Books and the Power of Print

Chapter 10

“In 50 years today’s children will not remember who survived Survivor…but

they will remember Harry [Potter].”

—Anna Quindlen, Newsweek, July 2000

Our Oldest Mass Medium

Growing in numbers of titles Large numbers of presses Conglomerates moving in Has met cultural challenges:

Television Hollywood Newspapers and magazines

Unlike television, highly portable

History of Print Papyrus, circa 2400 B.C.E. Parchment

Treated animal skin Gradually replaced papyrus

Codex First protomodern book Made of bound materials by the Romans, 4th century

Manuscript culture: medieval church Illuminated manuscripts Book as reverential artifact Grammar rules developed

1000 C.E.: Chinese invent movable type Radical development that was not developed in Europe until the 1400s

History of Print (cont.)

1453: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press Inestimable influence on Western culture

Leads to development of popular literature The first book printed in the American colonies: The Bay

Psalm Book (1640) First novel reprinted and sold in colonial America: Pamela

(1744), brought here by Benjamin Franklin Paperbacks by mid-1800s

Led to dime novels, pulp fiction Ex. Tip Top Weekly, featured most popular dime novel

hero of the day, the fictional heroic adventurer Frank Merriwell.

Offset Lithography

Developed in the early 1900s Anything you can take a picture of, you can

print. Led to computerized typesetting Books disseminated further, preserving

culture and knowledge and supporting a vibrant publishing industry.

Publishing Houses Form

Early “prestigious” publishing houses foundation of modern book industry All of the oldest houses survive now as part of larger

conglomerates: Ex. Scribner’s—published F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great

Gatsby, 1925) and Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises, 1926)

Book industry helped assimilate European immigrants into American culture, language.

Despite a decline from 1910 through the 1950s, the book industry bounced back after World War II.

Figure 10.1

Book Types Trade books

Fiction Other popular writing Adult and juvenile divisions

Professional books Law Business Medicine Technical-scientific

Textbooks McGuffey reader (mid-1800s) Elementary, high school, vocational, and college divisions

Book Types (cont.)

Mass market paperbacks Instant books

Topical books published quickly after an event occurs

Religious titles Reference books

Encyclopedias Dictionaries Atlases

University press titles Scholarly works

Figure 10.2

TV and Film Influence Books, and Vice Versa

Through TV exposure, books about talk show hosts, actors, politicians all sell millions of copies. Stephen Colbert, Barack Obama, and Julie Andrews have

all had great commercial success.

Oprah’s Book Club: one of the most influential book promotion forces on TV

Film industry gets many film ideas from books, from Oscar-winners to the biggest blockbusters. J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings developed into a hugely

successful film trilogy

Different Book Formats Audio books

Feature actors or authors reading abridged versions of popular fiction and nonfiction trade books

Readily available for download onto iPods since early 2000s Four hundred–plus new audio books available annually help

generate more than $923 million in sales. E-books

Industry has been challenged by how to translate paper books into digital medium.

The Kindle: Amazon.com’s digital reader Market for e-books still developing with technology

Digital technology is also being used to archive and preserve books for future generations. Google Library Project, The Open Content Alliance

Censorship and Banned Books Every year the American Library Assocation (ALA) compiles a list of

the most challenged books for that year. Books challenged over content including sexually explicit passages,

occult themes, violence, homosexual themes, and racism Table 10.2

Ownership in Publishing

Like most mass media, commercial publishing is dominated by a handful of major corporations with ties to international media conglomerates: Random House HarperCollins Penguin Group Simon & Schuster Time Warner Book Group

What Bertelsmann OwnsBooks• Random House– Bantam Dell PublishingGroup– Crown Publishing Group– Doubleday Broadway– Knopf– Random House

Publishing Group– RH Audio Publishing– Random House

Children’s Books– RH Direct– RH Information Group– RH International– RH Large Print– RH Value Publishing– RH Ventures– Waterbrook Press• Direct Group (Book

Clubs)– Der Club (Germany)

– Círculo de Lectores (Spain)

Music• Sony BMG (50% with Sony)– Arista– BNA Records Label– Burgundy Records– Columbia– Epic– J Records– Jive Records– LaFace Records– Legazy Recordings– Provident Label Group– RCA Records– SONY BMG Masterworks– SONY BMG U.S. Latin– Verity Records

Journalism• Gruner + Jahr– G+J Germany– G+J International– G+J France/Prisma Press– G+J Online– Vodafone-live!– Yavido Mooph

Media and Printing• Arvato– Mohn Media (pre-press,bookbinding)– Dynamic Graphic

Television/Radio• RTL Radio• RTL Television Group

Figure 10.3

Publishing Business

Acquisitions editor Identifies talent Handles subsidiary rights

Developmental editor Handles feedback to author Coordinates outside judges of the work

Copy editors Problems in writing or length

Design managers Layout and cover design

Selling Books

Book clubs and mail order Bookspan

Bookstores: independents vs. chains Chains: Barnes & Noble, Borders Indies: Maintain 11% of market share

Online Bookstores Amazon.com, 1995, leader of online sales Barnes & Noble, bn.com, 1997

Future of Book Publishing

Literature from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Silent Spring has had a positive influence on social change in America

Yet today, less than one-third of thirteen-year-olds read daily, a 14% decline from 20 years earlier.

Other studies suggest reasons for hope—60% of all avid or regular book readers are under the age of forty.

Increasingly, the book industry is trying to promote new ideas and authors while trying to maintain commercial viability.