CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Multicultural
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From: Norma Jean Sawicki <nsawicki_at_nyc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:42:54 -0500
On Mar 4, 2014, at 9:40 AM, Norma Jean Sawicki wrote:
> With the acquisitions and mergers of the eighties, I believe too many books are published…they are all handled by the same sales department/sales force, etc…Some huge publishers have done everything possible to maintain separate identities for its various imprints but the same marketing department/sales department handles all of it….a publisher/editor competes for attention for the books one publishes from that crowd….Norma Jean
>
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 9:19 AM, Charles Bayless wrote:
>
>> Thanks Jean for that pocket history of publishing. It pulls a lot of things together and provides a context for the present day circumstances.
>>
>> I came across an interesting article that provides a compliment to our discussion.
>>
>> This past year we saw the JK Rowling farrago over “The Cuckoo’s Calling”. From that affair, The New York Times had an article, (search: Long Odds for Authors Newly Published by James B. Stewart in the New York Times.) Take a look at the comments section. While we have been talking about minorities and diversity in publishing and reading, the NYT article is a more macro view, looking at the difficulty of new authors in general breaking in to the business and of anyone earning a living at it. Interestingly, our CCBC conversation and the NYT commentary are substantial replicas of one another.
>>
>> In particular, there are common popular root cause diagnostics: It’s the publisher’s fault. It’s the fault of the winner-take-all industry structure. It’s the reluctance of the reading public. It is an inevitability given low barriers to authorial entry. It’s all serendipity and contingency. It’s a function of the torrent of new books. It’s the chimerical pursuit of bestsellers. I think the point the article and its associated commentary highlights is that the turmoil of a rapidly evolving industry is affecting everyone, perhaps some more than others, but all affected in significant ways.
>>
>> So really, in this discussion of diversity and multiculturalism, we are trying to address two separate problems, one of which is vexing everyone and one which is pertinent to a subgroup. 1) How do we navigate the continuing changes and disruptions in the publishing industry, especially in a fashion that allows financial viability, and 2) What are the particular circumstances arising from being a minority doing the navigating in this time of industry evolution?
>>
>> I don’t think it substantially changes the main conclusions we seem to have arrived at: 1) increase reading demand, 2) find ways making it faster, easier, and cheaper to bring minority talent to publishing visibility, and 3) find ways to make it faster, easier, and cheaper for publishers to connect with communities of affiliated interest. But it does provide a useful context.
>>
>>
>> Charles
>>
>>
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Received on Tue 04 Mar 2014 08:43:11 AM CST
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:42:54 -0500
On Mar 4, 2014, at 9:40 AM, Norma Jean Sawicki wrote:
> With the acquisitions and mergers of the eighties, I believe too many books are published…they are all handled by the same sales department/sales force, etc…Some huge publishers have done everything possible to maintain separate identities for its various imprints but the same marketing department/sales department handles all of it….a publisher/editor competes for attention for the books one publishes from that crowd….Norma Jean
>
>
> On Mar 4, 2014, at 9:19 AM, Charles Bayless wrote:
>
>> Thanks Jean for that pocket history of publishing. It pulls a lot of things together and provides a context for the present day circumstances.
>>
>> I came across an interesting article that provides a compliment to our discussion.
>>
>> This past year we saw the JK Rowling farrago over “The Cuckoo’s Calling”. From that affair, The New York Times had an article, (search: Long Odds for Authors Newly Published by James B. Stewart in the New York Times.) Take a look at the comments section. While we have been talking about minorities and diversity in publishing and reading, the NYT article is a more macro view, looking at the difficulty of new authors in general breaking in to the business and of anyone earning a living at it. Interestingly, our CCBC conversation and the NYT commentary are substantial replicas of one another.
>>
>> In particular, there are common popular root cause diagnostics: It’s the publisher’s fault. It’s the fault of the winner-take-all industry structure. It’s the reluctance of the reading public. It is an inevitability given low barriers to authorial entry. It’s all serendipity and contingency. It’s a function of the torrent of new books. It’s the chimerical pursuit of bestsellers. I think the point the article and its associated commentary highlights is that the turmoil of a rapidly evolving industry is affecting everyone, perhaps some more than others, but all affected in significant ways.
>>
>> So really, in this discussion of diversity and multiculturalism, we are trying to address two separate problems, one of which is vexing everyone and one which is pertinent to a subgroup. 1) How do we navigate the continuing changes and disruptions in the publishing industry, especially in a fashion that allows financial viability, and 2) What are the particular circumstances arising from being a minority doing the navigating in this time of industry evolution?
>>
>> I don’t think it substantially changes the main conclusions we seem to have arrived at: 1) increase reading demand, 2) find ways making it faster, easier, and cheaper to bring minority talent to publishing visibility, and 3) find ways to make it faster, easier, and cheaper for publishers to connect with communities of affiliated interest. But it does provide a useful context.
>>
>>
>> Charles
>>
>>
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Received on Tue 04 Mar 2014 08:43:11 AM CST
