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[CCBC-Net] Celebrity Books
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From: MShuttleworth at slv.vic.gov.au <MShuttleworth>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:14:19 +1000
HarperCollins?
Blame Rupert Murdoch!
Seriously, publishers of that scale are always going to offset the cost of smaller books with income generated by mass market or merchandised books. No secret really when book publishers are part of multi-national, multi-media corporations. It's merely transferring the rights into another format, a process sometimes politely descibed as "raising or reinforcing brand awareness".
HarperCollins are not alone in this. One thing that has happened over the past however many years is that the status of "the book" has diminished. I think there is something of a host-parasite releationship between books and popular culture. Boks have the status that other media crave. And, let's face it, they are relatively cheap to produce and market. But books can't stand aside and profess to keep itself pure from commerce or popular culture. Certainly the audience, young readers, cop plenty of it in television, cinema, advertising, and the branding of this that and every other thing. Barney lunch-boxes anyone? Winnie the Pooh (gah, Disney!) everything...
How closely writers and publishers align themselves with popular culture
(including digital media) will be one of the most interesting things to observe in the next few years. In some ways, I think the connection with popular culture can be a positive. How else to talk about and negotiate the world we live in? Whether that means buying shares in the latest corporate franchise is another matter.
Mike Shuttleworth Program Co-ordinator Centre for Youth Literature 328 Swanston Street Melbourne VIC 3000 PH: 03 8664 7262 FAX: 03 9639 4143 http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/youthlit/
Received on Tue 12 Jun 2007 11:14:19 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:14:19 +1000
HarperCollins?
Blame Rupert Murdoch!
Seriously, publishers of that scale are always going to offset the cost of smaller books with income generated by mass market or merchandised books. No secret really when book publishers are part of multi-national, multi-media corporations. It's merely transferring the rights into another format, a process sometimes politely descibed as "raising or reinforcing brand awareness".
HarperCollins are not alone in this. One thing that has happened over the past however many years is that the status of "the book" has diminished. I think there is something of a host-parasite releationship between books and popular culture. Boks have the status that other media crave. And, let's face it, they are relatively cheap to produce and market. But books can't stand aside and profess to keep itself pure from commerce or popular culture. Certainly the audience, young readers, cop plenty of it in television, cinema, advertising, and the branding of this that and every other thing. Barney lunch-boxes anyone? Winnie the Pooh (gah, Disney!) everything...
How closely writers and publishers align themselves with popular culture
(including digital media) will be one of the most interesting things to observe in the next few years. In some ways, I think the connection with popular culture can be a positive. How else to talk about and negotiate the world we live in? Whether that means buying shares in the latest corporate franchise is another matter.
Mike Shuttleworth Program Co-ordinator Centre for Youth Literature 328 Swanston Street Melbourne VIC 3000 PH: 03 8664 7262 FAX: 03 9639 4143 http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/youthlit/
Received on Tue 12 Jun 2007 11:14:19 PM CDT
