Journalism Principles and Practices Books Journalism Principles and Practices
Today... Technology is at center of publishing upheaval Disruption via technology is nothing new...
Disruption began with changes in technology and social conditions... Rat -1350 By 1450 half the population was dead -- not enough living to bury the dead More was left for survivors, including clothes At the same time, scribe shortage Opportunity for moveable type
Moveable type... Nothing really new -- woodcuts, China, but durability was the issue Gutenberg provided solution Columbus used the new press Kings and popes used the new press
Press took off... 40 years after first printing, presses in over 100 cities 50 years later, millions of books were printed Books were the technology to solve the “information crisis”... Pagination Indexing Running heads Durable papers
Books were first medium to go through the EPS cycle... At first, only for educated and wealthy Dime novel in 1880s brought to masses And then specialization -- Text and education, which account for most of profits in book industry 90 percent of published works are nonfiction Today’s ebook offering super-specialization
Popularity of books increased because of social factors... Textbooks and GI Bill Book clubs Blockbusters and movies Conglomerates
How industry works... Trade (maybe 30 percent of all books) Religious Professional Textbooks Mass market paperbacks Agents Advances Royalties
Books have had enormous effects of society... Unified, permanent symbol Standardization of language Libraries
Strong venue for social commentary... Mark Twain Upton Sinclair Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Social shorthand... Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde Scarlet letter Alice in Wonderland Babbit
Books became venue for “experts”... Dr. Spock Napoleon Hill Self-help -- uniquely American
Today, industry is in flux Instant books allow more topical works Amazon centralized and pioneered electronic delivery Authors can reach audience directly Some authors have been approached by traditional publishers but deals don’t appear to be any better Books now 20 percent of revenue in trade market
Industry in flux, continued... About half of all units sold in North America Publishing down overall, but Vintage has sold one in six Americans at least one of the Shades of Gray book According to Wired, Amazon claims new Kindle buyers up their purchases by five times