Ebooks and epublishing has many people talking about leveling the playing field. The adult equivalent of “No Child Left Behind” idea that allows everyone to become an author. To start with first principles, in Canada and America people have a history of "democratization of expression.” There has been censorship in the past but in reality people today can pretty write whatever they want.

What is new is that they can “publish” whatever they write. By publish I mean the Internet has opened an easily accessible public forum to make available written expression. It can be a blog, a tweet, or a book.

No one would deny that this is a good thing. It does offer more choice. And it gives a lot of people options and opportunities they may not have had under the old print model of publishing.

The problem is that many of those shouting from the rooftops are making assumptions that riches await self-published authors or at least a comfortable living. This is largely a delusion. Not even all those who are conventionally published are able to make a comfortable living from the sales of their books.

The digital world hasn’t come to grips how markets go about the monetization of expression. It doesn’t follow that because an inexpensive digital platform exist for all writers that the content of what they write and publish can be converted into money.

Digital book accessibility and monetization of digital books are largely conflated in discussion of the changes in publishing. As time moves on, most people will discover that the overwhelming amount of digital expression has no commercial value. It is important to emphasis the commercial aspect of this conclusion. The substance may be brilliant, insightful, memorable, and wonderful but there is no market for the expression.

The new technology won't change the fact most of what is produced is valueless except to a handful of friends and relatives. The same dead end likely will be where your uncle’s guitar playing and singing and your best friend’s paintings are found. We admire and love these artistic expressions because we love and know these people. But the larger world with money in the pocket has millions of choices. And from the way the money is allocated, it appears that most of these people pretty much choose the same artists, writers, painters, etc.

But I have written a really good book and not one agent is interested. Or I have an agent and not one publisher is interested. Why not short circuit these narrow-minded fools and go straight to a public that will immediately see how wrong these gatekeepers are in ignoring me?

That’s a common state of mind that leads to a self-published digital book. Obviously there are other intentions and motives to going digital with a book. But I am only talking about where the intention is to convert the expression delivered to the digital platform into hard, cold cash.

I start with the premise that digital book publishers and sellers are no different than YouTube. But they perform a good song and dance as if they are putting the self-published author onto to American Idol.

YouTube is largely the world of unfiltered videos and films.

To filter or not to filter isn’t the question. There is no way to create an audience without a filter. There is the fallback position of ‘word of mouth’ and, yes, sometimes, word of mouth makes a song, a book, or movie go viral. Those are the black swans. We never know when one will appear. Only that sooner or later one inevitably does. If you seek to monetize a book based on word of mouth or a black swan event, you will likely be in for a very long wait. That’s not how markets or audience are created in the real world of publishing.

Filters are imperfect whether books, music, film, painting, poetry; we can all agree on this, especially if the filter won’t let us through. But we are about to experience a book publishing/selling that promises a world without filters.  That is a con.

Down the road, some smart new generation Jeff Bezo will create the equivalent of American Idol for books, reinventing the filter system for the digital age. No one will find it pleasant swimming in a vast ocean of unfiltered ebooks.

What may emerge is a literary oligarchy that makes 80% of publishing revenues, and 20% goes to the remaining 99% consisting of millions of authors. Some would say that is pretty much the existing state of affairs. But what digital publishing may do is cause midlist authors to go extinct. They will disappear. The future for authors will be Investment bankers' kind of returns for a handful, and no way to pay the mortgage for the rest.

It is delusional to believe a large audience can form without the expression having gone through some filtering system. Filters are those we trust to judge quality and talent. Does anyone have the time to read hundreds of unfiltered free ebooks to make an assessment alone? Does a post on a blog or amazon comments reproduce the current filtering system? People will have their own opinion on these questions.

