Like this bit of copy that is just not right! Thanks to anyone who finds hiccups like this that stem from the EDITH code base’s Helsinki origins, and promptly tells us about them. We like emails from people with an eye for clean copy. (Also, does that orphan “you” bother you? We get it.)
It’s been a busy month! And if you follow tech or business news, you undoubtedly saw a lot of commentary on Facebook’s rebranding as Meta and pivoting to virtual reality. For some observers it conjured up queasy-making questions of “what data they might be able [to] sell now they can see not only your social network, but also the contents of your home.” I haven’t logged onto Facebook in years, so won’t have to change my habits to accommodate (or foil) their plans. But speaking as just a person in the world? I believe it’s objectively bad news. We should not cede more space—real or virtual—to Big Tech.
However, the reports did strengthen my conviction that as creative people who are deeply invested not only in making things, but also in supporting other people who make things, we need to band together and build structures and platforms that serve our interests. We can’t let Amazon’s K.D.P. suck up people’s intellectual property at rock-bottom prices simply because they can, and will continue to do so until advances in artificial intelligence let them get rid of human authors the way they’re aiming to get rid of traditional publishers.
Here’s the thing: As editors and other book professionals, the value we add is not solely, or even primarily (in my view), in the output we help generate—a better book, a more beautiful package. It is in the relationships we develop with clients, our care, our linking arms with them as they struggle through the act of creation. EDITH is ostensibly a publishing services marketplace, and that’s how we’ll publicly be known, but in my mind we’re really about people, and connecting people who have skills with those who want them—and letting that collaboration transport people into whatever realms, intellectual, geographic, or otherwise, they wish to go. We’re going to be a small but highly visible part of a more globally distributed, disaggregated book industry that operates without middlemen, that restores creative collaboration and community to the center of the action.
You know the nature of EDITH’s business and, while we’re on the subject of Facebook/Meta, selling your data isn’t our business. What you enter in your profile and on your listing page—that’s all we need or wish to know. If that ever changes, you’ll be the first to hear about it.
Now some quick updates:
Last but not least, please complete a listing page and consider being aggressive with your pricing. You’re worth it!
Many small fixes went live! Here’s a quick list:
