Job Insecurities
With lots of layoffs and people finding it takes much longer to find employment, a lot of people are stressed to the max. As a person no stranger to layoffs I can empathize with all my friends dealing with this problem. My younger brother just took a less-than-desirable job just to start getting a paycheck again.
The Washington Book Publishers is hosting a helpful meeting (no membership is required) this Thursday, May 21st in Washington, DC.
Newspapers at cost per page?
Reacting to the newspaper industry crisis, Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal Blog announces:
A top executive at Hearst, which publishes 16 newspapers including the Houston Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said the company is mulling how much of its online offerings to keep free, while reserving some content exclusively for people who pay.
This new pay model is something publishers have discussed for a while now and implementing it won’t be easy. As with reprint permissions, different rates for educational use and trade use are difficult to monitor. Journalist Alan D. Mutter offers his insights:
Judging from the terseness of the announcements, the statements seemed to be more aspirational than the result of lengthy and detailed strategic planning…It’s a journey publishers absolutely have to begin. After years of giving everything away for free on the web, it won’t be easy for them to start charging for at least some of the content they spend small fortunes to produce. But there is no other choice.
Warner Crocker in his blog sounds off on Hearst’s attempts at an e-reader. His readers also reflect on the increasing demand for electronic reading of news over print.
It’s difficult to say if these new strategies will pay off, but as more and more newspapers face closures, something does have to give. Time will tell if Hearst’s client will be willing to pay for the content they consume, and if more publishers take notice and change their own models.
Newspapers: Getting Kicked into Change
With the recent announcements of even more newspapers folding or facing major cutbacks, lots of change is in the air for media corporations. Folio’s recent 2009 media predictions create a sense of urgency for media to evolve into a more user-friendly version of itself.
Keith Kelly, a columnist for New York Post suggests:
More closings of magazines and newspapers and more survivors clinging to the online world as a life boat. Fundamental problem of the digital age vs. print. While the gross numbers grows, advertisers still don’t invest in all the niche products with anywhere near the level of support that they once had for old mainstream media.
While Andy Cohn of VP Media foresees:
Five out of every 10 magazines and newspapers will go out of business, scale down their frequency or move entirely to the Web. This will not just be survival of the fittest, rather survival of the most willing and able to adapt to the changing media paradigm, and throw all of the old rules out the window.
David Callaway sees the threat of the institution leaders will force innovations to save newspapers:
Unlike autos and finance, the problem with newspapers isn’t the content, but the delivery. The business side was too slow to adapt…So, by all means, mourn the passing of great names, just as we do in other industries. But look for the new channels from which all the talent that made them great will flow.
Google Book Scanning and Scholarship
A recent New York Times article describes the book scanning Google has undertaken with both copyrighted and out of copyright books. Litigation aside, I do think it’s interesting to note the concerns of some librarians who fear the way education will change if digital reading continues. A Yale librarian suggests:
I have to say that I think pedagogically and in terms of the advancement of scholarship, I have a concern that people will be encouraged to use books in this very fragmentary way…
This is a sentiment I will likely pursue in my master’s thesis. I think we all read newspapers online quite differently than over coffee with a printed version. Fragmentation and mere sound bytes cannot accurately portray the sentiments intended by the authors.
In terms of access to rare books, I think digitization is a positive step. And I have to admit the convenience factor is a large benefit, since starting my master’s program I’ve done almost all of my research using online databases.
I for one, don’t think books are in danger of extinction, but I do know that their uses in varied forms will increase. Blogger and former book review editor for the Phili Enquirer, Frank Wilson, further demonstrates the possible forms of the Google Search project.
Dreaming of Spain
A spine injury forced me to take a semester off of grad school. But it also allowed me a rare luxury of reading for fun. Among the library of new books now spilling from our wall-to-wall bookcase was my first Davis Sedaris book Naked. I’ve bought books because their cover blurbs promised David Sedaris-likeness and I knew what that meant, but this was my first book by the original. It was a great book, somehow giving you combination of awe and pain with its plain messed up moments but also harkening with a true sense of life’s sad truths. I know everyone and their mom has read Me Talk Pretty One Day, so I may keep it on my to-read list.
Then came the onslaught of Spanish translated texts. All of these amazed me how talented not only the original authors were, but how amazing and capable the translators are able to parlay their words into English. Beginning with The Shadows of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. This book spoke to me sitting on a dusted bookcase in my room, because it was definitely my purchase, and I hadn’t read it. A book about books, how can you go wrong. I was addicted to this book with wonderful characters and its amazing mysteries to keep straight.
After that book was finished I happened on a used book of Alicia Giménez-Bartlett Dog Day. Another mystery another Barcelona setting. I fell in love with the complicated who-done-it storyline. It was law and order on crack. I loved this book so much I ended up getting the other two in her series, Death Rights and Prime Time Suspect. These were such quick reads I was left wanting another one. Will have to wait for her other books to get translated.
Reveled Chilean writer, Roberto Belano’s Savage Detectives was next in line. I was emotionally attached to all the characters, no matter how repulsive some of them were. Although I was sometimes lost in the talk about the various poets Belano depicts in the novel, this book was a great read.
Now back to a full semester in grad school. But I am thankful for all these books- they helped keep my mind off the L4/L5 disk! I want a trip now to Barcelona.
A Kindle Revolution?
Source: Amazon
E-readers are the platform mobilizing collections of e-books for consumers. Sony and Amazon’s Kindle readers are the most established devices, and although relatively a new innovation, adoption rates are high. For purpose of this paper, I will focus mainly on the Kindle reader. According to Milliot (2008) Amazon has struggled keeping up with the demand of the highly anticipated Kindle. Available titles rose to 115,000 compared to initial offerings at launch of 90,000.
A master’s student in library services Jeanne Kramer-Smyth (Higginbotham, 2008) points to another device, the Apple iPod to focus on a successfully designed innovation. She discusses the comfort level users of iPod’s have with the easy-to-use controls. However, she finds the intuitive design does not transfer to the current readers on the market. Kramer-Smyth also indicates the important connection with a printed book that does not transcend in an Amazon online account. She does assert the value of the Kindle is enticing, but a better business model with lower associated costs should be adapted before she would adopt. Because digital rights management encryption diminishes a user’s ability to effectively “own” the content they buy, Kramer-Smyth mentions a nominal fee for the borrowing of an e-book could work to curtail initial reservations. Similar to the model Netflix uses for video rentals, this way of content borrowing diminishes the worry Kramer-Smyth has that at some point Kindle will not support the same technologies associated with purchased titles. Partial interviews here and here.
Kindle user Brian Higginbotham (Higginbotham 2008) readily adapted the Kindle innovation after realizing his second graduate degree had him overflowing in books. He found the device easy to use and has even purchased newspaper subscriptions (Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post) that operate in conjunction with the reader’s WiFi functionality. He also worked as a change agent by discussing the benefits with his father and aunt instigating a Kindle purchase for each of them. Partial interview is located here.
Other Related Blogs and Sources
Kramer-Smyth passed along the following interesting links:
O’Reilly’s Safari Books Online
Various formats for preservation of content
LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep us Safe)
Privacy issues related to digital records and content
DC gets literate?
So along with that free Express tabloid paper for the morning commute, we’ll start getting some Oprah-like book suggestions with a Bit o’ Lit. I like reading about reading.
Publishing Wars
Amazon’s recent decision to offer their own print on demand titles (from their acquired BookSurge Company) has caused quite a stir in the entire industry. In the past I’ve used Lightning Source for print on demand and they’ve done remarkable work. I’m sure their business will greatly suffer if the majority of publishers sign up for Amazon’s print on demand services.
Author James Grahame is finding this new arrangement troublesome as he too enjoyed the flexibility offered by his use of LightningSource:
I’m going to choose the “or else” option. I don’t much like being bullied, especially after years of directing the majority of my book’s sales to Amazon, who earned as much as 45% of the cover price for each book sold in the USA and UK. The “buy” button still appears on my book’s Amazon page, but I fear that will change once Amazon runs out of inventory.
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