For me, sustained quality is unequally distributed. True talent is a sparely distributed asset. The same limitations apply when considering the story, voice, and characterization in a book. The book reading audience pays money for a book, in part, because they can rely on the fact that the commercially published book. That means the author has received an advance has worked its way through many separate hard nosed professionals who ask whether this book will earn back what is being paid to the author. Do publishing professionals make mistakes? Of course they do. Everyone has a book they bought from a big New York publisher with blurbs from all kinds of famous authors but feel let down. The story didn’t work for them. They threw it against the wall. The temptation is to say the whole filtering system is a scam, stupid, doesn’t work, is elitist, etc. Instead of accepting the current filtering system in publishing, like with all man made systems, will sometimes fail. An audience without some system to filter books isn't an audience but more like a vast number of hunter gather bands with no one to lead them to the game. Or finding coming up on game by ourselves we will have no expert to help us distinguish between an elephant, a tiger or a mouse. That’s a dangerous way to go hunting. Before you decide on a meal, it is wise to make certain it is edible.

Ebooks are greatest game changer in publishing to have happened in the past several years. Physical bookstores are slowly being replaced in the digital world of booksellers. These books are made from paper. They are electronic. They are called ebooks. By now most people will have heard about Kindle, iphone, ipad, Nook, Sony and other readers that allow readers to download books and read them from a computer or smart phone. Millions of people have bought one of these devices and have downloaded books on them. Kindle is the clear winning horse so far in this race.

The new technology is important for authors who live and write far outside the commute distance to New York or London. I write and live in Bangkok. My long time publisher in Thailand, Heaven Lake Press must deal with shipping costs when selling physical books to other countries. The cost and delays inevitable through international shipping makes it more difficult to bring in new readers. Not to mention that tourist who have been a major market for my books are an extinct species in Thailand after the events over the last week or so.

Ebooks are a way to reach readers who would otherwise not come across my books. And who may never find themselves in Thailand.

Because of contractual reasons, four books in the Vincent Calvino series are handled out of New York. The other books in the Calvino series remain not available on kindle at all as they are also caught up in the contracts. Later this year, that situation should change. Thai-based publisher Heaven Lake Press has converted my non-Calvino books into ebooks. HLP has been doing a great job getting my books listed for sale on amazon and other digital bookstores.

This is a difficult time for free speech. The only speech recognized as ‘free’ is that speech which supports the side of the argument. The reality is that free speech means you dig into the facts and circumstances and try to keep the emotions out of that search. Perhaps what has happened is so close, raw, and open that even though fires are out, the anger, hatred and outrage continue to burn.

There has been sufficient miscalculation, misjudgment, and breakdown of communication, leadership and conflict resolution that almost no one on either side comes out of this untainted. The fire of these emotions may be slowly burning out. Tuesday 25th May can be benchmarked as the start of dialogue and a reaching out to address underlying issues.

Atiya Achakulwisut writing in the Bangkok Post wrote: “I believe both main parties to the conflict had a role in complicating the situation.” She goes on to talk about how the protest and rampage has upended many of the truths accepted by Thais. She walked among the Reds and saw that it is a mixed group: radicals intend on violence and people who feel they’ve been excluded politically, socially and economically.

The major problem the Reds have had and will continue to have is their association through money and leadership and agenda with the former prime minister Thaksin. There is a deep feeling that Thaksin has been pulling the strings behind stage. It is difficult for many people to accept that Thaksin’s real agenda is expanding democracy in Thailand. Until the Reds have freed themselves from their connection to Thaksin, it will remain difficult for the Reds to gain politically. Simply put: there is a large segment of the population that will resist any attempt by the Reds to bring Thaksin back to power. Given Thaksin’s track record while prime minister, it is not unreasonable for many people to fear tyranny in the name of democracy would be the end result for Thailand if Thaksin succeeded in returning to power.

Former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, has called for an independent and credible investigation of recent events.  In Khun Anand’s view: “Whatever view one may hold about recent events, the grievances expressed by many of the demonstrators are valid. We need to have in place a comprehensive range of measures to tackle the following key challenges: 1. disparities in distribution; 2. deprivation of capabilities; and 3. inequalities in access and opportunities.”

