Cory Doctorow is one of my nominations for Hero of the Internet. He’s an author, activist, journalist, and blogger – he’s co-editor of Boing Boing, one of the earliest blogs – and savage opponent of DRM (Digital Rights Management). He famously formulated Doctorow’s First Law: “Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you, and won’t give you a key, they’re not doing it for your benefit.”
Reading and technology are hot topics. If kids are glued to their devices, where do books fit in? How can we make sure they keep reading for pleasure? Our expert speakers will look at different ways to engage young people online to make reading fun.
This event is aimed at educational publishers, children’s publishers, teachers, YA bloggers, librarians and anyone else interested in how we can keep reading alive!
Thanks to The Salariya Book Company and Fiction Express for supporting this event.
Click here for more information and to book tickets. This event is free to attend for BookMachine Members.
Sweek, a Dutch mobile platform, are working to make mobile reading and writing attractive for everyone. Here we interview Sweek co-founder, Veronika Kartovenko. Veronika is a reading fanatic and a real traveler. With a background in Business Information Management and International Business Administration, she is taking care of the business development for Sweek.
Sweek is a mobile platform that allows everyone to write, read and share stories all over the world. In an instant and at no cost. On Sweek you can find stories from both aspiring and well-known authors, in all genres. We offer an excellent reading experience for the smartphone, allow users to save stories offline and send notifications when new updates from their favourite authors are available.
First, convenience of reading anywhere, anytime. Chances are you don’t have your ereader or book with you, but you’ll always carry your smartphone. Secondly, we’re bridging the distance between the reader and the writer. Currently, a lot of writers can’t know who their readers are. On Sweek, there’s direct interaction between them. The publishing industry is having a hard time, we need stimulate growth and development by introducing new ways of reading and writing that fit the current lifestyle.
Although we believe the smartphone generation (15-30 years old) will be the first to use Sweek, we want to make mobile reading and writing attractive for everyone. This means we have a diverse set of content that’s interesting for different types of readers. The classics, thrillers, short stories, fanfiction, stories from top authors and much more.
Of course, we would like to welcome many, many users to Sweek and grow our content base. We see stories from all over the world being uploaded, and both aspiring as well as top authors are joining Sweek. In a few years we want to be the platform of choice for publishers and professional authors to build their online fanbase and engage with readers. Also, we hope fresh writing talent will be discovered via Sweek by the crowd and consequently by traditional publishers.
Many things! We’re launching our iOS app anytime now, meaning you can use Sweek on Android, iOS and web. Also, commenting is one of the first new features to be implemented. We’ll be improving our algorithms and filters, so you can directly see and find stories that you want to read. We’re also considering different spin-offs, but for now our focus is on building the best platform for mobile reading and writing.
Before you get stuck in to this week, here are the publishing stories you may have missed over the past fortnight.
On BookMachine, we’ve been asking Where Are They Now? Cutting Edge Digital Developments that Didn’t Make It Work, ‘Publisher
After last Monday’s post ‘Erotic Novel Serves as Good Fertiliser’ was followed by HarperCollins launching erotica for women, we make no apologies for an ill-fated attempt to get #eroticweek trending on Twitter.
Elsewhere on the web, Digital Book World asks Was March 2012 the month Traditional Publishing died? Well, certainly Britannica isn’t dead, it’s digital, apparently Most U.S. College Students Now Prefer Digital Reading, and Inkling Habitat may be reinventing the print press. But are Ebooks: a new publishing solution to an old business problem?
Meanwhile, there were words On publishing and being a writer in the Right Now, and as Another Agent Lectures Authors, there was An agent’s manifesto over on The BookSeller.
Finally, BookWrap leaves you this week with The 10 Most Overused Words in Publishing.
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