publishing – Page 17 – Steven Savage

We Are All Publishers

December 9, 2009 by Steven Savage

Almost anything we progeeks are into can be considered a form of publishing. Knowing this is important to our careers.

That may sound strange when your interest doesn't come out as a book or a magazine, so stick with me here as I take a look at just what publishing is.

Datesims have a rather creepy reputation in the US. The ones we see from Japan often contain questionable content. By questionable of course I mean soul-searing horror that would make Cthulu call for his mommy and curl up in a blanket. Yes I know there are Datesims that don't have objectionable content, you just don't hear about them that much.

Except I'm thinking Datesims may have more of a future. I'm not talking that people will begin playing them instead of Modern Warfare 2. But I'm thinking that the time may be right for more of them in . . . well places that aren't Japan. Oh, and datesims that aren't of a prurient nature.

Before you get scared, let me explain my logic.

Datesims are casual games. Casual gaming has obviously been on the increase.
Their relatively simple nature would let them take advantage of the increased use of Downloadable content – reducing the cost, reducing the investment.
Let's be honest, the standard Datesim is not overly complex as a piece of technology.
Romance is always a big genre, and companies doing romance novels (Hey, Harlequin, want ANOTHER initiative?) could jump on the bandwagon.
Their multimedia nature may tie-in well to people's interests.

So the reason I think Datesims have a future could be summed up as, I think they're viable because you can deliver them fast and cheap, they'd have good appeal, and you have audiences that would be interested in them. If anything, I see the marketing being a bit troublesome – you'd probably have to call them "interactive romance novels" or something.

I don't see them as being big business (though I see the "interactive novel" idea having more of a future), but I think they may be a viable product for some companies, and a valuable addition to publishers of romance novels and products. After all, if you got a modern anime-style artist to do a Datesim/romance with hunky vampires, and it cost $10 with the purchase of a novel, and maybe had unlockable desktops and themes – yeah, I think it'd sell.

– Steven Savage

Book Wars Part 1: The Rise of Everyone

October 21, 2009 by Steven Savage

BOOK WARS: RISE OF EVERYONE
You've seen a lot on the changes in publishing occurring in this blog, every few days, if not more often, there's talk about e-readers, e-books, Print on Demand, etc. I could sum this up in many ways (including "oh, gods make it stop, it's confusing), but to put it simply:

There are more ways to get text to people.
Everyone wants a piece of that market.
This means new ways to deliver content and consume it.

Now, this basically means people can read more and authors can get their stuff out easier. I have several books in the works and am pretty sure most if not all will start as Print On Demand with e-book options. I see no reason not to embrace the new technology.

There's another side to this that often gets missed. Yes, more ways to get more books in more formats. We can guess that, we've heard about it, we know it's a given.