Pompidou
One Too Many
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Unfortunately, a publisher needs no higher motivation than money to appease the shareholders. They can make more money hopping trends than by focusing on quality.
Unfortunately, a publisher needs no higher motivation than money to appease the shareholders. They can make more money hopping trends than by focusing on quality.
martinsantos, I do remember small bookstores with a single owner.
There was one in particular store in Des Moines that was packed away off the street next door to a vacuum sales shop. You walked into this 10x20 room where books were stacked from floor to ceiling, no labels, no prices, no organization at all. The owner left you alone to browse, but if you said, "I'm looking for Moby Dick," or , "I really liked Catch-22; what else is there?" He would raise his glasses, hop of his stool and proceed to talk your ear off.
Places like that have vanished for a number of reasons, such as:
1. The convenience of consistency (store hours, lighting, "clearance" items, staff, etc)
2. Volume of "new" product
3. Location
4. Readership
On one hand, you can argue that the eccentric but knowledgeable staff at a small store are more valuable in your pursuit of literature. On the other hand, you can't deny the sheer buying power and variety of a big chain location. In the end, a more "refined" but less satisfying version of buying has blotted out smaller stores. That's the obvious.
Now as Lizze pointed out, readership has more or less made descent into a realm of visual over intellectual. As members of a modern society, we're constantly bombarded with information and if we choose to partake in even the most mundane aspects of "normal" life, we must necessarily interact with all of this information. Thus, I believe the modern Western mind is devolving* into what could be described as a small engine with 100 gears and a top speed of 25mph. We can shift from one piece to the next, briefly analyze it for its pleasure value and then quickly move to the next bit. Thereby, we're able to consume all of this information routinely, but unfortunately, we cannot seem to grasp a bigger picture, or appreciate any intellectual ramifications, without someone else (usually some pundit from the entertainment industry) pointing out what we should have always seen. It's not to say we're stupid, we're simply too busy to care.
As a result, we are entirely focused on a particularly narrow band of pure information (of which typically only pertains to our own lives) and anything outside that band is simply irrelevant. Facebook, twitter, text messaging, prime time, sports and the occasional news/dramady broadcast from CNN/MSNBC/FOX are literally all most people can handle in a day. So why read a book which requires some pool of reference, reference which many do not have time to find, when you could indulge in 18 minutes of bright, flashy, colorful dramady and 12 minutes of bright, flashy, colorful dramady advertisement?
Print is bleeding out; it's value will soon rest in the hands of the fringe as nothing more than a tool. I give print 15 more years before it finally sputters and dies.
*devolving - used in its obsolete form, to fall downwards; hey, give me some poetic license here!
Unfortunately, a publisher needs no higher motivation than money to appease the shareholders. They can make more money hopping trends than by focusing on quality.
...if people wanted to read, they could easily. The time we have to wait in buses; waiting at the bank or public offices; etc. Places where a book and a reading moment can be very good...
...The reading isn't seen as a pleasure but as a obligation - a tedious task for students...
If there were enough authors of like mind, one option might be to work together and pool resources to open a small independent publishing company friendly to authors like yourselves. I can't tell you what it costs to do so, but I can say that whatever the costs are divided by whatever the number of founding members are might be easier to swallow. Any income from publishing could support your writing efforts.
There's a couple of really great used bookstores in my town that I love. Of course, the one independent bookstore that sold new copies died a few years ago, probably thanks to the two Barnes & Noble stores in town plus Amazon.com.
If there were enough authors of like mind, one option might be to work together and pool resources to open a small independent publishing company friendly to authors like yourselves. I can't tell you what it costs to do so, but I can say that whatever the costs are divided by whatever the number of founding members are might be easier to swallow. Any income from publishing could support your writing efforts.
With offset any printing can be done easily and not very expensive. Biggest problem, I think, is the distribuition. New books are like candies - you must put them under the noses of the buyers the get their interest - and their wallets.
Jack,
I got the book in yesterday and I started it, great read so far! I really enjoyed the "chopping down the mast" analogy, thanks for signing it as well (and your handwriting is better than mine!).