The publishing industry is changing. I have heard this over and over again. But, as of yet, there is no follow-up to that declaration. Everyone seems to know that the large publishers are struggling, the development of digital texts and e-readers are changing the way people read, the emergence of self-publishing is changing the literary landscape, and independent booksellers are rapidly disappearing as online and chain bookstore dominate the market. All of this is fact. But it seems like everyone in the industry is just waiting to see how it will all shake out—none of the big players are willing to make a prediction, let alone take any action to adapt to the changes.
Because the experts are keeping quiet, I find it difficult to make predictions myself. If there was a loud and public debate raging among large publishers, I may be able to form some more solid opinions, but I haven’t worked in the industry, and I haven’t experienced the changes and challenges first hand. But based on the emergence of new technology, and the rumors I have heard, I have a few broad predictions for the future of publishing:
1.
I believe e-readers will become more technologically advanced and e-books will become more common. As the iPad and other devises are introduced to the market, their competition with one another will drive publishers to develop more digital content, and thus drive consumers to purchase that content. I think e-books will become more advanced and the devise on which the e-books are read will become more user-friendly. I also think the textbook market will drive e-book sales, and in ten years, if students are lucky, all course texts will be available as e-books.
2.
I believe the use of online bookstores will grow and these virtual stores will dominate the market more and more in the coming years. I think some company at some point will be able to give Amazon a run for its money, but I think the online sales model will be much the same. I also believe at least one chain will hang on. Ten years from now the baby boomers will still be out and about, and traditional bookstores will still find a viable market. I think independent bookstores are more or less doomed. But I would love to see an emergence of specialty book shops. I think the book has an opportunity to become more of a specialty object, and I think there will be stores to reflect that, and to serve the specialty markets, in the coming years.
3.
I think more small publishers will emerge, especially those publishing e-books, and large publishers will get deeper into the development of e-books. But I don’t think large publishers will go away. Where there is money to be made (and I believe there is in e-books) there will be investors. Some large houses may fail if they don’t adapt to new formats, but I don’t think all large publishers will be so resistant. There are too many interested parties to let that happen.
This is an exciting time for the publishing industry. And I think this is just the beginning. All things considered, ten years is not a very long time, and I think the industry will still be in flux. I think people will still have confusion and worries. In fact, I think the changes the industry is facing now are only the beginning. We happen to live in a time when new technological development makes possible this week something that may not have been possible last week. I don’t think there is an end in sight as far as that is concerned, and these advancements will continue to be applied to all industries, not just publishing.
People will never stop reading. They may read even more now than they did twenty years ago because sharing ideas and information is so easy. And I don’t think people will ever lose interest in stories. The origin and delivery of content is changing, but people’s need for it is not. Therefore, I think literacy and culture only stands to benefit from the changes in the publishing industry. And because of the growing access to content and ease of distribution, the publishing industry itself can only grow—if it is willing to adapt.
2.28.2010
Gen-edge
Jeffery Selin (Writers’ Dojo) said something in his presentation last week that touched on a growing concern of mine: “You know more about social media [than me]—you’ve been using it since high school.” Umm…nothing about that statement is true. He was speaking to a room of mostly twenty-somethings, and while I believe his assumption was inaccurate, it’s not uncommon.
As I face my impending graduation from PSU and re-entry into the workforce, I fear this assumption. I have not been using social media since I was in high school. In fact, I was a junior in high school before I ever “surfed the net” (with the exception of email, utilizing the web to connect with people didn’t begin until I was well into college). I remember sitting at the bank of computers in the school’s library and opening the web browser, excited at the prospect of all this information at my fingertips, with absolutely no idea where to start. I think I went to J. Crew’s website to look at clothes.
Unfortunately, people even slightly older than me expect me to have an inherent knowledge social networking tools, and I simply don’t. I am slowly learning and tentatively branching into this world just like everyone else in the workforce. But I fear this assumption of my knowledge will follow me into the workplace, and my superiors are going to be sorely disappointed.
The problem is, at twenty-six years old, I believe that I belong to a narrow fragment of the population that I like to call Gen-edge—too young to belong to Generation X and too old to belong to Generation Y. People a few years younger than me have been using social networking sites since they were in high school. And not only are they more familiar and comfortable in just using the sites themselves, they are more comfortable communicating in this way. When I was in high school, I called my friends when I wanted to see them. I still do. And cyber-bullying, such a problem in high schools today (at least according to 20/20) would have sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie when I was sixteen. Generation Y is entrenched in the cyber-world, and utilizing social networking sites is fundamental to this.
