Comments on: Should books have ads? http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/ concept to publication Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:59:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sylvia http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28178 Sylvia Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:20:50 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28178 Oy. That was a bit much. I love the part about how reading ability had dropped by one point on a 500 point scale! Oh noes indeed. Oy. That was a bit much. I love the part about how reading ability had dropped by one point on a 500 point scale! Oh noes indeed.

]]> By: Nancy http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28165 Nancy Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:47:26 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28165 Did you see this article from the New Yorker - "Twilight of the Book" http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/12/24/071224crat_atlarge_crain?currentPage=all Oh noes! Say it isn't so! Did you see this article from the New Yorker – “Twilight of the Book”

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/12/24/071224crat_atlarge_crain?currentPage=all

Oh noes! Say it isn’t so!

]]> By: Sylvia http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28128 Sylvia Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:07:04 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28128 I guess I'm not aware of a crisis in publishing. Almost all the (in-print) books I've bought lately came from small, mid-size or academic presses, and I keep hearing of new books coming out of local presses I've never heard of. The diversity of books that I have access to through big sellers like Amazon is absolutely mind-boggling (certainly more than my local bookstores could ever hope to stock or sell profitably). Online selling connects specialized books with dispersed markets. Now should be the *best* time for smaller publishers. Nancy brings up a very good point about editorial control by advertisers. We certainly don't want that. I guess I’m not aware of a crisis in publishing. Almost all the (in-print) books I’ve bought lately came from small, mid-size or academic presses, and I keep hearing of new books coming out of local presses I’ve never heard of. The diversity of books that I have access to through big sellers like Amazon is absolutely mind-boggling (certainly more than my local bookstores could ever hope to stock or sell profitably). Online selling connects specialized books with dispersed markets. Now should be the *best* time for smaller publishers.

Nancy brings up a very good point about editorial control by advertisers. We certainly don’t want that.

]]> By: Nancy http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28118 Nancy Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:52:10 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28118 My immediate reaction was NONONON! But I understand that independent bookstores, like independent books, are under immense financial pressure. However, would ad placement help or hinder independence? If you (publisher, bookseller, et al.) can only sell a book because you are beholden to a corporate master, doesn't that seriously compromise independence? Suppose books on the current administration were only published by independent publishers? If getting them to the market was only possible via ads placed in the books, how critical would the author be? How analytical would he (or she) be allowed to be (prob there's a splint infinitive there but no matter). I guess there's no easy answer in these days of multiple distractions but I would hate to see books go the way of so many things - overwhelmed by ads for coke, nike and whatever. Or disabled by the printing equivalent of DRM where you can download an e-book from Amazon.com but you can't copy it, print it, transfer it from your computer or your iPod or share it with anybody without the contents being disabled. My immediate reaction was NONONON! But I understand that independent bookstores, like independent books, are under immense financial pressure. However, would ad placement help or hinder independence? If you (publisher, bookseller, et al.) can only sell a book because you are beholden to a corporate master, doesn’t that seriously compromise independence? Suppose books on the current administration were only published by independent publishers? If getting them to the market was only possible via ads placed in the books, how critical would the author be? How analytical would he (or she) be allowed to be (prob there’s a splint infinitive there but no matter). I guess there’s no easy answer in these days of multiple distractions but I would hate to see books go the way of so many things – overwhelmed by ads for coke, nike and whatever. Or disabled by the printing equivalent of DRM where you can download an e-book from Amazon.com but you can’t copy it, print it, transfer it from your computer or your iPod or share it with anybody without the contents being disabled.

]]> By: xensen http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28115 xensen Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:29:45 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28115 Sylvia, I very much appreciate your comments, and you make some good points. But you know, there has been for the past few decades a kind of crisis in independent publishing. The plight of the independent bookstore has gotten most of the press, but if you look at what has happened in book publishing the past quarter century you see a distressing story of independent publishers folding or being consumed by large corporate publishing. Yes, there are and I think always will be many small shoestring presses, but at the midscale level the recent history has been one of a great diminishment of diversity and literary dedication. Books are not really economically viable under the current model, which is why the corporate publishers have gone to a blockbuster model in which most of the profits come from a small number of intensively promoted titles. The difficulties of publishing are very real, and it is too simple to say that we should just let the marketplace determine which titles get published. Sylvia, I very much appreciate your comments, and you make some good points. But you know, there has been for the past few decades a kind of crisis in independent publishing. The plight of the independent bookstore has gotten most of the press, but if you look at what has happened in book publishing the past quarter century you see a distressing story of independent publishers folding or being consumed by large corporate publishing. Yes, there are and I think always will be many small shoestring presses, but at the midscale level the recent history has been one of a great diminishment of diversity and literary dedication. Books are not really economically viable under the current model, which is why the corporate publishers have gone to a blockbuster model in which most of the profits come from a small number of intensively promoted titles. The difficulties of publishing are very real, and it is too simple to say that we should just let the marketplace determine which titles get published.

]]> By: Sylvia http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28107 Sylvia Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:44:06 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28107 Actually no, I don't subscribe to any periodicals. But in their case, I think we all understand that the price is subsidized by advertising, which is fair enough for what is essentially throw-away content. I don't think that is fair for books, which are, or at least should be, more lasting and have enough value in themselves to warrant the buyer paying the full price for it. If a book isn't worth the price to publish it, I think it just shouldn't be published at all. Actually no, I don’t subscribe to any periodicals. But in their case, I think we all understand that the price is subsidized by advertising, which is fair enough for what is essentially throw-away content. I don’t think that is fair for books, which are, or at least should be, more lasting and have enough value in themselves to warrant the buyer paying the full price for it. If a book isn’t worth the price to publish it, I think it just shouldn’t be published at all.

]]> By: carla http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28106 carla Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:20:41 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28106 Some people pay for clothes with Nike swooshes on them. Some people pay for clothes with Nike swooshes on them.

]]> By: xensen http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28103 xensen Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:12:30 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28103 Sylvia, do you pay for magazines? With ads in them? Actually I wouldn't like ads in my books either. Publishers would need to weigh the small amount of income that ads might bring in against the possibility of lost sales. That's why I say you shouldn't worry. I don't see this happening except in very specialized books, such as computer software manuals. Sylvia, do you pay for magazines? With ads in them?

Actually I wouldn’t like ads in my books either. Publishers would need to weigh the small amount of income that ads might bring in against the possibility of lost sales.

That’s why I say you shouldn’t worry. I don’t see this happening except in very specialized books, such as computer software manuals.

]]> By: Sylvia http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/comment-page-1/#comment-28074 Sylvia Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:51:58 +0000 http://www.rightreading.com/blog/2007/12/18/should-books-have-ads/#comment-28074 Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why should I have to *pay* to look at an ad? That is going way too far. Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why should I have to *pay* to look at an ad? That is going way too far.

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