Books After Amazon: Consumerism, Culture And The eBook

bostonreview.net:

For decades the publishing world has been anxious about the end of books. Industry consolidation has led to a much-lamented shift to a business-oriented ethos, particularly at some of the larger conglomerates. With corporate ownership came a demand for profit margins that the book-publishing world had never seen. Yet even if new management is nothing like that of the past--gentlemen with large fortunes who became gentlemen with small fortunes--publishing remains an intensely people-driven business, the kind where folks meet face-to-face. Even today most people involved in publishing are there because they love good books.

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Comments

[Stephanie Sellers]

12:06 PM on 12/09/2010

As Monopolies loom over small bookstores change rolls. Compromise, Mom & Pop! Offer Club membership, genre specific group dates, ebook readings. Invite local musicians. Live entertainment equals instant gratification. That's what rolls the Ebook's success at a 177% rate in a failing economy. Society has been conditioned to believe it is happiest when whims are met instantly. This conditioning also leads to shorter books. Anyway, the upside of ebook growth is authors may publish their own works without giant liberal monopolizing publishing houses telling us what to read. Face it. We have all been conditioned by the corporates. Ebooks will set us free. This is a good thing. Stephanie M Sellers, NC, Author, come see me on FB.