'Cognitive Biases' Affects All Thinking, Creativity, Design AND Other Things Re Publishing, Writing

'Cognitive Biases' affect how we
think and see things

Thought, creativity and design are all ingredients in plotting, writing and designing books. It is, indeed, a substantial artistic endeavor.

But guess what? Whenever we attempt anything creative or involving truly creative and critical brain 'hits' --- we pick a fight with our brains, which are mostly flooded in mental ruts and resist deviation from those ruts or what formal education has dubbed 'cognitive biases' :) It is a phenomenon studied in cognitive science and social psychology.   

Cognitive biases also go a long way in explaining just why some folks have such a hard time  letting loose of older concepts and accepting change when it comes --- which is almost constantly in world time.

“In life we perceive reality selectively, attending to some things more than 0thers. The issue is that we pay more attention to things that support our ideas, values and beliefs than things that refute them. This Confirmation Bias obscures the weaknesses of our designs to our own eyes and hinders critical reflection.” --- Paul Ralph, PhD

To practice gaining control over our cognitive biases and free us to ‘think outside the box’ and truly reach our creative summit, let’s examine six bias-infused errors most will be familiar with.  

Dr.Paul Ralph expounds in this short article for Website Magazine:


Does Cognitive Bias Kill Creativity?

When you aim for a creative solution - not simply an incremental improvement, but a real innovation - you pick a fight with your own brain. Vast arrays of systematic deviations from optimal reasoning, which psychologists call "cognitive biases," conspire to subvert your creativity. Here are six bias-infused errors you may recognize.

1. It's not my fault,  it's default...

To complete article click http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/digital.aspx?issue=67 then click "Does Cognitive Bias Kill Creativity"

  

  

     







Source: Article:  http://www.websitemagazine.com/scripts/sub/digital.aspx?issue=67

Paul Ralph: http://paulralph.name/

 List of cognitive biases: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

'Cognitive Biases' Affects All Thinking, Creativity, Design --- AND Things Re Publishing, Writing

Digitally Speaking: Why Writers Should Self-Publish Rather than Use a Digital Publisher

E-Writers better off
to go it alone

Simply stated, when a publisher digitally publishes a book vs. hardcover publishing, his profit margin per book actually goes up; but, guess what? The author's royalty per book goes down :(

This begs the question: should authors get a higher eBook royalty rate?

Check out the table below for a detailed financial analysis revealing publishing profit margin between the two book formats:

Note: The third column reflects the e-book agency pricing mode.

"This chart illustrates very clearly something that agents have been arguing for several years now, and that publishers have been saying just isn’t true: that their savings on printing, binding and distribution make up for the lower revenue from lower e-book prices– and that increased profitability is coming entirely off the backs of authors." Brian DeFiore

One interesting point to note is that if an e-book author self-publishes his take is the entire 70% of the unit book price ($10.49 in above sample). 

Writers just can't seem to trust publishers - even when publishers go to e-books, they are still trying to screw with the writers.

This by Jason Boog on MediaBistro's Galleycat: 

Do Authors Deserve a Higher eBook Royalty Rate?

Publishers Marketplace covered an “investor day” report at News Corp. (subscription only link) where investors got a closer look at the profit margin for digital books at HarperCollins.

Over at the AARdvark blog, DeFiore and Company founder Brian DeFiore shared the most important stats (chart embedded above): a “$27.99 hardcover generates $5.67 profit to publisher and $4.20 royalty to author” and a “$14.99 agency priced e-book generates $7.87 profit to publisher and $2.62 royalty to author.”

DeFiore posted this passionate response:

We have all heard the additional argument: that for a very large percentage of authors this is irrelevant since their advances don’t earn out– effectively raising their per unit royalty. That may be true, but it logically leads to what seems to me the most unfair aspect of all: That, therefore, the only authors that are financially punished by this system are the ones whose books perform very well. The ones whose books earn out. The big name authors and the celebrities whose books don’t perform to expectation are untouched; the author who gets a reasonable advance and whose book sells much better than expected are the ones who suffer the greatest loss.

Source Site 

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Per Ernst & Young: Re Publishing, Digital Revenue Surpasses 50% By 2015

Digital revenue coming on strong

According to industry leaders and credible observers and statisticians, the tipping point (over 50% revenue from digital) is ALREADY here --- at least in some of the media and entertainment (M & E) businesses --- which includes publishing.

The remainder of the major media/entertainment business sectors will cross the greater than 50% digital revenue finish line by 2015.

Just what are the industries included in the M & E field? They are: 

Advertising, broadcasting and cable, filmed entertainment, interactive gaming, publishing and information services, music, social media and the technology industry. 

I know you have heard all kinds of figures thrown about from different sources (some good, some bad, some truncated to show only a desired result, to seemingly convince you that one format or the other (such as print or digital) is dominating/growing/etc..  

Tonight we will stand back a little from just publishing and books and survey the entire industry they help make up.

It will be interesting to observe over the next year and a half or so to see if Ernst & Young, one of the largest professional service and accounting firms in the world, is accurate in its forecast of digital revenue gains in all the M & E business fields.

WARNING: the following article contains really informative links :)

By Barry Levine from CMS Wire :

Ernst & Young: Media Companies' Digital Revenue will Take the Lead by 2015

Most of the revenue for major media and entertainment (M & E) companies is about to go digital. That's the picture according to a new report from Ernst & Young, which found that revenue based on digital sources is about to exceed 50 percent, on average, for the first time.

The report, Digital Agility Now!, said that revenue from digital sources currently stands at 47 percent in the companies represented by the 550 senior executives who were surveyed. By 2015, digital revenue is expected to account for 57 percent. Represented industries included advertising, broadcasting and cable, filmed entertainment, interactive gaming, publishing and information services, music, social media and the technology industry.

Digital Leaders

The surveyed companies are definitely aware of the digital evolution, with more than 95 percent saying they are engaged in the transformation. Fifty-six percent said their top strategic priority is “creating a culture of innovation,” and 39 percent’s top digital transformation challenge is figuring out how to cope with new digital business models.

In addition to noting this changeover, the report identifies characteristics of what it describes as M & E digital leaders.” These are companies that deliver digital products and services, but are also building “more agile organizations capable of sensing and responding far faster to shifting customer expectations and marketplace opportunities and risks.”

Digital leaders are also companies which have digital revenues that are already more than half of their total, have customer profile data integrated across at least two channels, and are using second-generation technology in at least two of four key areas — smart mobility, social media, Big Data analytics and cloud computing.

Internal Collaboration

Pat Hyek, Ernst & Young Global Technology Industry Leader, said in a statement that mobile/social/cloud and Big Data analytics technologies are “game changers for M & E firms” that can help those who “broke ahead of the package in the early stages of digital” extend their advantages, and provide opportunities to those who “fell behind to adapt quickly and catch up.”

Read and learn more

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