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Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 137
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 06:27 pm: | 
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The following article appears in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I found the information on the quality and future of self-publishing particularly interesting. The trend towards appealing to young adult readers is interesting too. What do you think?
2005: A YEAR IN REVIEW
Deluge of new titles swamped readers in 2005
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Karen R. Long
Book Editor
In 196 B.C., when Eratosthenes of Cyrene discovered his failing eyesight meant he no longer could read - glasses would not be invented for a 1,000 years - the despairing scholar starved himself to death.
Passionate readers in 2005 had choices in titles and eyewear that would have boggled the mind of the heartbroken director of the great library of Alexandria. In 12 months, some 200,000 distinct books were published in English - enough choices to make anyone go blind.
With such inundation, readers reached for help - from Oprah Winfrey, who made the addiction memoir "A Million Little Pieces" and "You: The Owner's Manual" into best sellers; and from J.K. Rowling, whose latest title in the Harry Potter series continued to spin magic.
In this flood tide of books, name recognition gave some established writers the longevity of Politburo members. Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" stayed lodged on best-seller lists all year. Nearby were David McCullough's "1776" and James Patterson's anything. But cheeky upstarts dented the big leagues, too, including surprising titles such as "On Bull-," and "Why Do Men Have Nipples?"
Here, then, are some book trends worth remembering:
Citing the harm of tobacco, HarperCollins announced in late November that it will edit the cigarette from the book-jacket photo of Clement Hurd, the illustrator of the children's classic "Goodnight Moon." A smoking cylinder has dangled from Hurd's hand for almost 60 years. The move fits neatly into a very old pattern, including the 1807 publication of the popular "Family Shakespeare," which sanitized the bard of all references to God and sexual pleasure.
Joan Didion has been a luminous writer for decades, but the popularity of her sorrow-drenched memoir, "The Year of Magical Thinking," caught the industry by surprise. Didion describes her husband's sudden death and her daughter's serious illness in an account that Vanity Fair named the best book of 2005. Translation: Aging baby boomers are becoming interested in their own mortality.
Self-publishing continues to churn out titles, now one in four books. The sometimes staid book industry no longer controls the presses, but much of the newly liberated work is dreck. If this trend continues, "Authorgeddon" is expected in 2052, the year when the number of Americans who publish a book exceeds the number who read one.
More established adult authors are following the cash into young adult fiction, from Carl Hiassen's "Flush" to James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" to Alice Hoffman's "The Foretelling." Surveys indicate that while teens are reading less than their predecessors, many parents are willing to spend good money to try to close the gap. The publishing industry is happy to step up.
Five years after the crash of the dot.com industry, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online have remade the way readers buy books. What it will mean for the small independent stores is an open question, as booksellers such as Liz Murphy of The Learned Owl in Hudson and Jane Kessler of Apple Tree Books in Cleveland Heights continue to tailor their shops to exquisite customer service and hope that price won't trump all.
James Frey underwent the ultimate redemption experience when Winfrey tapped his gnarly addiction memoir, "A Million Little Pieces," for her on-air book club. Critics split on the book's quality, but it doesn't matter now. The Shaker Heights native living in New York City is well aware that his life now bifurcates into "before Oprah" and "after."
Robert Pinsky, the former poet laureate, read and performed his work during a riveting February evening at John Carroll University, one of the most wondrous literary events in Cleveland in years. Listening to Pinsky - who has a deep, "Voice of God" delivery - recite his virtuoso poem, "Shirt" - restores one's faith in literature's power to transform.
St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, turned aside $3 million from a donor who wanted to strip the short story, "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx, from the private high school's senior reading list. St. Andrew's decided to keep teaching the story about gay cowboys and returned the check. Other benefactors pitched in - resulting in a clear win for those against such censorship.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
klong@plaind.com, 216-999-4410
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Yvettep
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 818
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 02:11 pm: |
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St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, turned aside $3 million from a donor who wanted to strip the short story, "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx, from the private high school's senior reading list. St. Andrew's decided to keep teaching the story about gay cowboys and returned the check. Other benefactors pitched in - resulting in a clear win for those against such censorship.
WOW! Double, "wow"! At least chalk one up for common sense, academic freedom, and good ethics! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3296
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 04:28 pm: |
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Interesting article. Apparently, readers are no longer satisfied with buying books, now they all now want to write them, and the publishers once concernend with quality and standards have now succumbed to commericialism and the profits it guarantees. And the fact that new authors can be at the mercy of the reading taste of the not so discriminating Oprah Winfrey is a sad commentary on the whole literary scene. And gradually I have found myself gravitating toward non-fiction and biographies probably because this is the easy way out. Fiction no longer excites me that much. |
Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 138
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 04:45 pm: |
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Hey Cynique,
Even though I write fiction, I'm not a big fan or reading it either, which is why I try to stick to non-fiction when it comes to reviewing.
Considering how so many people are self-publishing, this would be a great time to start a business that caters to and only focuses on self-publishers needs. Marketing would be a great start. Editing would be another. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3298
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 05:01 pm: |
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This is true. I was surprised recently to hear the price a friend of mine charged a wanna-be writer to critique his manuscript. |
Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 139
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 05:16 pm: |
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This has got to be good news for vanity publishers. If everyone wants to write a book, and probably will, they've got to go somewhere. Why not do it for dirt cheap at IUniverse or something? Random House surely isn't going to accept every manuscript.
Is this a problem with being the land of the free? With so much opportunity to fulfil the American dream of writing the great American novel, now EVERYONE can live it. Maybe one day your publishing credits will be expected to appear on your resume too. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 3312
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 09:48 am: |
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Now the internet is blowin up with allegations that "A Million Little Pieces" the book that Oprah praised to high heaven is full of fabrications. Caveat: If a book recounts things too shocking to be true, that's because they are lies. |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 227
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 10:14 am: |
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"Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx
Percival Everett's novel, "Wounded," like Annie Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain," examines homophobia thoughtfully and regenerates the terrible massacre of Matthew Shepard which took place in Wyoming in 1998 -- not surprisingly, the location of both Everett's novel and Proulx's short story.
She was called for jury duty in the case but not selected. Her story explores the macho wanna be cowboy thing, Everett's approach is a little different.
The story is in her collection "Open Range: Wyoming Stories," but now I think there's a paperback which includes an original essay by her.
I've read her novels The Shipping News, Accordion Crimes, and Postcards. I love these books.
And finally, whatever James Frey's book is or isn't, it's bascially true. Just my two cents. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4029
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - 09:38 pm: |
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Whassup, Steverino. There does seem to be a consensus that above all else, Frey is a heck of a writer, and his improvising on the truth made for a good read. As for "BrokeBack Moutain", somewhere, someplace Louie LaMour is turning over in his grave - or, maybe not. |
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