It is with pride that I bring to you my very first celebrity interview with the lovely Scott Pack from Harper Collins. Not only is Scott Pack publisher of The Friday Project which sources online talent and channels it into books, but he is also responsible for leading Harper Collins into the digital age. As we teeter on the brink of a digital revolution which could turn publishing on its head, what better person to talk to, to grill thoroughly and mine for information in an in-depth, revealing interview that lays bare the man behind the electrons?
I had exactly three minutes to do just that.*
So, in the one question I had time for, I asked this:
“Scott, is this the golden age of blogging? And if so, is it a passing fad or the beginning of bigger and better things?”
To my surprise, Scott said he believed any ‘golden age’ of blogging was just over. Blogging has reached its peak because we are now accessing online content in so many different ways. Instead of sitting down at our computers and visiting a website or blog, we are using iPads and phones, and we often read parts of blogs through other people’s posts and pages as well as through Facebook and Twitter rather than actually visiting. He believes that people are becoming less inclined to comment, too, although I’m not sure that’s true. I think blog readers are more likely to comment as they become at ease with the idea of themselves as an online personality; in other words they are prepared to have a public face online rather than ‘lurking’. (I’m sure the thousands of comments that appear below this post shortly will prove me right…)
And here the interview ended, but luckily I later attended Scott’s workshop (with Ian Skillicorn and Raymond Tallis) on innovation and I was able to gather some information on Scott’s views on epublishing. A separate post to come on that, but for now I come to the end of my celebrity interview. I hope you enjoyed my tough, probing questioning and I put to you the proposition that, in this twitter-centric world, the One Question Interview could well be the perfect size. One is the new ten, brevity fans!
* Not because of my short attention span but because I was taking part in a three minute pitch session at Get Writing 2011.
Lou Treleaven 
I can’t comment because I want to remain anonymous.
I think he is wrong about the comment thing and possibly correct on the golden age of blogging coming out of the eclipse so to speak. Not that it means it’s over or even beginning to be over. It’s just going through an evolution.
I actually think you may be on to a great little concept there. A serendipitous one sure, but still ‘The One Question Interview’ seems like a great little series to develop.
Does it?
” Waits for reply to one question*
Your, uh, title caught my attention. 😉 Reminded me of an episode of friends when they were discussing a mistitle of a porn show or some such thing. Huge throbbing pens. Back to your post. I am surprised at Scott’s response. Perhaps he has a magic ball and can see into the future? Never know. 😉
He is the future! In fact he is probably a hologram.
Awesome. Reminds me of a Bradbury story (pretty sure its Bradbury), where a man finds a destroyed civilization on mars and nothing is left except ruins & a hologram to tell of its destruction and how to rebuild the future. I can’t remember. I wonder if his name was Scott? 😉
Oh Jodi I want to read that story now you’ve mentioned it. Sounds like Bradbury, one of his Martian tales. Right off to search the web.
I’ve read all his stories and own almost all his anthologies and can’t remember which one its in for the life of me. I think his giant 101 book, maybe Martian Chronicle? I promised someone else I’d find another one of his, so if I find that one I’ll let you know. 😉
Now I feel the urge to go and re-read some Ray myself. I love the one about the man in a simulated house where scientists are observing their behaviour to see which one is the alien. And the father who buys a build-your-own-live-toy kit and uses it to patch up his dying son. I have the anthologies somewhere in the depths of the bookshelf. How much easier it would have been be to search for them on my Kindle…
Brilliant! And yes, this has to be the first of a series.
Excellent, this has to the first of a series.
Thank you for commenting twice to boost my comment count, baggy!
Cheers Jodi. I did think Martian Chronicles but as I’ve only seen the TV show a long time ago I didn’t want to guess at that.
The only problem I could see with One Question Interview or ‘1QI’ as I’m now calling it, is if you start with, ‘Hi may I ask you one question?’ Done.
With 1QI you would have to be assertive. “I will be asking you one question, and I will be asking it now. You will answer, I will walk away. You will probably narrow your eyes.”