Yesterday’s post got me thinking.
Most publishers want to innovate but they tie
themselves in a knot trying.
They’re tied to existing processes, revenue
targets, and sometimes mindsets that haven’t significantly changed for decades,
if not centuries.
Can you untie a knot by adding excessive pressure
to it?
No, brute force usually makes it worse!
You untie a knot by studying how each fiber has been
entangled and determining how to unravel them.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the course each strand
has taken, so you experiment. You pull
on a string and see what happens – what moves.
Sometimes you make it worse before it gets better.
Other times the tangle is so complete that
scissors are needed to remove part of the mess. Of course, this is the last resort because it can damage the fabric if
it’s not done very carefully.
An Epiphany, Courtesy of Winnie The Pooh
Today I had an ah ha moment while reviewing a proposal from a prospective Wrox author. On the last page of the proposal I was confronted with the image you see on the right from AA Milnes Winnie-the-Pooh. An odd inclusion for a t…
The Publishing Knot
I recently discovered Ann Mitchels Manage to Change blog and today she posts more smart thinking about our industry. As she points out, we have really tied ourselves up into a knot when it comes to being able to adapt quickly to the shifting la…