A Free Radical: The Reason Why We’re Here
The credit goes to Corey Pressman of Exprima Media. I called to tell him that my position as Editorial Director of Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines had been eliminated, that I was no longer employed by parent company NAPCO. After some riffing and word association, he hit on the right expression and joyfully exclaimed: “You’re a free radical!”
And so I am. Free to explore the exciting and ever-changing world of publishing through my own lens. Free to sniff out change, to explore the edges of what’s being developed and help bring important new approaches and technologies to the fore. Free to find the value in both the old and the new, in disruptive and legacy approaches. And radical in the sense of not being bound by the rules, embracing change, and veering away, far away, from the “this is how we’ve always done it” approach. Helping to put the pieces together into a new whole that makes sense and is fluid, productive, and successful.
I’m pleased to introduce my new blog, Pub Hub, in which I will cover publishing news in book, magazine, and newspaper publishing. In many ways, these are three separate worlds, each with their own issues and challenges. In other ways, particularly as we move more and more into digital publishing, these three strands intersect and overlap. Publishing professionals in all three segments decide what gets published, shape it into publishable form, and make it available to readers, and have in common their role as gatekeepers of public discourse and of our intellectual heritage. I will be speaking with them, covering their news, their challenges, controversies and successes, and presenting it in both written and video form in this blog.
