Paul Carr
Encyclopedia
Paul Carr is a British writer, journalist and commentator, based in San Francisco. He has also - as Carr writes on his official website - "edited various publications and founded numerous businesses with varying degrees of abysmal failure."
journalist, to accidental business owner, to accidental web business mogul, to very-near-jailbird, to working out what actually makes him happy in life."
On 19 December 2009 Carr, in a controversial move, decided to release Bringing Nothing To The Party as a free ebook download on TechCrunch. Carr is one of the first in the field to give away a published book as a free download, as most publishers specifically prohibit this. However, Carr owns the rights to the US version of the book (which is available on the Kindle), but wanted to appeal to those who did not have a Kindle and wanted to read it. Carr decided to release his book online despite the fact that people geographically elsewhere might also download it (This is a problem because his publisher's parent company owns the digital rights to the book outside of North America.) The ebook can also be downloaded directly from Carr's website.
In 2010, it was reported that Weidenfeld & Nicolson would publish a second book by Carr in May 2011, titled The Upgrade. The book tells the story of how, after the events described in Bringing Nothing To The Party, Carr "decides to sell most of his possessions, abandon his old life and live entirely in upscale hotels - as a modern-day nomad." The book describes Carr's physical travels to the United States and other countries, including Spain, France, Germany, Canada and Iceland, as well as his personal journey, documenting Carr's battles with alcohol and subsequent attempt to give up drinking.
In 2002, The Christian Scientist described Carr as a "latter day Jonathan Swift
" following the publication of his satirical anti-vigilante manifesto 'Think of the Children'. In the same year, Carr co-founded the London
city guide, London by London.
He has also written for television, most recently for Alison Jackson
's Doubletake
series.
Prior to joining TechCrunch, Carr wrote his weekly column for The Guardian
newspaper, where it was entitled Not Safe For Work and followed his adventures in the technology industry. Between 2003-2005 he wrote a regular new media column for Media Guardian.
Carr has also authored a series of nine web guide books for Prentice Hall as well as co-authoring The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life published by Pan Macmillan (UK) and St Martin's Press (US) in 2007.
Carr was a regular user of Twitter, but deleted his account in August 2010 to focus on blogging. Carr resumed using Twitter in April 2011.
, a book publishing house specialising in finding material on the web and then turning it into traditional books.
Carr left The Friday Project in December 2006 along with Online Editor, Karl Webster, to lead a buy-out of the company's Internet media arm, which lead to the founding of online city site, Fridaycities.com. Carr left Fridaycities in 2007, when the site rebranded as Kudocities. He later described himself as "NSFW" (Not Safe For Work).
In September 2011, having publicly resigned from TechCrunch
following the departure of founder Michael Arrington
, it was reported that Carr planned to return to entrepreneurship. One month later, Carr announced the launch of Not Safe For Work Corporation, a publishing house specialising in producing magazine titles for tablets and ereaders. The company is reportedly backed by investment from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh
and Arrington's CrunchFund. The first title was named as 'The New Gambit', a weekly news magazine.
Memoirs
Carr's first autobiographical book Bringing Nothing To The Party - True Confessions Of A New Media Whore was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2008. It tells the story of "a unique group of hard-partying, high-achieving young entrepreneurs - and [Carr's] attempts to join them, whatever the cost.". According to one review, the book follows Carr's "journey from gonzoGONZO
, stylized as GONZO, is a Japanese anime studio, owned by the company's corporate parent, the GDH group. In June 2006, it signed a long-term output deal with the anime television network, Animax, which saw Animax broadcasting all of Gonzo's anime titles across all of its networks around the world,...
journalist, to accidental business owner, to accidental web business mogul, to very-near-jailbird, to working out what actually makes him happy in life."
