Print vs. Technology

With the collapse of several newspapers and print publications like USA Today International Edition, New York Sun, South Idaho Press, Christian Science Monitor, and Detroit Free Press, publishers are fearful of being shut down.

Most of this fear stems from the movement of print going online and the evolution of technology changing the industry.

Books can now be read on a kindle. Your news can be read online. I must admit I frequent www.cnn.com and www.msnbc.com, as well as turn to television to get my news fix.

Others argue that it is not the same and there is something to be said about having a physical book or paper to hold and read.

However, as a writer when asked if I would prefer to have my book published online or in print, I opted for print.

I feel that a tangible book that contains your work and your by line makes the success of being published feel concreted. Also, for a writer being published is the ultimate arrival.

Not everyone gets there, so there is an immense pride when you do. Print publications have always been competitive in this sense.

Unfortunately, online publications do not have the same reputation and the same level of competition as print publications. While online might be great for being accessible and reaching the masses; however, this is also a fault in that the quality of work published online is not monitored or questioned.

Anyone can publish, especially when it comes to self-publication. It is free to sign up for a blog and it’s a minimal cost to create your own website.

The New York Times has a great article about libraries moving into the digital age. In hopes to keep libraries from becoming obsolete, this institution is now offering the ability to download e-books.

The patron uses his library card in order to download a book to his laptop. About 5,400 public libraries nationwide offer this service for free.

The article also brings up the opposition felt by publishers. Although having only e-books would create a multitude of issues for publishers in regards to sales and creating subsequent , publishers are finding themselves having to quickly adapt.

In my own experience at textbook publishing companies, increase in demand for technological resources has added a competitive edge within the industry.

My company invested more money than they made to develop a technological platform specific to their textbooks and company. This investment paid off as many professors prefer to buy math textbooks that come with media options, such as MyMathLab.

MyMathLab is a platform that allows for e-books, supplements online, grade books for the professors, and additional practice through test generators.

Ideas are being brought up of having college lectures related to the textbooks as podcasts. In secondary school, publishers are developing better quality online games that reinforce concepts learned in the textbooks.

I am not sure if textbooks will ever become so archaic that they will be completely replaced by technology. Before I mentioned how I am an offender, by finding my news online and on television.

However, when it comes to textbooks, I would rather have the actual book in my hands. I tend to highlight and write notes in the margin, which enhance my learning. There is no online substitute for my education.

Big People Book Club

Book clubs can be intense, especially if the book club involves a bunch of members who edit and read books all day long. We are the mod book club; instead of the literati we are bookies (kind of like how gourmands are now considered foodies).

Those who choose the book must be careful, because choosing a bad book is social suicide. No one will show up to book club if it’s something that they did not want to read.

This happened to me once when I chose The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. It’s a fictional book about the death of an alcoholic in a Bombay apartment complex and the conflict of all his neighbors over who will pay for the ambulance to take him away.

I know within five pages whether I will enjoy a book. It’s all about the writing style for me, while for most people not in the literary world it’s all about story and character development.

This cartoon entitled "Baby Book Club" that comes from the amazing website www.toothpastefordinner.com sums up how I feel about The Da Vinci Code. I could not even make it through five pages of this book before I knew I could not handle another bland, obvious description by Dan Brown.

Yet, everyone in my life who is not part of this literary world seems to have enjoyed this book for the "story" (thanks Oprah…).

The best book that was read for book club was The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This book is about six bonded students studying classics at a New England college and a mysterious murder within the group.

I know… it sounds like this could be some hokey murder mystery, but the author includes fascinating details and parallels on Greek tragedies.

My book club recommendation is to research the reviews and subject matter of the book you choose, especially if it’s for such a captious audience.

Meeting Your Boss

All publishing companies want different background experiences for their Editors’ curriculum vitae. One company wants an Editor to have prior teaching experience (no publishing knowledge required). Another wants prior field sales representative experience.

Because most of our Acquisition Editors come from a position as a sales representative, they usually work off-site from wherever they settled down for their sales territory. My boss works out of his house in Colorado.

Although he is responsible for my maturation at the company, we have never met face to face. Until now…

My boss, Carl, flew in for a story reading meeting. Why wouldn’t they just have a teleconference for this meeting, you may ask? Well, I mean it is a very important meeting where editors and marketing managers have to make up a story line about their book lists and sales plans to present to the Publisher and Marketing VP.

My calculus books are like Batman and next year their sales will take over Gotham City, leaving our competitor The Joker in the dust. You know a meeting to express a five year sales plan through comic book characters or fairy tales…

I learned quickly that meeting your boss for the first time is like going on a first date. (In my case, a blind date.) You want to be reserved and polite, yet make a good impression. And in some ways your stomach ties up in knots because your mind starts to wonder… What if he doesn’t like me? What if I’m not good enough?

Carl and our Marketing Manager, Brenda, offered to take me and Brenda’s assistant, Michelle, out for lunch.

We left at prime lunch time and the restaurant was packed. Luckily, we assistants have mastered the art of reservation making. Michelle made a reservation at Thai Basil.

It ended up being one of those restaurants where you were required to take your shoes off before entering the private-room booth. (I’ve never seen this at a Thai restaurant before and only know of one Japanese restaurant that does this.)

I was wearing nylons, so removing my shoes left me nearly barefoot. Carl was embarrassed and at first he refused, but then Brenda made him do it.

There is nothing that builds an appetite more than the smell of feet in a contained area. It was even worse than the guy who thinks it’s ok to take his shoes off in an airplane. Even Janeane Garofalo has a comedy bit about guys’ feet in mandles (you know, guy sandals).

My advice is if you’re meeting your boss for the first time, like you would consider for a first date, find a neutral restaurant. Do not aim for anything exotic, but just in case the choice is not up to you, be prepared... with socks.