nparts:
A Publisher’s Year: A quest for Survival
By now, it’s become almost clichéd to point out the challenges facing publishers, not only in Canada but around the world. The press release announcing the sale of M&S cited “the challenges facing publishers, including a difficult economy and digital-driven transitions facing the industry.”
But what does it mean to be a publishing house in this day and age? Why are publishers even necessary when a book can be produced independently — a file uploaded to Amazon and downloaded on a Kindle, no middleman required? Will McClelland & Stewart be the sole Canadian publisher to succumb to industry pressures this year, or were they simply the first domino to fall? How will technology continue to influence the future of books? Who are these people who still believe in a future with books?
Over the next 12 months, the National Post will chronicle the ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs, and day-to-day dealings of House of Anansi Press and its sister publisher, Groundwood Books — the stories behind a company devoted to storytellers — offering an in-depth look at what goes on inside a Canadian publishing house, and what it takes for a 20th-century model to survive in the 21st century.
This is very good, and promises to get even better.
Jan 31, 2012
fsgbooks:
“Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it’s just not permanent enough.”
-Jonathan Franzen in his first-ever press conference.
This is literally how a 90-year-old person talks about computers.
“But it’ll just disappear! How do I know it’s still there when I turn the page? Get my grandson on the phone—he knows about these things.”
Jan 30, 2012
Art is invested with special privileges in our culture because we believe it serves a special role… I don’t despise readers, Jim, but why do we turn to art if we’re going to demand to know up front ‘what we’re getting into’? If we’re going to ask literature to guarantee that we aren’t going to be ‘trifled with’ or ‘misled’?
John D’Agata, to his fact-checker Jim Fingal, in The Lifespan of a Fact.
Bookavore is right: this book requires readers—because it’s going to inspire a lot of necessary conversations. What’s your schedule like this week? I can do coffee whenever.
Jan 30, 2012
thekidshouldseethis:
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is one of this year’s Oscar nominees for best Short Film (animated). We really, really enjoyed this.
You can read more about its inspirations (Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and Hurricane Katrina, to name a few), its makers, its message (about the power of story), and its iPad app at LATimes.com.
Do you have 15 minutes for this? You have 15 minutes for this.
Jan 29, 2012
I have a review of David Whitton’s super charming story collection The Reverse Cowgirl in January’s Alberta Views. Not sure if it’s even on stands anymore, but if it is… you know what to do. (A: Read it.)
And either way, check out the book, too: there is time travelling, and head trauma, and sexy sex, and sad sex. All four food groups.
Jan 27, 2012
It looks like I will be on morning TV next month, talking about books.
Nobody is more surprised by this fact than me.
Jan 26, 2012
“Congratulations. And if in the process of this important work you hurt someone?”
“Then, uh, they feel pain? Is that a trick question? Is that really what’s at issue right now, your hurt feelings? Could your perspective be any smaller?”
Ben Marcus, The Flame Alphabet.
I have basically no patience for this book, but there is one evil-mastermind-revealing-his-plan scene that really lights up. Basically any time he says “uh,” the gloves are about to come off.
Jan 25, 2012
tori-lancaster asked: Post the one you made for Inherent Vice! If you really did.
I really did—but, sadly, it is now lost to the sands of time (aka the recycling bin at my old work).
Were I to try to redraw it from memory, it would probably just be the words Golden Fang underlined a few dozen times with a question mark at the end.
Jan 22, 2012
If you think this chart doesn’t make sense, you should see the one I made for Inherent Vice.
Jan 22, 2012
