difference (as Roy's endeavours will attest to...).
Much like Neil, I think that physical made-out-of-dead-tree-books are pretty fantastic devices for delivering information to our brains. But the stats for digital book take up are pretty staggering.
I don't think this means anything in itself, but coupled with the fact that more and more people are choosing to read on tablets as opposed to dedicated e-reading devices does worry me. Do tablet manufacturers care about reading? Probably not. So it's not just that books exist in a noisier world. They are also increasingly sharing a platform with noisier content.
Interesting. The end of the NetBook Agreement in the UK (1995) which opened up the era of chain book stores and the discount supermarket book has definitely had a massive, often overlooked impact. The book industry don't like or get Amazon and that's why they grumble about it so much. But there are so many other reasons as to why it's changing so rapidly.
Yes, and it's undeniably nice to be able to buy books and CDs at what are effectively wholesale prices. I'm less convinced that kindle and e-ink e-readers in general are the future. Trends suggest that more and more people are reading on tablet, as opposed to specialist reading devices, the usage of which has plateaued. And I would definitely worry about what will happen to books should the day come when they are primarily read on a platform on which they must compete with other, noisier content (I'm looking at you, Angry Birds).
What's great about Authority is that it essentially validates itself the more and more popular it gets.