Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Today and Today and So Forth

"Long-term there’s no future in printed books. They’ll be like vinyl: pricey and for collectors only. 95% of people will read digitally. Everybody in publishing knows this but most are in denial about it because moving to becoming a digital company means laying off like 40% of our staffs. And the barriers to entry fall, too. We simply don’t want to think about it."

So a publishing insider confesses in an email to Pandodaily.  Well worth the time to read the post. 

"Making the best of things is... a damn poor way of dealing with them."  Rose Wilder Lane (Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter)

I'm glad to see tradpub is sticking to what they know best.

"Back up so we can hit it again!"--Captain Edward Smith of RMS Titantic.

Didn't I say paper books were like vinyl?  Yes, I remember saying that.  I said also coffee table books would hang around.  Yes, and the collectors.  Like the people who collect those funny salt and pepper shakers.  The book sniffers.

It's hard to know what else to say.   I'm growing concerned about BN.  They're not servicing their content providers.  Some people will say don't put all your eggs in one smiley basket.  But if everyone knows where the best eggs are, where you get the lowest price on those eggs, and the basket and the heat gun to thaw frozen pipes, why go elsewhere?

Why buy paper books?  They may smell great (eyeroll) but they take up so much room  and the pages yellow practically as soon as you buy them these days.  Why is that?  Cheap paper?

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