The Domino Project (see below) is an initiative to give self published authors more of a say in marketing, selling, and developing a base of readers. This is based upon the fact that Amazon.com has an awful lot of integration in this area of commerce (they advertise, sell, and now publish books…). It might be possible to wrest control over what gets published form the hands of large publishers and into the hands of the readers.
Domino Project: It’s Gatekeeping
http://stayoutofschool.com/2011/03/domino-project-its-gatekeeping
Well, I’m sure we’ll step in it with this, but whatever. I’m poking the box. I probably have to find a bunker somewhere for doing so.
After I told my personal publishing story, last time we talked about self publishing and gatekeepers and how gate keepers are an important part of how we find ideas.
Then Seth Godin wrote a post reiterating how bad gatekeepers are, so I guess we should keep going. I never intended for a split second for this to become some silly war about the Domino Project or its validity.
It is valid. It’s awesome. Seth is ridiculously smart and engaging. It’s just….more gatekeeping.
I like gatekeeping. It makes my life easier. It’s one of the mechanisms of critical thinkers. There’s really no reason to tear down publishing houses for their evil inequities of gatekeeping only to set up other forms of gatekeeping that will, ultimately, go the way of publishers.
First of all, while Seth’s email list/blog is going on and on about people who self publish (and let me be the first to say that if you are making millions self-publishing your work, GOD bless you, because that’s so incredible it’s sick), Seth isn’t self publishing. In fact, while we often read on Seth’s blog about how bestseller lists are meaningless, this is how Book Business Magazine intro’ed the project:
Keen On… The Domino Project: Seth Godin Reinvents the Book Business (TCTV)
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/08/keen-on-the-domino-project-seth-godin-tctv
Over the last fifteen years, innovation maven Seth Godin has written twelve best-selling books about breaking all the traditional rules in business. But Godin’s thirteenth book, a little thing about initiative which will be published next month, threatens to be the biggest rule-breaker in his destructive career.
Godin’s thirteenth book may well be unlucky for the traditional publishing business. You see, Godin’s big new thing is the Domino Project, a next generation publishing venture that he is launching with Amazon. And one of the first books published by the Domino Project will be his own little thing about initiative.
What Godin is trying to do with the Domino Project is make books “spreadable.” It’s a big dream – one that reinvents books in the viral age of social media. But, as he told me when we met in New York last month, most start-up businesses fail because entrepreneurs don’t dream big enough
If you publish yourself, does it become more fun than writing?
http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/07/if-you-publish-yourself-does-it-become-more-fun-than-writing.html
John Mayer 2011 Clinic – “Manage the Temptation to Publish Yourself”
http://www.berklee-blogs.com/2011/07/john-mayer-2011-clinic-manage-the-temptation-to-publish-yourself
