"startwithxml" entries

The question of how much authors can participate in the world of StartwithXML is a matter of legitimate debate. The skepticism about the subject, based on historical evidence, is certainly not unfounded. But it isn't like publishers aren't already aware that how authors deliver to them matters! Poking around the Web for other reasons, I found instructions to prospective authors…

Despite the bell tolling on the publishing industry lately, the publishers who are doing well these days are those who have focus. Publishers who have a consistent message, who create content about specific things, seem not to be paddling the lifeboat with broad, generalized trade publishers. Niches, areas of concentration – call them what you will, but this is where the future of publishing lies.

A very experienced former book packager who has moved on to become an industry observer and critic of some note pushed back on my suggestion on Friday that authors could be involved in tagging content for contextual meaning. "Not in this lifetime," was his comment, and he suggested that copy editors or managing editors might be the more likely candidates…

For several years in the 1990s, I had the pleasure of working closely with Mark Bide on Vista's "Publishing in the 21st Century" program. Since then, Mark has largely left the book business to attack digital problems of other content industries as well, but I value the opportunity to sit down with him because I always learn something. He was…

Today we start an exciting new industry research and education project: "StartwithXML: Why and How." No publisher of any size or scope can be beyond the XML conversation that is now taking place across the industry. That content must be kept in a repository of XML files has become common understanding. And all the content-generation tools we use — Word…