$9.99 ebook vs $11.66 real book

[elpollodiablo]

Thankfully the industry is largely a meritocracy that demands excellent work, else we'd never know the heights American fiction could reach

[elpollodiablo]

Although that, too, only got picked up after massive word-of-mouth publicity. In 2012, the unwashed plebes tell the Ivy League aristocracy what to read, and hamburgers eat people!


*hahaha good christ I had no idea that thing started as Twilight fanfic

Please take this industry out behind the shed and hit it with a splitting maul

[Babar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tail

[Chet]

i imagine the trash that the big publishing houses put out and sell a lot of allow them to also put out some of the legitimately good stuff that they do.

[Ignatius]

Yeah, but trash is everywhere. There's nothing special about what someone like Janet Evanovich does. I can only assume there are millions of hacks out there who could easily fill that void w/o the guiding judgment of major publishers.

[Ignatius]

As it is now, LPTJ's darling Dalkey Archive Press is underwritten by donations. Academic presses and boutique publishing houses will presumably exist as long as they're subsidized. But I can't see how promotional expenses justify massive markups to maintain an inefficient and otherwise useless industry.

[guavacris]

Without the big houses, we would never get a story like http://www.observer.com/2012/02/bogies-burn-book-theres-a-tumblin-tweetin-bull-in-the-knopf-china-shop/

I especially love how Bogaard's boss doesn't know/give a damn.

Davy, can you tell us more about what's been going on between publishers and librarians?

[elpollodiablo]

Another advantage to the disappearance of the traditional publishing industry power structures might be the disappearance of the NY Observer

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

they actually made a profit this year blah blah blah

[Dick]

One of the few joys of living in the 21st century has been the relatively quiet serial collapse of culture industries.  It feels like a war I'm winning without even having to fight.

Vigorously cheering the irreversible death of all print media institutions.  Am looking forward to the collapse of higher education as well.

[elpollodiablo]

Real Talk from Dick

[elpollodiablo]

Which is to say, I agree with all of that entirely.

[Good Intentions]

Higher education is somewhat older than print media institutions, or any kind of media market. Though I suspect that we have different bits of it in mind.

[Babar]

One of the few joys of living in the 21st century has been the relatively quiet serial collapse of culture industries.  It feels like a war I'm winning without even having to fight.

Vigorously cheering the irreversible death of all print media institutions.  Am looking forward to the collapse of higher education as well.

How is higher education collapsing?

[coldforge]

It's not collapsing yet, but it is approaching a catastrophic devaluation; as it becomes more and more expensive, but also completely abandons the position it once held as a mark of class and professional superiority, it becomes untenable. It's not realistic for there to be a third round of schooling, that is at once life-definingly expensive and also expected to be totally de rigeur; especially as it is less occupational than ever before.

[Babar]

but also completely abandons the position it once held as a mark of class and professional superiority

Please explain

[elpollodiablo]

Bachelor's degrees no longer have the social cachet they once did--though I'm not certain that's even one of the top three contributors to the decay of higher education, or even if that's to what coldie's referring. There's still some amount of professional distinction in having a degree, even if it's not directly related to your field. What's killing higher education is higher tuition costs coupled with inflexible liberal-humanist ideas about what education should be coupled with a lack of professional alternatives for middle class youths, etc., etc.

[coldforge]

Yeah, that. I didn't word it very well. The quoted passage refers to the fact that it's no longer a mark of upper class, and it's no longer the competitive advantage that it was (not because it's worthless or unrelated, pollo, but because it's SO expected that everyone have one that it's been devalued competitively, and very much not devalued monetarily)

[Chet]

Yeah, that. I didn't word it very well. The quoted passage refers to the fact that it's no longer a mark of upper class, and it's no longer the competitive advantage that it was (not because it's worthless or unrelated, pollo, but because it's SO expected that everyone have one that it's been devalued competitively, and very much not devalued monetarily)

this is a bad thing?

[jm]

Man, fuck a college degree. I dropped out and look at me! I'm awesome!

[Babar]

Bachelor's degrees no longer have the social cachet they once did--though I'm not certain that's even one of the top three contributors to the decay of higher education, or even if that's to what coldie's referring. There's still some amount of professional distinction in having a degree, even if it's not directly related to your field. What's killing higher education is higher tuition costs coupled with inflexible liberal-humanist ideas about what education should be coupled with a lack of professional alternatives for middle class youths, etc., etc.

Yeah, this is on the money. Damn pollo, I've been agreeing with you a lot lately 

[Chet]

Anyway, I think that a degree is even more devalued over here since there was a big push in the 90s and 00s to get 50% of school leavers to go onto higher education, and turning a lot of second rate institutions into 'universities'. But on the other hand, it's given a lot of people access to opportunities that would have been closed off to them before, and I still think if you actually graduate with a good final average (a 1st here, and whatever the equivalent is there) with a degree that holds at least some air of respectability then it's still something worth having.  

But the fact there are so many second rate institutions here coupled with lots of teenagers doing nonsense degrees because they have basically been pushed into it is a huge problem. There needs to be the realization that academia is not best suited to every youth, and a larger focus put on creating suitable vocational training.

[coldforge]

Yeah, that. I didn't word it very well. The quoted passage refers to the fact that it's no longer a mark of upper class, and it's no longer the competitive advantage that it was (not because it's worthless or unrelated, pollo, but because it's SO expected that everyone have one that it's been devalued competitively, and very much not devalued monetarily)

this is a bad thing?

It's neither good nor bad. It's just a reason that a college degree is not the social advantage it once was, and thus not as valuable.

[DCDave]

So... are you saying there's a need for a cartel of big publishing houses run by professional tastemakers who come largely out of the same backgrounds and schools because that 80-90% of people aren't going to be able to effectively curate their own reading experiences? Or am I missing your point?

I think this is a gross mischaracterization from my experience interacting with members of the publishing industry.

[DCDave]

As long as you're not getting an English degree you're probably OK.