This is the beginning of an important political conversation. As Khun Anand goes on to say, “Change is inevitable.” Embracing that concept is the first step toward building a new political consensus. Khun Anand has pointed the way forward. Hopefully all sides are listening and the shouting down of anyone who isn’t pushing "partisan politics" will end and voices of reason will move the country ahead. Khun Anand has challenged both sides to enter into a genuine dialogue and that is the way toward an eventual political solution.

Introspection is a valuable asset in the governed as well as in those who govern them. Introspection along with consensus is a good definition of how the engines of democracy work. But in 2010 introspection and consensus are threatened with extinction and this is happening just before the public conversation that needs to be had if people are going to move on. Otherwise we will risk being permanently stranded in the dead zone between existential nihilism and sophism with no peaceful exit.

Change is difficult. But Political change is the most more difficult. I was reading about the Tea Party and the impact that is having on American politics. People rally around the Tea Party appear at this distance filled with distrust, suspicion, and anger. It may be that worldwide we have entered into an age of discontent. Everyone rushes to open their windows and scream that they can’t take it any more.

Consensus on important domestic and foreign policy issues is becoming almost impossible to achieve. Someone with clout or a voting demographic group objects and the result is the proposed law or regulation is sidelined. The whole democratic process comes to a grinding halt. Without large areas in which people can agree, the public space where people meet and debate with respect for each other's views narrows, and belligerence and conflict fills the gap.

Hatred becomes a public poisoning of enemy wells spectacle. When there is a breakdown of political consensus sending in the military with live ammo and guns to restore public order is only a temporary solution. It is not a long-term solution to the fundamental problems.

What are those problems? I can think of three, and there are no doubt others that can be added to the list.

How does one restore public trust? How does political legitimacy continue if consensus and compromise lose their value? How do people get past hatred and start talking to each other as if each person's view matters?

I wish had the answers.

I am indebted to my friend Chris Runckel http://www.business-in-asia.com/ who raised the question as to whether introspection would follow the week of violence.

Bangkok Rama IV Road 15 May 2010

No man’s land

Bankgok Rama IV Road Monday 17 May 2010

There was a lot of firecrackers throwing by members of the crowd. Each time the firecracker went off in a forward position. I didn’t see any firecrackers thrown near the crowded areas. The Red Shirts at the most forward barricades were the main people throwing them.

Firecrackers are a quite effective method to keep the attention and sympathy of the crowd. It gives a communal feeling of being ‘under fire’. With only the occasional round from a gun—and those could have been rubber bullets or live rounds—it would have easy for the crowd to become bored. Firecrackers kept the crowd focused. It also kept down idle conversation. Firecrackers charge up the emotions and keep them running high. The crowd under ‘fire’ bonds into a group experiencing a common threat. When on the front line of a conflict, the temptation is to see those around you as in the same vulnerable situation. For anyone organizing a mass political movement firecrackers must be one of their best devices. They are cheap. They are scary (as many people think that a bomb has gone off). And they are provocative acts to unsettle the soldiers who aren’t quite certain if it was a bomb or firecracker.

View from the barricades looking out on no man’s land

Bankgok Rama IV Road Monday 17 May 2010

After a while in the street, most of the crowd learnt to distinguish between lethal ordnance and firecrackers. They joke with each other, ‘Just a firecracker. Not to worry.’ It is good training for people to practice what needs to be done when under fire. That is one important lesson: seek a secure position and stay there. What is a secure position differs. Here’s a guy who found a nice chair and relax.

Young Thai man drinking bottled water

Bankgok Rama IV Road Monday 17 May 2010

The no man’s land on Rama IV running from the Expressway to Ngnam Duphli was empty. I’d walked that stretch easily on 16^th May. On Monday, the following day, it become far more dangerous to venture out and the crowds sheltered in clumps under the expressway overpass.

