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News & ArtsThursday, February 26, 2009
Books This Will Not Save Publishing
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Fucking HarperCollins, which just laid a bunch of people off and shuttered an entire division of the company, is paying someone five figures for the right to publish Twitter Wit, a collection of the author's favorite Twitter posts. Not even Twitter posts by the author. A collection of Twitter posts that the author has read.
UPDATE: Some commenters apparently think I was mocking Twitter in this post. As N helpfully points out in the comments: I have a Twitter account that I update and check quite often. I like Twitter. This is not a post about Twitter sucking. This is a post about the awful suckiness that is the major publishing houses, and the idiocy of paying someone 5 figures to collect Twitter posts and then publish them in book form. That is indisputably stupid.
2
what is your fucking attitude problem?
twitter is a hell of a lot cooler and more interesting than slog.
twitter is a hell of a lot cooler and more interesting than slog.
3
I guess it's inevitable that some people will want to waste their money in the same way that they now waste their time.
4
Wish I'd thought of that.
@2. Go to fucking twitter then. And don't forget to fuck yourself on the way there.
@2. Go to fucking twitter then. And don't forget to fuck yourself on the way there.
5
@3 how is it wasting money or wasting time?
aren't most popular books basically entertainment - people spend time and money to be entertained.
there is some random and insightful stuff on twitter. don't be so dismissive of something you'll be raving about once you start to use it.
aren't most popular books basically entertainment - people spend time and money to be entertained.
there is some random and insightful stuff on twitter. don't be so dismissive of something you'll be raving about once you start to use it.
6
Funny that SLOG itself twitters but hasn't bothered to update since Feb 18.
Stranger types like to lecture everyone else on the future of media, while ignoring and insulting one of the biggest emerging trends.
Stranger types like to lecture everyone else on the future of media, while ignoring and insulting one of the biggest emerging trends.
8
@6 Stranger types are too busy counting the P-I's blog comments and deciding which books don't deserve to get published.
They can't be bothered with something as insignificant as Twitter. They're savvy media analysts!
They can't be bothered with something as insignificant as Twitter. They're savvy media analysts!
12
Fun fact: Paul Twitters.
Seriously guys, he's not saying Twitter is lame. He's saying that a book filled with Twitter posts is.
Seriously guys, he's not saying Twitter is lame. He's saying that a book filled with Twitter posts is.
15
So, the original authors of the Tweets won't get anything out of this deal? Am I the only one who kinda has a problem with that?
17
Twitter is last year's fad, bluh. It's like Facebook status but they preprocess your linked URL into a short form.
18
These will all fit well into my new book "Slog Snark", a compendium of my favorite Slog comments that I have read.
19
Twitter would be cooler if the people using it weren't so defensive of it. Anything that is cool doesn't need defense for its existence.
20
By the way, there is a book about Spam (not the meat) which is this one guy's responses to all the spam he receives.
It's kind of funny.
But probably more funny than a book of twits.
Unless John Cleese wrote it.
It's kind of funny.
But probably more funny than a book of twits.
Unless John Cleese wrote it.
22
So I'm the guy who's editing the book. And honestly, it's a lot of work for all the reasons you named: The vast majority of Twitter messages are only interesting to the writer's friends.
But then there are people who write messages like "I get the impression that the Fat Acceptance movement is more about acceptance than it is about movement." (http://twitter.com/strutting)
Or: "I think the bird of love is the dove. My husband thinks it's the swallow." (http://twitter.com/hoosiergirl)
And the book isn't a get-rich-quick scheme -- I still have to work a 40-hour-a-week job in addition to getting permission from hundreds of contributors. I just think everyone has 0.1% of a book in them, and I want some witty people to get more attention than they would on their own.
Anyway, if you have more questions (like how I got permission or who will be in the book), there's a FAQ at the book's official site, http://twitterwit.net (where you can also submit your own witty Twitter messages and get the book for free).
And since John Cleese is often clever on Twitter, I'm trying to get him in the book too.
But then there are people who write messages like "I get the impression that the Fat Acceptance movement is more about acceptance than it is about movement." (http://twitter.com/strutting)
Or: "I think the bird of love is the dove. My husband thinks it's the swallow." (http://twitter.com/hoosiergirl)
And the book isn't a get-rich-quick scheme -- I still have to work a 40-hour-a-week job in addition to getting permission from hundreds of contributors. I just think everyone has 0.1% of a book in them, and I want some witty people to get more attention than they would on their own.
Anyway, if you have more questions (like how I got permission or who will be in the book), there's a FAQ at the book's official site, http://twitterwit.net (where you can also submit your own witty Twitter messages and get the book for free).
And since John Cleese is often clever on Twitter, I'm trying to get him in the book too.
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