Tuesday April 24, 2007

You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Pages!

Yesterday was International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. What’s that, you ask? Briefly, it is the upshot of a generational war going on in and around the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America—the organization that gives out the Nebula Awards. A few weeks ago, SFWA VP Howard V. Hendrix issued a manifesto of sorts, decrying the “increasing sublimation of the private space of consciousness into public netspace” and the conversion of “the noble calling of Writer into the life of Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch.” He also doesn’t like ebooks—especially free ones—which he believes are “undercutting those of us who aren’t giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work.” The response from the sf and fantasy world was swift and loud—and, I suspect, a preview of things to come as digital publishing continues its inevitable advance. Sci-fi writers have been the early adopters of ebooks—probably because their readers are more wired than readers of other genres—and these issues are sure to present themselves again and again. Still, anyone who wants to protect the “the noble calling of Writer” from the internet—or even anyone prone to capitalizing “Writer”—is surely tilting at windmills.

Which brings us to International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Founded by Locus Award finalist Jo Walton, IPTD was a day when writers were asked to post their stuff on online, and many of them did—as you can see here and here. (I, of course, threw my ebook into the mix.) Lots of stuff to comb through there for ebook fans. (One of the side effects of ebook reading is that you end up reading a lot of modern sf alongside the public domain classics. Right now, I’m reading Sherwood Anderson and John Scalzi—who also designed the IPTD logo.) And the combing is an issue, which is why the future of publishing (as a business) lies in its traditional curatorial and gatekeeping functions. The cost of distribution will continue to approach zero, but selective editing will continue to have value. I’m still surprised that a top-shelf journal—like Zoetrope or The Paris Review—hasn’t begun distributing a promotional ebook edition. The risks are negligible. Ebook penetration is so low that it would hardly cut against paid, hard-copy subscriptions, and—hey—they might even attract some newer, younger fans. Who will be the first?

Posted by jim at 05:27 PM ||