On 19 December 2009 Carr, in a controversial move, decided to release Bringing Nothing To The Party as a free ebook download on TechCrunch. Carr is one of the first in the field to give away a published book as a free download, as most publishers specifically prohibit this. However, Carr owns the rights to the US version of the book (which is available on the Kindle), but wanted to appeal to those who did not have a Kindle and wanted to read it. Carr decided to release his book online despite the fact that people geographically elsewhere might also download it (This is a problem because his publisher's parent company owns the digital rights to the book outside of North America.) The ebook can also be downloaded directly from Carr's website.
In 2010, it was reported that Weidenfeld & Nicolson would publish a second book by Carr in May 2011, titled The Upgrade. The book tells the story of how, after the events described in Bringing Nothing To The Party, Carr "decides to sell most of his possessions, abandon his old life and live entirely in upscale hotels - as a modern-day nomad." The book describes Carr's physical travels to the United States and other countries, including Spain, France, Germany, Canada and Iceland, as well as his personal journey, documenting Carr's battles with alcohol and subsequent attempt to give up drinking.
Satirical writing
In 2001, while studying law at university, Carr co-founded and edited the award-winning satirical "comment sheet" The Friday Thing.In 2002, The Christian Scientist described Carr as a "latter day Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
" following the publication of his satirical anti-vigilante manifesto 'Think of the Children'. In the same year, Carr co-founded the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
city guide, London by London.
He has also written for television, most recently for Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson is an English artist known for her lookalike photographs of celebrities. She has won a BAFTA for BBC 2's series Doubletake...
's Doubletake
Doubletake (TV series)
Doubletake was a BBC comedy programme, created by Alison Jackson. It made extensive use of celebrity look-alikes playing their doubles in apparently embarrassing situations, seen through CCTV cameras and amateur video, using distance shots and shaky camera-work to disguise the true identity of...
series.
New Media writing
In July 2009 it was announced that Carr will be writing a weekly column for technology news site TechCrunch and also blogging regularly for the Telegraph newspaper. On 16 September 2011, Carr announced on TechCrunch that he was resigning from the AOL-owned properties.Prior to joining TechCrunch, Carr wrote his weekly column for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper, where it was entitled Not Safe For Work and followed his adventures in the technology industry. Between 2003-2005 he wrote a regular new media column for Media Guardian.
Carr has also authored a series of nine web guide books for Prentice Hall as well as co-authoring The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life published by Pan Macmillan (UK) and St Martin's Press (US) in 2007.
Carr was a regular user of Twitter, but deleted his account in August 2010 to focus on blogging. Carr resumed using Twitter in April 2011.
Entrepreneurship
In 2005, along with Clare Christian, Carr co-founded The Friday ProjectThe Friday Project
The Friday Project is a London-based independent publishing house founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of The Friday Thing, an Internet newsletter taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media activities and general current events, originally written together...
, a book publishing house specialising in finding material on the web and then turning it into traditional books.
Carr left The Friday Project in December 2006 along with Online Editor, Karl Webster, to lead a buy-out of the company's Internet media arm, which lead to the founding of online city site, Fridaycities.com. Carr left Fridaycities in 2007, when the site rebranded as Kudocities. He later described himself as "NSFW" (Not Safe For Work).
In September 2011, having publicly resigned from TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
following the departure of founder Michael Arrington
Michael Arrington
J. Michael Arrington is the founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in USA and elsewhere...
, it was reported that Carr planned to return to entrepreneurship. One month later, Carr announced the launch of Not Safe For Work Corporation, a publishing house specialising in producing magazine titles for tablets and ereaders. The company is reportedly backed by investment from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of online shoe and clothing shop Zappos.com. Prior to joining Zappos, Hsieh co-founded and sold the internet advertising network LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1999 for $265 million.-Early life:...
and Arrington's CrunchFund. The first title was named as 'The New Gambit', a weekly news magazine.
External links
- Paul Carr's Site
- The Kings Of The Road Club: Publisher's Information
- Bringing Nothing To The Party: Publisher's Information
- Bringing Nothing to the Party - True Confessions of a New Media Whore Complete eBook