Black-Velvet Books

On Monday, yet another publishing program entered the "publish your own e-book" arena. Vook says it provides an easy-to-use platform that will create a "professionally styled" book and then the program will help you distribute that e-book to Amazon, BN.com, and other online sellers.

The finished books do look much more professional and offer more interactivity than some of the free or low-cost services I've seen (like CreateBaby, Sigil, more), but Vook is much more expensive in return.
While I applaud the idea that many talented authors who are overlooked by publishing houses will be able to get their work in front of an audience, I have an issue with self-publishing. Many of the books aren't, well, worth the time.
Think about all of the people out there who truly believe that they are artists and that the world really does need another black-velvet painting of clowns. The only thing saving them from us is the fact that there is no venue for them to get their "art" in front of the world through an online gallery...yet.
Some of the self-published writers have to print their own books for a reason. They are writing stories that are the equivalent of black-velvet paintings. I've had a LOT of those books emailed to me in the last few months, so I know what I'm talking about.
There is a certain element of curation that takes place in publishing, and maybe Amazon, BN.com, Apple and others are going to have to start providing that curation. Or maybe reviewers will have a bigger role to play in helping people decide what's good, and what isn't. But some sort of curation will be needed.
And I don't like black velvet.

An Exclamation Over Punctuation

As a former editor, I can be as serious about appropriate punctuation as the next person. In my career, I've been known to passionately discuss the proper usage for a semicolon. However, there's passion and then there's obsession.

During one crazy time period in a former job, I remember the entire edit staff spending weeks (months, actually) debating whether to drop a slash from the name of the publication. It took on a life of its own. Never mind that the slash was not needed and was actually an incorrect usage of that symbol (hee hee), but the talks became heated and way, way over the top. At some point, I completely lost interest because there were better things to do with my time.
A major bookstore chain in England just dropped the apostrophe from its name and added an uppercase letter, going from waterstone's to Waterstones. And cue the uproar.
According to an article on Bookseller.com (click here), the Apostrophe Society has stepped into the fray. The Apostrophe Society? Who knew?
Here's my favorite part: The chairman of that hallowed institution harrumphs, "It's grammatically incorrect. If Sainsbury's and McDonald's can get it right, then why can't Waterstones? You would really hope that a bookshop is the last place to be so slapdash with English."
Can't you just hear the stiff upper lip? I love it.
As an added fun twist, I can just imagine Mr. Chairman reading the report and seeing that Bookseller.com did not use the apostrophe for Waterstones in his own quote. Probably drove him mental.
To review the use of apostrophes, be sure to check out the Apostrophe Society here. There will be a quiz later.