15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing

Posted Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:06 by Mashable

Maria Schneider covers writing, publishing and social media at Editor Unleashed. Follow her on Twitter. A lively ongoing conversation is taking place on Twitter about where the publishing industry is headed. With digital media overshadowing its legacy media counterpart, publishers are struggling to figure out pricing, digital rights issues and how to market digital content. These are similar to the struggles the music industry has faced over the past few years. Here are 15 Twitter users I turn to for news and insight about how old school publishing is meeting its digital future. By following these publishing innovators, you can follow — and even participate in — the industry’s conversations as they take place in real-time. 1. @R_Nash Name: Richard Nash Who: Indie publisher, formerly of Soft Skull Press who is launching an innovative new social publishing startup called Cursor. Why: Nash consistently offers a contrarian point-of-view and doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to challenging traditional publishing. 2. @MichaelHyatt Name: Michael Hyatt Who: CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and a prolific blogger who covers the intersection of traditional publishing and social media. Why: Hyatt is a unique voice as one of the few publishing CEOs who practices what he preaches by blogging prolifically and doing social media outreach via Twitter and Facebook. 3. @Weegee Name: Kevin Smokler Who: Founder and CEO (his partner is Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine) of BookTour.com, a directory of authors chronicling their live and virtual appearances. Why: Smokler’s site has attracted enough interest to garner $350,000 from Amazon, making it a rare well-funded publishing-centric startup. He often carries on Twitter conversations with followers about books and the publishing industry. 4. @NathanBransford Name: Nathan Bransford Who: Literary agent with Curtis Brown, he writes a popular blog and tackles tough subjects such as: “Will writers of the future even need publishers?” Why: Bransford may be the most popular literary agent on Twitter for his straight-up personable advice about where book publishing is headed. 5. @draccah Name: Dominique Raccah Who: Publisher of Sourcebooks. Why: She closely tracks and comments on the quickly evolving digital landscape from a publisher’s perspective and consistently offers smart, relevant tweets and links. 6. @chriswebb Name: Chris Webb Who: Publisher, John Wiley and Sons UK. Why: Webb covers the intersection of tech and book publishing from a publishing geek perspective. His tweets give followers an insider’s look into the evolving world of publishing. 7. @gkiely Name: Garrett Kiely Who: Director of the University of Chicago Press. Why: Kiely closely follows and opines on digital books, copyright issues and the latest ebook developments. His unique perspective as the director of a university press offers an interesting take on the changing publishing landscape. 8. @timoreilly Name: Tim O’Reilly Who: CEO of O’Reilly Media, a pioneering force in moving publishing into the digital realm. Why: He tweets both O’Reilly-centric and general e-publishing news. Because O’Reilly has over a million followers, you probably shouldn’t expect intimate conversation. Still, his perspective on the publishing industry as someone who is actively changing it is not to be missed. 9. @jwikert Name: Joe Wikert Who: Publisher at O’Reilly Media. Why: Wikert often comments on digital advances in the publishing community and he is always on the lookout for new e-publishing business models. 10. @glecharles Name: Guy L. Gonzalez Who: Director of audience development for F+W Media. Why: Gonzalez routinely finds and shares the best ebook links, and he often stirs up conversation and controversy about the future of publishing on his outspoken Loudpoet blog. 11. @debbiestier Name: Debbie Stier Who: Publisher of book imprint, HarperStudio, which publishes popular social media figures, such as Gary Vaynerchuk. Why: Stier tweets about publishing news and often shares compelling links about the future of the industry as it pertains to both publishers and authors. She also contributes to the HarperStudio blog. 12. @markcoker Name: Mark Coker Who: Founder and CEO of the startup Smashwords. Why: His groundbreaking e-publishing platform converts Word documents to digital formats and recently partnered with Barnes & Noble and Sony. His tweets are a great source of publishing industry news and information. 13. @doctorow Name: Cory Doctorow Who: Novelist and blogger for BoingBoing. Why: Doctorow uses his Twitter account to talk about pioneering digital media strategies for writers. He also coined the much-cited digital media call to arms: “An author’s biggest threat isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity.” 14. @donlinn Name: Don Linn Who: A former executive with Taunton Press, Linn recently attempted to launch an ebook publishing imprint, Quartet Press. Why: Although Quartet quickly fizzled out, Linn closely follows ebook developments and is always one of the first to tweet ebook developments and offer a business perspective. 15. @hughmcguire Name: Hugh McGuire Who: Founder and CEO of digital startup bookoven.com, an online space to create and publish books. Why: McGuire is generally considered one to watch for new digital publishing developments, and he often tweets about publishing industry news. You can follow all of the people on this list by going to our customized “15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing” TweepML group. More Twitter follow lists from Mashable: - Musicians on Twitter: 100+ Artists That Tweet - Tasty Tweets: 55+ Foodies to Follow on Twitter - Green Tweets: 75+ Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter - 15 Must-Follow Comedic Film Actors on Twitter - Literary Tweets: 100+ of the Best Authors on Twitter Image courtesy of iStockphoto, lightkeeper Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, iStockphoto Tags: digital publishing, Lists, publishing, social media, social networking, twitter, Twitter Lists

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