Brand vs. Platform

Legacy publishers now consider an author's platform to be the single most important criterion for deciding whether or not to offer a book contract. "Platform" is of course one of those nebulous terms that's mostly used to inflate the speaker's perceived importance, like "statistically significant" or "equality". Jane Friedman at…
Archaic Industries that Are Still in Business

Archaic Industries that Are Still in Business

The increasing speed of innovation was aptly summed up by John Lithgow's character from Interstellar: "...[I]t felt like they made something new everyday. Some gadget or idea. Like every day was Christmas." The tireless march of progress has certainly endowed us with an abundance of technological goodies. It has also…