In case you haven't pursued my personal info and just happen to be a passerby and not a loyal friend that I guilt into reading my ramblings, you may not be aware that I work in publishing. (Silly reader, you thought I was just a civilian who had a way with words? Alas, I am a professional bullshitter, poorly paid, much maligned and generally regarded as suspect by anyone who sees nothing wrong with a sign for the Kwik Mart.)Publishing is an industry that has been declining of late. Or so the media seems so fond of telling me on practically a daily basis. (Salon talks about newspapers in particular here and here. Newsweek has review popular authors like David Baldacci and Jodi Picoult and bemoaned the declining popularity of "Literature.") Oh yeah, and then there was this lovely ode to Amazon's Kindle also from Newsweek.
I get it—print is dead or at least on life support. Thus goes the way of the dodo the only thing I am really good at (despite the evidence to the contrary I am providing by ending my sentences with prepositions). And if you hadn't already convinced me with the news listed above, then the continuing layoffs that my friends have experienced again this week, should clue me in.
So what's a girl with newsprint on her fingers and clauses in her heart to do?
I got nothing. Except my stubborn insistence that despite all the dang technology those IT folks throw at us, all the online information and networking available, there will always be stubborn old coots like myself that want something of heft to hold in our hands while we sit on the beach, or while we ride the train to work, or when we curl up in bed at night.
Almost 570 years ago, Gutenberg brought us the printing press and ushered in a new era of communication. But lest we forget, the art of storytelling existed long before letters were mechanically embedded into paper. Our earliest ancestors found ways to share their tales, whether it was through oral traditions or cave paintings like those found at Lascaux, France. Something tells me that won't change. What will change is the methods, perhaps, of how we do this.
Don't count publishing out just yet.
4 comments:
Here's the thing, Ms. Broad:
I spent 18 years in theater, all eighteen of which were redolent with articles in trade magazines and mass media about the "death of thetaer." There were many times that I thought to myself "self, you should find another line of work, because this one is going to disappear, and how!"
But then...
But then, people have been making statements and telling stories for as long as we know (Lascaux is a great example). And theater is not dead. And people are still going to see shows. And we all want to hear a good story.
So don't write off the wriiten word just yet. It is very fashionable to decry the state of things because the world is changing and we don't like it. It gets hits on websites to say "print is dead." But I firmly belive that this is hooey. We will still read. We will still react to the process of distilling life into art. The form may shift a little, but the impulse will remain.
So there. Don't hang up your gloves just yet.
i don't think print is dead at all. i love reading and i love magazines. sure, i spend a lot of time on the internet, but that won't replace the others. i think the "media" just likes talking about it because it's the hot topic, it's sexy and technology is so hip. we will not go the way of the dinosaurs my friend.
I do worry when I read the local paper and realize there's hardly any news in it! But that doesn't mean print is dead. Despite the lack of coverage in the N&R, I don't run to the computer and pull up their web page. There are plenty of books and mags out there. And the web still needs writers (desperately so!).
Well, if if all dries up tomorrow, I suppose we can just band together and go sell shell necklaces on the beaches of Jamaica. There's ALWAYS a demand for those! We can braid hair, too.
Never fear readers, Broad lives to fight another day! I don't really believe that print or media is dead or will ever die, it is just evolving (dang that Darwin).
I think CK is right, it is sexy to bemoan the end of the world, etc. and that is what is going on right now. But next year James Patterson will have a new bestseller of complete drivel and Oprah will have propelled some piece of "Literature" onto the bestseller list as his accompaniment.
I was just feeling a bit ganged up on I suppose.
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