Generation X, on the other hand, is safely employed (or at least would be if our economy wasn’t crap). They may be asked by their employers to explore this world of social networking and the potential benefits it could have in a professional capacity. But they are assumed to be learning along with everyone else. And any achievements they make in this arena are a happy surprise. Gen-edge, however, will not have this luxury, I fear. Employers will assume that Gen-edgers can achieve company growth through social networking because we’ve grown up with it, we just “work this way.”
I actually felt that I had a lot to learn from Jeffery about utilizing social networking sites in a professional capacity. I have my little Facebook page, but mostly ignore the frequent posts about the personal lives of people I don’t really know that well. How to use Facebook, or any other social networking site, to benefit a company is something I would have to sit and think about for a while. I am constantly surprised at the power of social networking. How to rein this in for the benefit of my employer is something I just don’t feel equipped to do. Thank goodness I have been studying this very problem for nearly ten weeks now in the Online Marketing course! At least now I know how much I don’t know.
As I face my impending graduation from PSU and re-entry into the workforce, I fear this assumption. I have not been using social media since I was in high school. In fact, I was a junior in high school before I ever “surfed the net” (with the exception of email, utilizing the web to connect with people didn’t begin until I was well into college). I remember sitting at the bank of computers in the school’s library and opening the web browser, excited at the prospect of all this information at my fingertips, with absolutely no idea where to start. I think I went to J. Crew’s website to look at clothes.
Unfortunately, people even slightly older than me expect me to have an inherent knowledge social networking tools, and I simply don’t. I am slowly learning and tentatively branching into this world just like everyone else in the workforce. But I fear this assumption of my knowledge will follow me into the workplace, and my superiors are going to be sorely disappointed.
The problem is, at twenty-six years old, I believe that I belong to a narrow fragment of the population that I like to call Gen-edge—too young to belong to Generation X and too old to belong to Generation Y. People a few years younger than me have been using social networking sites since they were in high school. And not only are they more familiar and comfortable in just using the sites themselves, they are more comfortable communicating in this way. When I was in high school, I called my friends when I wanted to see them. I still do. And cyber-bullying, such a problem in high schools today (at least according to 20/20) would have sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie when I was sixteen. Generation Y is entrenched in the cyber-world, and utilizing social networking sites is fundamental to this.
Generation X, on the other hand, is safely employed (or at least would be if our economy wasn’t crap). They may be asked by their employers to explore this world of social networking and the potential benefits it could have in a professional capacity. But they are assumed to be learning along with everyone else. And any achievements they make in this arena are a happy surprise. Gen-edge, however, will not have this luxury, I fear. Employers will assume that Gen-edgers can achieve company growth through social networking because we’ve grown up with it, we just “work this way.”
I actually felt that I had a lot to learn from Jeffery about utilizing social networking sites in a professional capacity. I have my little Facebook page, but mostly ignore the frequent posts about the personal lives of people I don’t really know that well. How to use Facebook, or any other social networking site, to benefit a company is something I would have to sit and think about for a while. I am constantly surprised at the power of social networking. How to rein this in for the benefit of my employer is something I just don’t feel equipped to do. Thank goodness I have been studying this very problem for nearly ten weeks now in the Online Marketing course! At least now I know how much I don’t know.
2.26.2010
An oldie but a goodie.
I have read some amazing books as a “grown-up” (and I guess by that I mean post-college, although it could be argued that the grown-up part of this life hasn’t even begun yet). The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos especially stand out. And Anna Karenina will be one of my proudest reading achievements, once I make it through the whole thing. (I was half way there a couple of years ago, and I fully intend to pick it up again one of these days.)
As much as I would like to claim one of these respectable, “grown-up” books as life-changing, however, I have to be honest with my faithful blog reader(s). There are two books that stand on my bookshelf, each tied together with ribbon to keep their covers from falling off. They are dog-eared and stained. And they were both written by Beverly Cleary: Fifteen (1956) and The Luckiest Girl (1958).
I discovered these books long ago on one of the many bookshelves that lined my grandmother’s basement walls. Every summer my family would spend a week at my grandparent’s house, and sometimes the only comfortable place to be on those hot afternoons in Lewiston, Idaho was the cool basement, where she kept a full stock of art supplies, dress-up clothes, stuffed animals and dolls, board games, ice cream, and, of course, books.