As on previous days, old Tires were gathered, trucked to the front and used to make or reinforce barricades. The Red Shirts had pickup trucks loading and unloading the tires.

Tyres barricade Expressway Entrance

Bankgok Rama IV Road Monday 17 May 2010

On the 17^th May a number of young people were also in the crowd. Knowing what it takes to drag kids from a TV or computer screen, the Rama IV drama must have had considerable pull for them.

Bangkok Youth at the barricades

Bankgok Rama IV Road Monday 17 May 2010

The memories of these events in May will live on the memory of those who are in these photographs. For the youths in the crowd, the fighting, bloodshed, gunfire will be formative in their development. No one has been untouched by the events. Raw, open, swollen like a sore, the wounds inflicted on those involved will take time to heal.

It has been a long day. The phone never stopped; neither did emails from readers around the world. For their support and thoughts I am grateful. I appreciate your concern for my safety.

Around 2.00 p.m. I had call that something was burning at Asoke and Sukhumvit Roads—this is a major intersection in Bangkok—and I raced out, got on the back of a motorcycle taxi and arrived to find tires ablaze on Asoke.

Bangkok Central World Shopping Mall burning Early evening Wednesday 19 May 2010 Christopher G. Moore © 2010

Thirty meters ahead and at the intersection, one BMA bus blocked one lane. Another bus, empty, arrived a few minutes later and parked to block the other lanes. That part of the road was totally blocked.

By now, up the road and beside Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, is the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and it had been set on fire. I raced over to that location. A large mob had gathered on the pavement, spilling into the street. Flames shot out of the front lobby of the SET at three different sections. Within twenty minutes, three fire trucks arrived but were chased away by the stone throwing mob. Behind the SET, the Electricity Board of Thailand had a building that was also on fire.

More protesters were shot in Bangkok during the day. It is difficult to no how this will end, and when it ends, or what will come next. The events over the last month have left a wound in the heart of many. It is five minutes to curfew. Then it is shoot on sight. This is the difference between a crime novel and a war zone. In a crime zone, the criminals operate inside their own community, trying to outsmart each other and the cops.

In a war zone, the police no longer functions and the whole community divides into bitter enemies, forgetting their common humanity, and seeking revenge. Hatred and violence have become the Siamese twins of destruction. These forces have been set free of the constraints that normally contain them. I have seen their faces on the streets. Now it is time go. It is 8.00 p.m. Curfew has started.

When you read this, it will be another day for you. Stop for one second, look in the mirror and let yourself know exactly lucky you are to be alive, away from the gunfire, burning buildings and the constant fear. You are the lucky ones.

Christopher G. Moore’s latest Vincent Calvino Crime Novel is The Corruptionist and can be ordered from is website: www.cgmoore.com Also check out his blog for photos and videos of the events in Bangkok.  http://www.cgmoore.com/blog/index.asp

I returned moments ago from the intersection at Asoke and Sukhumvit Road.

Tires burnt in the middle of the lanes carrying traffic toward Klong Toey. Those lanes are blocked with debris and burning tires.

Bangkok Asoke Sukhumvit Road 19 May 2010 2.15 p.m.

Crowds lined the streets along the Asoke side of the Exchange Tower. Uniformed and plainclothes police directing traffic at the intersection. People running around with cell phone cameras taking snapshots. Technology has resulted in some of the best coverage of urban street confrontation and fighting. And a number of foreign and local journalists have been shot. An Italian journalist was killed today.

Bangkok Asoke Sukhumvit Road 19 May 2010 2.16 p.m.

A lot of people are familiar with this major intersection in Bangkok. There are many luxury hotels, restaurants stretching from Asoke (Soi 23) to Soi 4 (Soi Nana). Normally it would be filled with vendors. But today that is not the case.

Bangkok Asoke Sukhumvit Road 19 May 2010 2.18 p.m.

