Take a look at this. What do you think? It's from this morning's New York Times.
How to Publish Without Perishing
By JAMES GLEICK
Even in the digital age, books have a chance for new life:
as a physical object, and as an idea, and as a set of
literary forms.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/opinion/30gleick.html?th&emc=th
(Here's the conclusion)
In bookstores, the trend for a decade or more has been toward shorter shelf life. Books have had to sell fast or move aside. Now even modest titles have been granted a gift of unlimited longevity.
What should an old-fashioned book publisher do with this gift? Forget about cost-cutting and the mass market. Don’t aim for instant blockbuster successes. You won’t win on quick distribution, and you won’t win on price. Cyberspace has that covered.
Go back to an old-fashioned idea: that a book, printed in ink on durable paper, acid-free for longevity, is a thing of beauty. Make it as well as you can. People want to cherish it.
James Gleick, the author, most recently, of “Isaac Newton,” is on the board of the Authors Guild.
2 comments:
Wouldn't that be an interesting concept?
This stack of books on my sideboard has now been re-arranged and set up to look like a real shelf of books, with some pretty gee-gaws and such alongside. I'm so proud of myself. Usually I live among at least half a dozen stacks of books on the floor, dining table, and beside my bed. Stacks of dogs, too.
Cookbooks---that's another matter. I'm working on them. Photos to follow. K
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