Comments on: The Coming Revolution in Book Publishing? http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2006/05/25/the-coming-revolution-in-book-publishing/ A National Blog of Literature & Discussion Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:47:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Matt Cheplic http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2006/05/25/the-coming-revolution-in-book-publishing/#comment-666 Matt Cheplic Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:52:32 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2006/05/25/the-coming-revolution-in-book-publishing/#comment-666 Cogent response yet figures alone, on either side, do not reveal the entire story. Take for instance edge.com where John Brockman insists that literature has been eclipsed by science. Or consider the indisputable loss of gravitas suffered by fiction at large, as well as the lack of legs great fiction has on the best seller list. Compare the numbers for today's "masterpieces" to the numbers achieved by "Shoes of the Fisherman" or "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold." Yes, the web may fuel interest in literature, but you'd be hard pressed to prove that the ocean of incoherence in blogville indicates genuine involvement. Instead, indications show that since comparatively anonymous individuals can establish their own forums, they're busier preaching and disseminating than they are absorbing and cogitating. It's a mixed bag, not a Manichean good or bad. One thing's for sure. The twilight of American culture (thank you M. Berman) is rearing its ugly head everywhere you look, and no more prominently than in the world of the arts. Cogent response yet figures alone, on either side, do not reveal the entire story. Take for instance edge.com where John Brockman insists that literature has been eclipsed by science. Or consider the indisputable loss of gravitas suffered by fiction at large, as well as the lack of legs great fiction has on the best seller list. Compare the numbers for today’s “masterpieces” to the numbers achieved by “Shoes of the Fisherman” or “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.”

Yes, the web may fuel interest in literature, but you’d be hard pressed to prove that the ocean of incoherence in blogville indicates genuine involvement. Instead, indications show that since comparatively anonymous individuals can establish their own forums, they’re busier preaching and disseminating than they are absorbing and cogitating. It’s a mixed bag, not a Manichean good or bad. One thing’s for sure. The twilight of American culture (thank you M. Berman) is rearing its ugly head everywhere you look, and no more prominently than in the world of the arts.

]]> By: Robert Hanselman http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2006/05/25/the-coming-revolution-in-book-publishing/#comment-251 Robert Hanselman Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:33:06 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2006/05/25/the-coming-revolution-in-book-publishing/#comment-251 This is a remarkably lucid and knowledgeable piece. Mr. Morrissey has the industry by the book flaps in his assessment. Having spent almost 30 years in the newspaper publishing systems business, I have seem many changes, the lease worrisome of which is the lessening of interest and resulting readership, especially among small dailies where there are no alternatives for local news, sports, kids lunch menus and the like. The net and its news bazaar will only whet the appetite of the casual reader (most of them) and help all hard copy publishing, especially magazines and books. And among regular readers, spending $20 or more for a hardcover book is less than a round of drinks – and infinitely more satisfying. This is a remarkably lucid and knowledgeable piece. Mr. Morrissey has the industry by the book flaps in his assessment. Having spent almost 30 years in the newspaper publishing systems business, I have seem many changes, the lease worrisome of which is the lessening of interest and resulting readership, especially among small dailies where there are no alternatives for local news, sports, kids lunch menus and the like. The net and its news bazaar will only whet the appetite of the casual reader (most of them) and help all hard copy publishing, especially magazines and books. And among regular readers, spending $20 or more for a hardcover book is less than a round of drinks – and infinitely more satisfying.

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