When I arrived at the intersection one blue and white BMA bus blocked on outbound lane from Rama IV. A few minutes later, another empty blue and white bus arrived. It was driven by a man wearing a white mask and he received scattered applause from the crowd looking on as he nosed the bus against the one already abandoned in the intersection. That successfully blocked the lanes leading to Rama IV. Though the inbound lanes to Rama IV remained open as of 2.30 p.m.

Bangkok Asoke Sukhumvit Road 19 May 2010 2.25 p.m.

Bangkok Rama IV Road Saturday 16 May 2010

With each new crack of bullet, the people in the street ducked behind whatever protection was available: a motorcycle, a street sign, doorway, taxi, or knelt down on the street. On Sunday I heard members of the crowd talking about snipers. Crowds have a way of passing along information. Though there is no reliable way of knowing the accuracy of such information. When there is a great amount of fear, and the sound of gunfire, there is a ready-made audience waiting for a coherent explanation. In this case, the story spread about snipers.

Rumours circle like helicopters above the crowd. No one quite knows where or how they are started, but the rumours on the street become a kind of atmosphere that surrounds crowds who breathe them in. People are so hungry for information, anything that sounds supportive of their side, and gives at least a plausible explanation, is embraced. Emotions run high on both sides. Positions and attitudes have hardened. People look to confirm their bias, and discount anything that doesn’t. But that is a universal aspect of human nature. You don’t need to speak or understand Thai to understand what is playing out at the street level is the results of highly charged emotions. People are on fire with hatred and fear. It isn’t just Bangkok that is burning; it’s Bangkok’s people on both sides are burning inside. People on the street aren’t thinking through such intellectual prism, weighing and analyzing, what they hear, they grab it like a drowning man grabs a life jacket.

I have a number of video clips where you can hear the crack of gunfire and explosions. I am having technical problems in getting them put up. I’m trying to sort them out and will post the footage as soon as I can.

Bangkok Rama IV Road Saturday 16 May 2010

The war zone is also a rite of passage for many young Thai men. On motorcycles, they race back from the expressway to the barricades near Bon Kai. In the distance you can see the crowd standing under the Expressway overpass. The closer to the front line, the closer to the area where the most committed among the demonstrators—mainly young men—clumped together against the tyres on the barricade. Too young to understand the risks they are facing. That is one definition of youth—putting yourself in the line of fire because you believe that your cause is just and you are immortal.

I am not certain what psychological scars all of this is going to leave on youths who have been involved in the violence. People react differently in war zones. But no one is unaffected by the scenes of violence, the sounds of gunfire and explosions, the smoke, the fear and danger, and the image of people who are just like them who have been shot. They will likely need counseling to cope with what they’ve witnessed. Or they could simply be left to tough it out on their own. However this conflict ends, and it will end as all conflicts do, the authorities will need to find ways to heal the wounds of the living. And the wounds of the heart are the most difficult ones to manage. It will take wisdom and understanding—and empathy—for anything like trust can be reestablished.

UPDATE: Wednesday morning 19 May 2010

Last night after midnight, the sound of small arms fired intensified in the Klong Toey/Rama IV area. I didn’t hear machine gun or automatic firing. The rounds were spaced as if the shooter was concentrating on a specific target and squeezing off two, three, four rounds. Then there was a lull, a wonderful couple of minutes of silence, punctured by more firing. The shooting continued for a couple of hours. What is amazing is how much gunfire there has been and how relatively speaking how few people killed. This is apparently true in most wars. Thousands of rounds are shot for every person who is on the receiving end of a bullet. This isn’t to discount the horror of someone who has been hit. I’ve seen someone who was shot and it is sickening.

This morning, from my balcony there appeared to be many more fires than on previous days. Plumes of smoke rise from Rama IV/Expressway area and small arms firing continues off and on. Also smoke coming from fires in several other locations in the city. I am on the 11^th floor of a building that commands a view of areas that include Sukhumvit, Rama IV, Silom, and Ratchadaprasong Road, and from local as well as CNN and BBC reports, an escalation of fighting had happened overnight. I can see with my own eyes a horizon of smoke casting a pail over the battlefield that is Bangkok.