My sister Tova would spend the days planning grand fashion shows compete with numerous costume changes for each of us; my sister Carrie would build elaborate, multi-room dollhouses out of shoe boxes and fabric scraps; and my sister Dena would sew clothes for her Cabbage Patch dolls. Meanwhile, I could be found huddled in a corner, or laying in the hammock outside, reading one of the garage-sale paperbacks my grandma had purchased during the year. But of all the books I read at my grandparent’s house, or anywhere else for that matter, these two are the books that have stayed with me.
I find great comfort in familiarity, and I have returned to these stories many times in order to find solace in a life that seems to be in constant flux. I first read them in my early middle school years, which can be just plain agony for a girl. And I read them again through the tribulations of high school, and the transition to college. Through the pain of heart breaks and the anxiety of first jobs. When I am sad, exhausted, restless, bored, or nostalgic, I can go to these stories and let go of worries for a while. They don’t require me to think too much, or consider new ideas or perspectives. They don’t elicit strong emotions. They are simply an escape.
Even though both of these stories are about a high school girl in the fifties, I have found them to be relevant in every phase of my life. Before I entered high school or fell in love for the first time, the girl’s lives were something to aspire to. When I went on to experience trouble with school work, fights with friend, or the humiliation of getting dumped, I related to the stories and felt comfort in knowing I was not the only one that felt this way. And now that I have been through the hardships of adolescence and I feel like I might just make it through to the other side, I go back to these stories to remember what I have been through and find strength in what I have learned along the way.
I feel a little silly. Nearly twenty-seven years old and so dedicated to these tattered paper-backs that I first picked up when I was about eleven. And, faithful blog reader(s), I do read age appropriate things these days. (I do! Really!) But I still connect with these melancholy stories of adolescent angst because I have been so connected to them for so long. Every phase of my life is now in these pages.
I will leave you with one of my favorite passages, not in an effort to make you understand why I connect with these books, but just because I love it so much that I would like to share with you:
Jane walked to the window and stood looking out over the lights of the town at the fog that billowed over the bay, blotting out the bridges and the city. The sound of a car driving up the road only made the house seem lonelier. In the distance the foghorns had begun their melancholy chorus. Yoo-hoo boomed a horn far away. Yoo-hoo. Come back moaned another near the bridge. Come back.
Jane pressed her forehead against the cool glass. The dance had started and Stan was dancing with the other girl, the girl he had asked because he did not want to take Jane. And when the girl singer who had made the record that was tenth place on the Hit Parade began to sing, everyone would stop dancing and gather around the bandstand. Stan and the girl would stand close together and Stan would put his arm around the girl…
Tomorrow Jane would know who the girl was. Julie would tell her, but she might never know why Stan invited the girl to go to the dance. The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else—grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser. Perhaps next year when she was sixteen…
The creeping fingers of fog began to blot out the lights of Woodmont below. Come back, come back moaned the foghorn, only to be mocked in the distance. Yoo-hoo, yoo-hoo.
Ten years from now I’ll look back on this night and laugh, Jane thought. But she knew in her heart it was not true. In ten years she might look back, but she would not laugh, not even then. This night was too painful to laugh about ever. Jane knew that. Slowly two tears brimmed her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Come back, pleaded one foghorn. Yoo-hoo, mocked the other.
—Fifteen
Beverly Cleary, 1956
As much as I would like to claim one of these respectable, “grown-up” books as life-changing, however, I have to be honest with my faithful blog reader(s). There are two books that stand on my bookshelf, each tied together with ribbon to keep their covers from falling off. They are dog-eared and stained. And they were both written by Beverly Cleary: Fifteen (1956) and The Luckiest Girl (1958).
I discovered these books long ago on one of the many bookshelves that lined my grandmother’s basement walls. Every summer my family would spend a week at my grandparent’s house, and sometimes the only comfortable place to be on those hot afternoons in Lewiston, Idaho was the cool basement, where she kept a full stock of art supplies, dress-up clothes, stuffed animals and dolls, board games, ice cream, and, of course, books.
