A Gutenberg Moment - The Digital Book Revolution Comes Of Age

November 30, 2009

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When Amazon introduced its Kindle for PC application on November 10, 2009, the digital book revolution reached a milestone and came of age. From that moment on, any PC running Windows software in over 170 countries gained instant access to Amazon’s Kindle web pages with the power to browse, sample and purchase digital books and to read those books on that computer. Prior to that day, Kindle books could only be read on Kindles, iPhones and iPod touches. Soon a Kindle for Mac application will be released to complete the highway of global digital book distribution.

While other digital book systems, formats and readers exist, the digital book revolution topography will experience one more profound change when Google opens its own digital bookstore in 2010. Currently called Google Editions, digital books will be able to be downloaded to any device with a browser. At that moment, two behemoth corporations, Amazon and Google, will dominate and control the most significant change in the delivery of the written word since Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type in 1439.

In one stunning flash of electrons, books and the wealth of ideas they contain have gained instant distribution in a way man has not before been able to do with the properties of the physical book. No longer limited by gravity, the written word will begin to swirl around the planet not constrained by language or geography. In the greenest of all greens, a digital book plucked from the virtual sky transmits the essence of the human mind and spirit without the destruction of natural resources in the process.

And, Stay Thirsty Press and Schiller & Wells, Ltd. are at the leading edge of this digital book revolution by publishing digital books with great content not restricted by category or subject matter. Stay Thirsty Press published its first book, Mrs. Beast by the acclaimed author Pamela Ditchoff in March 2009, and in the ensuing months, Stay Thirsty Press has become the imprint for veteran, award-winning authors. Schiller & Wells, Ltd. became the second imprint from Stay Thirsty Media and published its first digital book, FORTY YEARS LATER by debut novelist Steven Jay Griffel in October 2009. Founded to foster author–publisher partnerships, Schiller & Wells, Ltd. is dedicated to publishing deserving works of fiction and nonfiction by new authors, and notable works by scholars. Although the ink on our biography is still “wet,” invention and change is in our blood and the speed of this revolution nourishes us every day.

In the coming months and years, both Stay Thirsty Press and Schiller & Wells, Ltd. will continue to seek out and publish digital books with superb content in a host of popular languages. From fiction to nonfiction, from scholarly to self-help, from English to Spanish to Japanese, Stay Thirsty Press and Schiller & Wells, Ltd. are digital pioneers helping to settle the frontier and to write the history of the digital book revolution.

Although global distribution via Amazon and Google Editions changes the delivery of books forever, it is the content of those books that is the key. Content is king. People read books to communicate with the author. No one reads a book to communicate with its publisher. And, to assist Stay Thirsty Press and Schiller & Wells, Ltd. discover great content, four outstanding senior Acquisitions Editors have joined the revolution. They are today’s explorers helping to lead a sturdy band of digital book pioneers and pioneering authors in the spread of this Gutenberg Moment. Each has unique talents, skills and educational credentials, and each is on the hunt for great content in fiction and nonfiction, by veteran authors and debut authors, works by scholars and works in almost any language.

PROFILES OF OUR PIONEERING ACQUISITIONS EDITORS

Jenny Blair is an award-winning nonfiction writer, editor, and physician. She is interested in trade nonfiction, particularly books on science or culture, as well as essay collections; and fiction, including novels, short stories, and translations.

Education:
MD, Yale University School of Medicine
BS, Yale University, Geology and Geophysics
Diplomate, American Board of Emergency Medicine
Residency, University of Chicago
Co-Editor, Brink, a Literary Magazine

Contact: jenny.blair@staythirstypublishing.com

Jackie Bondanza is a seasoned publishing professional who joins Schiller & Wells after three years as Associate Editor of Barnes & Noble Publishing. An author of two books and numerous magazine articles, she is interested in all areas of fiction and nonfiction with a particular interest in health & beauty, business, travel, historical nonfiction and Young Adult.

Education:
MA, California State University Northridge, Journalism
BA, University of Scranton, Mass Communication

Contact: jackie.bondanza@staythirstypublishing.com

Adrinda Kelly joins Schiller & Wells with a strong publishing background from positions at Time Warner, McGraw-Hill, and The Princeton Review. She is interested in reviewing nonfiction manuscripts in the following categories: educational reference, memoir, journalism, pop culture, travel, business, diet, and biography; and, will selectively review fiction manuscripts in the following categories: historical fiction, urban fiction, and YA. She is also very interested in books that can be adapted out of blogs, websites, or other user-generated content.

Education:
MA, magna cum laude, New York University, Humanities and Social Thought
BA, cum laude, Harvard University, English and American Literature

Contact: adrinda.kelly@staythirstypublishing.com

Judith S. McCue joined Schiller & Wells as the lead Acquisitions Editor in the Scholars Division after a fourteen-year career at The Great Books Foundation as an educator and editor of literary fiction and nonfiction. With expertise in the scholarly and educational fields, Judith is especially interested in submissions from professors, researchers, educators and teachers. "Having worked for a number of years in a traditional publishing and education environment, I leapt at the opportunity to carry over the standards of superb literature and the excitement of ideas to the digital book revolution. Rather than leading to the demise of books as some fear, I believe that digital publishing offers a new generation of authors and readers opportunities to be part of the Great Conversation in ways barely imagined a few years ago."

Education:
M.Phil., University of Cambridge, England
B.Sc.(Hons), London School of Economics and Political Science
Dip. Ed., Catholic Teachers College, Sydney, Australia

Contact: judith.mccue@staythirstypublishing.com

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