Local news is crucial to democracy, and it's disappearing — according to a new book by Steven Brill, excerpted in @Semafor, approximately twenty-two hundred papers and their websites went out of business between 2005 and 2021. That's created a vacuum into which "pink-slime" sites have poured. Brill writes about these sites that present themselves as legitimate publishers but are created to boost specific candidates and secretly financed by partisan funders, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Federated news publishers include @AxiosNews, @Semafor, @BloombergGreen, @19thnews, @ConversationUS and more. You'll also find many fantastic lifestyle publishers there, such as @Smithsonianmag, @cntraveler, @outside, @Kotaku and @TheRoot. We're working on a better way to separate publisher and curator profile details so you can easily find what you're looking for; stay tuned. If you're a publisher who'd like to onboard to Flipboard or have your account federated, fill in this survey:
In the words of Fatboy Slim, "we've come a long long way together." Here, @miaq breaks down Flipboard's federation journey so far.
"We could [federate Flipboard] with a quick flip of the switch but we’ve chosen to act more intentionally," she writes. "We’re taking measured steps to test, learn, and ensure that everything we’re doing stays true to our values and those of the fediverse. Maintaining quality is top of the list."
If I was to write a #blog what should I write about? Food and Travel are already saturated. I already write about #flipboard. Suggestions are welcome and thanks ahead of time. #writing#publishing#travel#food
"The promises of the fediverse can “solve a pretty huge distribution problem,” Patel said. Instead of spending time building a presence on other platforms for their benefit, a publisher can do that on their own sites — while giving readers the ability to see those posts on other federated platforms." https://digiday.com/media/why-publishers-are-preparing-to-federate-their-sites/
Love this directive from a publisher's style guide:
Rescue the author from pet phrases or overuse of academic clichés (“seen through the lens,” “shines fresh light on”) and punctuation or stylistic devices that become annoying (overuse of em dashes, italics for emphasis, or “scare” quotes).
#Elsevier is a publisher with a lot of experience. You would think they would understand DOIs. They do not. As if they don't care about references and citations. If you see a "10/gh3n5k" about where you could expect a DOI, it probably was supposed to be a DOI. Maybe try to add some publisher value and work with the authors to fix that? Then you can also check if the author list is actually correct (no, it was not). Is this a N=1? No, it is not. It is a routine #fail in #publishing
It's #Caturday, so what better time to promote my cat-related fantasy epic? "The Secret of the Sorceress" is just one of the (mostly) moggy themed stories in the new anthology, "Feisty Felines and Other Fantastical Familiars", out now from #WordFirePress.
Many thanks to the editors (Kevin J. Anderson, Allyson Longueira and their students at #WesternColoradoUniversity) for giving my story a chance!
It's nice to see a company with a clear commitment to #opensource software (and democracy) be successful in the #publishing space. Congratulations to your 25th company anniversary, @letexml!
Copies of Worlds of IF Science Fiction Magazine #177, the relaunch issue, spotted in Paris. Front cover art by Bob Eggleton, back cover art by Andrew Stewart. Check out that table of contents.
Feels so good to read it in prints!
Genuine question for #WritersOfMastodon - with the rise of AI generated everything, is it now possible to be published by an actual publisher? I'd heard it was virtually impossible before AI but presumably they're now inundated by manuscripts that are either part or fully AI creations. I ask because I always assumed I'd write my great novel one day, but it seems vanishingly unlikely now. I have 2 brothers who's father was a successful author, although he had his foot in the door via being a reporter (who brought down Concorde and was the only person ever allowed to interview/write a book about Pablo Escobar), so was already semi-famous and had contacts. I met a published author the other week, but she's a proof-reader for Penguin books, so also has a foot in the door. I assume that if you write something you're happy with, you no longer just send it to publishers and hope they read? Interested to know if anyone has had any success with this or if everyone self-publishes now.
The author that brought you Troll Song and Forgotten Legends now offers you the chance to read the third book in the The Wizard's Scion: The Third Wish.