1. Journalism Principles and Practices
Books
Journalism Principles and Practices

2. Today...
Technology is at center of publishing upheaval
Disruption via technology is nothing new...

3. Disruption began with changes in technology and social conditions...
Rat -1350
By 1450 half the population was dead -- not enough living to bury the dead
More was left for survivors, including clothes
At the same time, scribe shortage
Opportunity for moveable type

4. Moveable type...
Nothing really new -- woodcuts, China, but durability was the issue
Gutenberg provided solution
Columbus used the new press
Kings and popes used the new press

5. Press took off...
40 years after first printing, presses in over 100 cities
50 years later, millions of books were printed
Books were the technology to solve the “information crisis”...
Pagination
Indexing
Running heads
Durable papers

6. Books were first medium to go through the EPS cycle...
At first, only for educated and wealthy
Dime novel in 1880s brought to masses
And then specialization -- Text and education, which account for most of profits in book industry
90 percent of published works are nonfiction
Today’s ebook offering super-specialization

7. Popularity of books increased because of social factors...
Textbooks and GI Bill
Book clubs
Blockbusters and movies
Conglomerates

8. How industry works... Trade (maybe 30 percent of all books) Religious
Professional
Textbooks
Mass market paperbacks
Agents
Advances
Royalties

9. Books have had enormous effects of society...
Unified, permanent symbol
Standardization of language
Libraries

10. Strong venue for social commentary...
Mark Twain
Upton Sinclair
Uncle Tom’s Cabin

11. Social shorthand...
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
Scarlet letter
Alice in Wonderland
Babbit

12. Books became venue for “experts”...
Dr. Spock
Napoleon Hill
Self-help -- uniquely American

13. Today, industry is in flux
Instant books allow more topical works
Amazon centralized and pioneered electronic delivery
Authors can reach audience directly
Some authors have been approached by traditional publishers but deals don’t appear to be any better
Books now 20 percent of revenue in trade market

14. Industry in flux, continued...
About half of all units sold in North America
Publishing down overall, but Vintage has sold one in six Americans at least one of the Shades of Gray book
According to Wired, Amazon claims new Kindle buyers up their purchases by five times