My sister Tova would spend the days planning grand fashion shows compete with numerous costume changes for each of us; my sister Carrie would build elaborate, multi-room dollhouses out of shoe boxes and fabric scraps; and my sister Dena would sew clothes for her Cabbage Patch dolls. Meanwhile, I could be found huddled in a corner, or laying in the hammock outside, reading one of the garage-sale paperbacks my grandma had purchased during the year. But of all the books I read at my grandparent’s house, or anywhere else for that matter, these two are the books that have stayed with me.
I find great comfort in familiarity, and I have returned to these stories many times in order to find solace in a life that seems to be in constant flux. I first read them in my early middle school years, which can be just plain agony for a girl. And I read them again through the tribulations of high school, and the transition to college. Through the pain of heart breaks and the anxiety of first jobs. When I am sad, exhausted, restless, bored, or nostalgic, I can go to these stories and let go of worries for a while. They don’t require me to think too much, or consider new ideas or perspectives. They don’t elicit strong emotions. They are simply an escape.
Even though both of these stories are about a high school girl in the fifties, I have found them to be relevant in every phase of my life. Before I entered high school or fell in love for the first time, the girl’s lives were something to aspire to. When I went on to experience trouble with school work, fights with friend, or the humiliation of getting dumped, I related to the stories and felt comfort in knowing I was not the only one that felt this way. And now that I have been through the hardships of adolescence and I feel like I might just make it through to the other side, I go back to these stories to remember what I have been through and find strength in what I have learned along the way.
I feel a little silly. Nearly twenty-seven years old and so dedicated to these tattered paper-backs that I first picked up when I was about eleven. And, faithful blog reader(s), I do read age appropriate things these days. (I do! Really!) But I still connect with these melancholy stories of adolescent angst because I have been so connected to them for so long. Every phase of my life is now in these pages.
I will leave you with one of my favorite passages, not in an effort to make you understand why I connect with these books, but just because I love it so much that I would like to share with you:
Jane walked to the window and stood looking out over the lights of the town at the fog that billowed over the bay, blotting out the bridges and the city. The sound of a car driving up the road only made the house seem lonelier. In the distance the foghorns had begun their melancholy chorus. Yoo-hoo boomed a horn far away. Yoo-hoo. Come back moaned another near the bridge. Come back.
Jane pressed her forehead against the cool glass. The dance had started and Stan was dancing with the other girl, the girl he had asked because he did not want to take Jane. And when the girl singer who had made the record that was tenth place on the Hit Parade began to sing, everyone would stop dancing and gather around the bandstand. Stan and the girl would stand close together and Stan would put his arm around the girl…
Tomorrow Jane would know who the girl was. Julie would tell her, but she might never know why Stan invited the girl to go to the dance. The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else—grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser. Perhaps next year when she was sixteen…
The creeping fingers of fog began to blot out the lights of Woodmont below. Come back, come back moaned the foghorn, only to be mocked in the distance. Yoo-hoo, yoo-hoo.
Ten years from now I’ll look back on this night and laugh, Jane thought. But she knew in her heart it was not true. In ten years she might look back, but she would not laugh, not even then. This night was too painful to laugh about ever. Jane knew that. Slowly two tears brimmed her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Come back, pleaded one foghorn. Yoo-hoo, mocked the other.
—Fifteen
Beverly Cleary, 1956
2.21.2010
Try to sell, but don’t try to sell (in italics)
When looking at the eRoi website in preparation for the guest speaker last week, I came across a quote under the section describing their blog services. The section was titled, “Not Just for Kids Anymore,” and the line went: “This [the blog] isn’t the place for hardselling. It’s a place for trust and community.” I thought that was such a clear way to describe the purpose of blogging, especially in light of the required blog post from last week, when many in the class switched into “marketing voice.”
It seems like blogging is becoming more and more prevalent as a marketing tool. This medium provides a business the opportunity to create a community with their customers and to enter into a dialog with them. They can reveal information about their mission and their culture as a company in addition to describing the product or service they have to sell. A blog is also an ideal place to offer customers in-depth information about the items they have for sale and why those items are superior.
This forum is ideal for both business and customer. The challenge of using a blog as part of a marketing strategy, however, lies in not trying to actually sell the readers of your blog anything, while still ultimately trying to sell them something.
Internet audiences are often quite skeptical, and if they feel “marketed to” through a blog, a forum that is supposed to build trust and open dialog, they will not only walk away, they will share their negative impressions with their friends. A company must keep the blog as a space for communication and feedback, not a space for hardselling, as it’s called by eRoi.
