Books The original mass media
Characteristics of books Linear Words and sentences follow each other to build meaning
Characteristics of Books Uniform Every Book of the same title has the same content This is thanks to the nature of the printing press Before stories were handed down and could change by storyteller or handwritten copy
Characteristics of books Permanent Records Printed words are permanent Allows us to understand points in time and word origins However, while the world changes, books stay the same So they aren’t very relevant to current events http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=swag&year_start=1700&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
Characteristics of books Portable and durable Easy to transport Also they are very durable due to their materials Don’t require a power source
Characteristics of Books Low entry barrier While there is some major publishing conglomerates that control a lot of the content There are also many options to circumvent the system Desktop publishing Smaller specialized publishing houses
Types of Books Novels – Book length fictional works Almanac – book-length collection of useful facts, calendars, and advice Audio books – printed books narrated onto cd
Types of Books examples Novels Children’s books Textbooks Graphic Novels Audio E-books
Types of book Genre Fiction Non-Fiction Classics Fantasy Mystery Romance Thrillers Sci-Fi Western Non-Fiction Art Biography Cooking Entertainment History Reference Sports
Letters with little Curlycues on the end Sans-Serif Straight letters typography Serif Letters with little Curlycues on the end Sans-Serif Straight letters
History Before books as we know them stories were passed down by word of mouth After the invention paper, information was written in the form of scrolls Eventually they took on the form we recognize today
Pre-books Papyrus – Created by the Egyptians around 2400 B.C. Made from plant reeds along the Nile river Papyrus was rolled into scrolls Parchment – Treated animal skin Replaced Papyrus and was used by majority of Europeans up until the 13th century Parchment was more durable than paper Paper – Created in China around 105 A.D. Paper was cheaper than parchment and would help to spread books to a wide audience
Manuscript Culture The period in which books had to be hand written and hand bound Priests and Monks wrote the worlds books by hand They were known as scribes Because of this, most books were religious or philosophical
Pre- Printing Press Available to only the best educated elites Written mostly in Latin Government feared the spread of literacy Books are rare and expensive
Printing Press Earliest Printing Presses dated around 1051 in China Around 1234 movable type appeared in Korea Failed to evolve and be widely adopted due to the complexities of the Asian Language (40,000 characters in China)
Gutenberg Press In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg invented his movable type Printing Press in Europe First major book to be printed was the bible
Print in America American Print like other countries began with religious texts The Bay Psalm Book was the first printed in America in 1644 Literacy was high in the colonies Ben Franklin was one of the prominent printers in the new world 1732 he printed his Poor Richard’s Almanack Also printed Thomas Paine’s Common Sense Political Pamphlet that supported Independence
Print in early America Religious and Government works Lack of diversity Printing was done with permission of colonial governors Criticism of the government was never allowed Printers were jailed for printing criticism of the Government
Post Revolution Books still expensive for masses (weeks pay) Newspapers grew quickly but books growth was slower Compulsory education helped growth (by 1900) Literacy rose and demand rose In 1861 the US had the highest literacy rate in the world 58%, by 1900 it was at 90%
Rise of the book industry In the mid-1800s publishers began to print paperback novels Dime Novels and Pulp Fiction Paperbacks transformed books into a true mass medium Many youth took these Novels with them to WWII When they returned, many attended college on the GI Bill This caused a higher demand for textbooks
The Book Market today 80% of US books are sold by 5 companies Big Six five of Publishing Simon & Schuster (CBS) Hachette HarperCollins (NewsCorp) Random House/Penguin Group MacMillan http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/overview.html
Market Breakdown 30% textbooks 25% Reference Titles 45% Consumer Content $40.32 Billion industry
Censorship Books are a constant target for censorship In schools and Libraries, these complaints usually are initiated by a parent objection Should we be allowed to tell our schools and libraries what they should purchase?
Banned Books Harry Potter Captain Underpants Hunger Games Twilight Huckleberry Finn Of Mice and Men Catcher in the Rye
Book Burnings
Books and the box office $7.7 billion in worldwide box office $7.7 billion in Book sales $24 billion in sales
Facts about books Americans buy 4 books per year on average 47% of adults read literature Literary readership has declined 30% over the past 20 years for young adults
Future of Books E-books are on the rise Amazon has become the leader in e-book distribution Apple is moving into the market E-books vs. real books Discuss
E-books More Portable Instant purchasing from home Less entry barriers Gives new life to out of print books Greener? Requires power Do you own E-books? Can you Share E-books?
E-books Computer text is said to be harder to read 60% slower Libraries are beginning to offer e-books
Aliteracy – someone has the ability to read but refuses to do so 30% of 13 year olds read every day 15-24 spend 7 to 10 minutes a day reading 50% of 18-24 never RFP
Most influential books Read a selection for 5 minutes After write 2-3 sentences about your thoughts and attitudes about the book after your five minute reading 2 minutes to write then we’ll rotate tables