By Cory Doctorow in The Guardian: In the physical realm, there’s real danger in taking a good without paying for it (you might be arrested and sent to jail); in the digital realm, that danger is much lower. So much lower, in fact, that the majority of media that changes hands online does so for free and without authorisation. Read more
Is it easy to approach big name publishers with your passion project? Nope. The attitude of big publishers with a brand name has not changed a bit in decades. But their clout over what gets published is eroding fast, all thanks to the new publisher in town. You! Read more
Temps. Remember them? They used to be the people who came in to cover the donkey work jobs no one wanted or no one had time to do. They also used to be the route into publishing for the vast majority – especially women. Not any more. Now budding publishers are expected to work free in long unpaid internships. Read more
In 2010, 28% of publishers reported skills gaps in their current workforce. Skillset brought together a panel of industry experts from publishing, TV, film and computer games at the London Book Fair to debate the issue and understand what can be learnt from other industries. Can we fill the skills gap and avoid a ‘Talent Time Bomb’? Read more
“Authors and readers are all that matter. Publishers will soon be irrelevant.” It was billed as The Great Debate – but has the discussion really moved on since last year? Read more
