How open source is transforming the publishing industry

DcData AdminPublic

Takeaway: Jack Wallen is one of the many in the midst of a revolution. Find out how Linux and other open source software titles are empowering independent authors and filling an important niche in the publishing industry.

Many of you already know I am not only a writer of a technical nature, but a writer of fiction. In fact, the second in my I Zombie trilogy will hit the shelves next month. I have been working hard to produce a catalog of ebooks and paperbacks for the last three years. During that time I have discovered something that seems to be slipping through the cracks of the majority of computer-type pundits — open source is one of the major players in the new world publishing order.

That’s right — open source is the unheralded darling of the ebook publishing. How? Let’s take a look:

  • The Amazon cloud is run by Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  • The Kindle uses the Linux kernel.
  • Smashwords is run on Linux.
  • Twitter is run on Linux (a major PR tool for indie authors).
  • WordPress is the number one blogging tool of indie authors.
  • A large number of my fellow indie authors use open source tools such as LibreOffice (to write), Calibre (to convert), and The GIMP (to create covers).

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