This can be difficult, as we all realized last week. When you have a product you believe in, you want people to buy that product, and it’s natural to try to sell it to them, in the traditional sense of the phrase. Marketing messages, using the “marketing voice,” have been the primary type of dialog between businesses and customers for ages, and changing that is not easy—for either group. It is essential, however, if a business wants to keep the respect and trust of their internet customers.
It seems like blogging is becoming more and more prevalent as a marketing tool. This medium provides a business the opportunity to create a community with their customers and to enter into a dialog with them. They can reveal information about their mission and their culture as a company in addition to describing the product or service they have to sell. A blog is also an ideal place to offer customers in-depth information about the items they have for sale and why those items are superior.
This forum is ideal for both business and customer. The challenge of using a blog as part of a marketing strategy, however, lies in not trying to actually sell the readers of your blog anything, while still ultimately trying to sell them something.
Internet audiences are often quite skeptical, and if they feel “marketed to” through a blog, a forum that is supposed to build trust and open dialog, they will not only walk away, they will share their negative impressions with their friends. A company must keep the blog as a space for communication and feedback, not a space for hardselling, as it’s called by eRoi.
This can be difficult, as we all realized last week. When you have a product you believe in, you want people to buy that product, and it’s natural to try to sell it to them, in the traditional sense of the phrase. Marketing messages, using the “marketing voice,” have been the primary type of dialog between businesses and customers for ages, and changing that is not easy—for either group. It is essential, however, if a business wants to keep the respect and trust of their internet customers.
2.16.2010
Buying online? The stars must align.
I have five email accounts—one for personal use, one for junk mail, and three for school. I very rarely get personal email, and school email stresses me out. I hate to say it, but I enjoy checking my junk email account most of all. Here, I receive information about flight deals from Expedia, Kayak, Travelocity, and Vayama. I receive sales announcements from DSW, Fossil, Gap, Old Navy. I receive newsletters from American Farmland Trust, and Powell’s Books. I receive a lot of junk email, and I could go on and on about where it comes from. But I asked for it. All of this mail comes from companies I have purchased something from, donated money to, or expressed interest in. I feel like a stranger could look through the junk email I receive and learn quite a bit about me.
My point is that the vast majority of junk I receive was solicited by me. And while I am glad I don’t get these twenty-five junk emails per day sent to my personal email address, I am actually interested in most of what lands in my junk email inbox. That said, I rarely purchase anything based on the junk emails that are sent to me.
I have three main reasons for this: I don’t have any money and I don’t like putting a purchase on my credit card knowing I probably won’t be able to pay it off, I am impatient when it comes to getting what I want (waiting five days for shipping is usually not an option for me), and, even if I see something I am actually interested in, I rarely take the time to click through on the email message and get to the webpage where I could actually make the purchase. I will look at something, say to myself, “Hmm…that’s cute,” or “Hmm…that’s a good deal,” and move on.
Occasionally, however, one of these emails will reach me at the perfect time. Much to the dismay of the people actually sending these emails, a purchase is entirely dependent on my “mood.” I have to have the time, be in the mood to spend money I don’t have, and be presented with something specific that I was hoping to buy anyway. No matter the deal offered via email, or the flashy graphics used on the email promotion, if these factors aren’t met, I won’t buy.
The most recent experience I had with buying something based on an email campaign was through a sales announcement from Old Navy. I had wanted a khaki colored skirt for a long time, but it wasn’t something I actually needed and thus had never gone out to a store to look for. I was quickly going through my junk email inbox one day, clicking on those items that interested me and immediately deleting those that did not. In the midst of this, I happened upon an Old Navy “ad” that showed a number of items that were currently on sale via their website. Lo and behold there was a khaki colored skirt on the email; it was just what I had been looking for. I clicked through to their website and bought that skirt, as well as a dress. I thought, heck, I was already there and putting a purchase on my credit card, may as well look around and see if there was anything else I wanted.
The vast majority of online purchases I make are for items that I have sought out. I will think to myself, “I would like some new shoes,” or “I would like to travel to LA to visit my good friend,” or “I need to buy this book for school,” and onto the internet I go. But every so often the stars will all align, and I find myself making a purchase based on one little email that has landed in one of my many email accounts.
I suspect my attitude toward online purchases based on email campaigns is not unusual. As was mentioned in class, direct email campaigns can expect an average response rate of two percent. How could marketers expect a better result? Their customers are fickle. