“What is DBW,” you ask?
Digital Book World is an online news source for digital publishing developments. They also put on an annual conference in New York City. For the past couple of years, they have been the go-to source for all your Amazon-bashing needs. Their coverage has been so stilted, that when I noticed a change this week, I had to reach out to a friend and see if someone had called in sick. Indeed, there has been a change at the helm.
This is a most welcome development. Already, the coverage lacks the one-sidedness that plagued DBW in the past. Instead of tuning in every morning to hear what the Amazon Derangement Syndrome crowd thinks, I’m now watching fair and positive coverage of the digital publishing world. It’s a breath of fresh air.
I point this out because I’m not alone in my assessment. Today, I saw comments on a post at The Digital Reader that starts: “Pretty much anything from DBW can be safely ignored.” A reply from Nate, who runs The Digital Reader goes: “No argument here. I was initially going to be much more snarky when commenting on DBW, but then I toned it down.” Comments like these are rife across the publishing landscape. The previous editor had an agenda, and we should celebrate his departure.
For my own part, I’ve been extremely critical of DBW in the past. They have put together some really awful surveys and have used bizarre methods for making the results show what they want rather than what’s there. (Seriously. Read this blog post to see how laughable these attempts have been.)
My hope is that the change in editors will improve the coverage and get DBW back to disseminating the news rather than editorializing. Let’s give them a chance to prove themselves. No need to judge them by the mess someone else left behind. If you are interested in this industry, you should sign up for their daily digest. If you’ve been missing the last couple of years of digests, congratulations. And congrats to the new editor. Best of luck!
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