The WELL: inkwell.vue.405: Ed Ward and Jon Lebkowsky on SXSW

#115: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 09:40

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:40:00 PDT

Jeez, I've got more scribbles than posts on this convo....sorry guys, trying to be succinct and slow down -- not a strength obviously [Read entire topic]

#114: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 09:39

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:39:00 PDT

I like Cory Doctorow's last book, Makers, particularly in this respect: http://craphound.com/makers/download/

There, that's the correct link [Read entire topic]

#113: Ed Ward (captward) Thu 14 Apr 11 08:09

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:09:00 PDT

Huh? I don't think that's a publicly-viewable page. [Read entire topic]

#112: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:44

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:44:00 PDT

<scribbled by tcn Thu 14 Apr 11 09:38> [Read entire topic]

#111: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:44

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:44:00 PDT

<scribbled by tcn Thu 14 Apr 11 07:44> [Read entire topic]

#110: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:40

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:40:00 PDT

Kind of think, well, acutally I do think that we are in one of those Alvin Toffler vortexes....the times they are a changin...so while we sort out whether or not the USA will have an economy at all, and what it will actually look like, creatives are sort of struck looking into the headlights of the oncoming train wreck that is American economics at the moment....this probably extends to the global economy as well....

So, there's a sense where we are, and should be, at a standstill, as to how to distribute and market our wares in the bizarre bazaar that exists at the moment... [Read entire topic]

#109: Ed Ward (captward) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:19

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:19:00 PDT

People die of exposure. Unfortunately, that double meaning can become a single meaning. I've supported myself -- not all that well, most of the time -- by writing since I was 16. It's all I know how to do better than the average person.

And I gotta say, the panels I saw at SXSW in the Future of Journalism track didn't make me very optimistic. The "how to get a book deal" one was appallingly bad, in fact. The best one was the one on long-form journalism's probably having a future, but the guy who ran it, um, seems to have ageist issues. His site, The Atavist <http://atavist.net/>, is interesting, but his attitude has kept me from writing to him about it. [Read entire topic]

#108: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:08

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:08:00 PDT

Yup, given the capitalist entrepreneurial society in which we live, we all need day jobs to support our avocations. [Read entire topic]

#107: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Thu 14 Apr 11 07:02

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:02:00 PDT

When I was in my teens and was clear that my destiny was to write, Nancy Jones (wife of Austin AP Bureau Chief at the time, Garth Jones) asked me what I was going to do with my life, and I said I was going to be a writer. She made a wan smile and asked, "Okay, but how are you going to make a living?" I said again that I was going to write, and she said good luck, but you can't make a living as a writer. An informed comment - she knew a lot of writers and journalists.

I suppose because of that advice, though I write professionally, I don't depend on writing for income. I suppose the question now, for writers, is how to create sufficient value in the context we're in to make real money from your writing. But Ariana Huffington's attitude is telling: if I good writers will contribute to Huffington post for free, why should she pay with anything but a chance at "exposure"? But those of us who've been doing it a while know that exposure plus three dollars will buy you a cup of coffee. [Read entire topic]

#106: Ed Ward (captward) Thu 14 Apr 11 01:07

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:07:00 PDT

Oh, I'm with you and Lessing about a creative commons and alternative licensing, which, given the age of sampling we're in, could even be a more lucrative alternative for musicians. What I'm not good with is working for free, which is mostly what I do. [Read entire topic]