Books! Your blue book states – “Books are the most personal mass medium”

“Our oldest mass medium is still our most influential and our most diverse.” HOW?

Papyrus Egyptian Made from reeds found along the Nile Rolled into scrolls

Parchment Treated animal skin Replaced papyrus – Stronger – Smoother – More durable – Less expensive

Codex (year 350) Sheets of parchment sewn together along the edge, bound with thin wood and then covered with leather

The Middle Ages (AD ) The Manuscript Culture – Books were painstakingly lettered, decorated and bound by hand – By scribes! – “chief caretakers of recorded history”

“Illuminated manuscripts” Decorative, colorful designs and illustrations on each page – Gems, gold, silver on covers, etc – First to put spaces between words – First to use capital letters – Otherwiseitwouldbereallydifficulttoreadifevery thingwasrightinarow

China’s Diamond Sutra Oldest printed book still in existence, AD 868 First to use “block printing”

Johannes Gutenberg Printing press – movable type! around 1453 Used vellum – (fine animal skin paper)

Implications of the printing press “the most revolutionary development in media history” – People could now learn for themselves – Their identities no longer dependent on what their leaders told them – Permitted info to travel

American Publishing First colonial book – “The Whole Booke of Psalms” – Cambridge, MA

The Stamp Act Passed by British in 1765 – All printing must be done on gov’t paper Done to control expression Raise money for French and Indian War

Mid-1800s Paperbacks become popular! – Dime novels – “pulp fiction” – Printing process becomes Quicker More mechanized

Books as agents of social change

Banned Books Harry Potter series Of Mice and Men Catcher in the Rye The Color Purple Beloved To Kill a Mockingbird Handmaid’s Tale The Giver A Wrinkle in Time Forever Bridge to Terabithia Adventures of Huck Finn The Outsiders

Modern Publishing “trade” – aimed at general readers (Border’s) – Mass market paperbacks – Hardcovers – trade “professional” – not for general consumers “textbooks” – for students

Types of trade books Hardcover Trade paperback Mass market paperback What’s the deal with returns in the book industry?

Instant Books Can happen as quickly as SIX DAYS!

Movie Tie-Ins

Reference Books Encyclopedias Dictionaries Atlas Why are the sales of these all declining??

How to get a book published: Acquisition editors look for new authors and offer them contracts – They also handle subsidiary rights (selling the rights to a book for use in other media)

Can you get an advance? Payment up front! – Usually only famous people and established authors get advances “My Life” by Bill Clinton – $15 million in advance

After you have a book contract, You get a developmental editor – Provides feedback & suggestions – Just like grading a paper – A really, really long paper. – You’ll also need a copy editor and design manager Notice how some books have a similar “look”?

Speaking of design….

J K Rowling Finished HP #1 in 1995 on a manual typewriter Found an agent First TWELVE publishing houses rejected it Got a $1500 advance for HP #1 Now HP is a global brand worth over $15 Billion Text claims HP banished “aliteracy”

Bestsellers The “best” bestseller list And where do most people buy books? – Book superstores – Independent bookstores – Online – Mail order, book clubs – Oprah’s suggestions!

Trends in book publishing

55% of mass market sales…..

Harlequin alone prints 2000 titles per year – Contemporary romance – Time travel romance – Sci-fi romance – Paranormal romance – Inspirational romance – Historical romance – Erotic romance – bromances

Romance novels: good vs bad Provide an escape magic of courtship used in classes to demonstrate gender stereotypes is pleasure reading ever a bad thing? Trend toward more powerful females

Romance characters: FEMALES emotional non-aggressive seem incomplete until loved MALES handsome smart always older dominates sexually taller broody

Quote from “Romantic Times” “We don’t want our heroes to have beer bellies and come home and sit in front of the TV all night. We live with those guys.”

What does it mean that most romance novels are written by women? What effect, if any, do you think romance novels have on the lives of readers? ROMANCE NOVEL NAME GENERATOR