It's a cougar-packed show tonight, folks!
Without an equitable distribution of income between authors and publishers, the much-vaunted digital future of publishing will be delayed: perhaps even mortally derailed. That’s one of the many important points made in tonight’s essential (as in you have to listen) edition of LITOPIA AFTER DARK.
Pete the Prophet (otherwise known as our very own Peter Cox) is in fine predictive form this evening – or maybe its just great goat entrails – as he confidently presages the ascension of Apple’s as-yet unacknowledged “Mediapad” project over Amazon’s Kindle as the eventual winner in the e-book wars.
“I predict that people who normally don’t like Apple computers will clamour to buy the Mediapad”, says Peter, “because it will simply be so darned sexy”. Remember, folks – you heard it here first.
It’s a real smorgasbord of a show tonight. With death-defying acrobatic alacrity, we leap from one topic to another, informing, educating, appalling, infuriating. But that’s why you like us, isn’t it?
On tonight’s show…
- How to tell if you have hidden talents worth a 7-figure deal
- Could a wind-tossed chihuahua (chee – wah –wah) be the salvation to the world’s diminishing pile of story ideas?
- Is Amazon modeling itself on the Mongol horde – absorbing everything in its path?
Get your armour, sword and shield ready, because it’s clobbering time on Litopia After Dark!
Joining Peter on the panel tonight are:
- From England’s west country Litopia stalwart Dave Bartram
- From Fort Lauderdale, Florida, leading lawyer, author and Litopia Daily’s newshound, Donna Ballman
- We bid a welcome return to Litopia’s answer to Sir Alan Sugar (that’s Donald Trump for you North Americans)… he’s Martyn Daniels and he’s one of the most respected consultants in the publishing business: you can share his blogged wisdom here.
- And – you hear her five days a week on Litopia Daily as the voice of Eve’s Salmagundi Club, back on Litopia After Dark by overwhelming public demand – it’s Eve Harvey - writer, bookseller, and here tonight all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland.
- The part of Lady Fotherington-Smythe is played tonight by assorted cast members.
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I concur with your prediction insofar as the Apple Mediapad will be wildly popular; I don't think I agree with your prediction that it will obliterate Kindle as a consideration for (at least) two reasons: e-ink and battery life. It's quite true that Apple's iPhone is used as an eReader by some folks, most of them young, but even though folks complain that it drains the battery, which is true of all backlit devices. The other thing is that a backlit screen is not as kind to the eyes. It's no accident that Kindle owners are noticeably older than iPhone owners. I predict aging baby boomers will keep e-ink going as a viable technology. If the Plastic Logic reader can compete on price, it will be more of a threat to Kindle than Apple, especially if they offer a compact, purse-sized reader.