And on the subject of "scores" I landed a cover story in the Santa Barbara Independent this week. Tuseday I'll be on local radio--KCSB--and Thursday I'm having a PARTY at the Paradise Cafe (in Santa Barbara, CA).
Now I know most of you Casbah Cats follow this dusty digital Casbah from afar, so you won't be making it, but for those California follows, well, just send an email and I'll give you the directions. Hell, why not? Parts of the book are going to be republished in the paper--and since the eBook app is electronic, it'll give a sense of a paper release party. So like I said, why not?
The following is about 300 words and the leftover conclusion--the one we didn't use--for the Independent piece. It is supposed to be about the "changing book industry." Here ya go:
The Wave of Revolution
By Jesse Aizenstat
By this point—if you’re even still reading this goddamn thing—the level of grit is starting to take hold. “Creeping Jesus!” you think. “The pictures, the videos, the maps and media!” You recognize that there is an element of Being There that differs from traditional paperback publishing, and it is a combination of enhanced media and “tell all” story telling that is starting to hit like a boxer without gloves.
But not so fast.
The book excerpts you just read is the first piece publicity for Surfing the Middle East. And now… as of this very moment… nobody really knows if this new platform is going to be the cresting wave for the next generation. Exciting times. It’s like the This Wave chapter: you are literally riding this wave, coming along for the ride—into the questions that everyone in book publishing is just dying to know: Will 2011 be the year indie authors go mainstream? Will enhanced eBooks be the handle?
The answer rests in your hand.
The iPad—along with other reader tablets—were the major “tech hit” of 2010. They empowered me (not the Oligarchs of traditional book publishing who were not interested in Surfing the Middle East) to write, produce and own my own material. Even add the multimedia layer. And while making Surfing the Middle East, I demanded all work emails start with “Dear Comrades,” in response to our ownership of the product. Authors and the means of production are no longer at odds.
“Well,” you ponder. “Will this change the book industry forever? Will the final product be any good? Are those hot Mediterranean surfer’s sexy enough?” I can hear your questions…
…but the answer—like always—is with you. The consumer. Surfing the Middle East: “It’s like Maui with rockets”, is now available on Apple’s App Store.
The future is in your hands.