I am not a professional photographer. Indeed I am not even a very good amateur photographer. What I’ve tried to do is capture the mood of people who have gathered around one of the main sites where Reds and the Security Forces have clashed. People in the outside world can glimpse for themselves some of the faces in the crowd—in other words what do the people on the scene look like—and the chaos surrounding the street barricades. Each day a community of onlookers have gathered drawn by the spectacle of violence, fire, and explosions.

Bangkok Rama IV 15 May 2010 Smoke from barricade. Shot from Expressway entrance area on Rama IV looking toward Lumpini

The photographs are taken behind the Red lines. To be balanced, you also need to look at photographs taken by others from behind the Security Forces lines. Thais confronting Thais doesn’t make anyone on either side less human, less deserving of life.

Bangkok Rama IV 15 May 2010 People near Expressway entrance on Rama IV

The crowd included people from the neighborhood, Red sympathizers, onlookers who’d come to have a look, and hardcore Reds who built and manned the barricades. The press tends to lump the entire crowd as having a single mind, motivation, and determination. In reality, at ground level, people gather in tight knots, talking, watching, and eating. The moth to the flame attraction of violence pulls people closer. Nothing like hearing gunfire to make you feel closer to the people around you.

During this time, I saw only one person who apparently had been shot. There were lots of explosions. As dramatic as that seems, most of these were firecrackers thrown by Red shirt supporters. I personally saw no one in the Red ranks who had firearms or explosives. That doesn’t mean they weren’t around. I just didn’t see any. I did see people with sticks, one guy with a five foot length of metal pole, and slingshots hanging from a couple of men’s back pockets. At front line barricades, I saw the slingshots used. Most of the men at the barricades kept their heads down, staying low as well.

Bangkok Rama IV 15 May 2010 near burning tire barricade on Rama IV

There was also the periodic sound of gunfire. A distinctive, nasty crack, an ugly sudden bullwhip snaps. Some of it was close. It was difficult to tell the location of the shooter or who was shooting. It might be presumed that the shooter was either a very bad shot or was seeking to keep people pinned down. Building barricades while being shot at is a slow process. I suspect if the shooter had intended to kill lots of people, he could have easily done so. The fact that the casualty rate was low suggests some kind of restraint is being exercised. A sniper could easily have been off dozens and dozens of people. That didn’t happen. But having said that said, people shot on Rama IV on 17^th May. I can’t draw any conclusion for where the shooters were, who they were, or whether their purpose was to suppress the demonstrators without inflicting a large number of casualties.

Bangkok Rama IV 15 May 2010. Appears to be a bloodied fireman’s helmet with bullet hole through the front visor. Shot under Expressway overpass on Rama IV

The Rama IV Expressway entrance, the one to Bang Nah and the Port, was closed to traffic. A young Thai man took me up to the top of the ramp—about 200 meters from Rama IV—where there was a mountain of tires. Just under a dozen men worked to move tires (rolling them mostly) from one part of the ramp to a lower area, where other men loaded them on a waiting pickup. The pickup, after being fully loaded, shot down the ramp, into Rama IV, made a sharp left and headed to the front line. The crowd cheered as the gray pickup shot down the deserted stretch of Rama IV toward Soi Ngam Dupli. Once the pickup had delivered its load of tires near the barricades, it sped back through no man’s land to the Expressway entrance, back up the ramp, where more tires were loaded. This activity went on for the entire time I was in the area. The men were well organized, efficient, and determined.

I will start with the photographs from 15^th May 2010. The photographs above were taken from 4.30 p.m. to around 6.30 p.m. on that Saturday. Over the next few days, I will post photos from 16^th and 17^th May. I will continue to return to Rama IV for additional coverage.

Bangkok Rama IV 15 May 2010. No man’s land on Rama IV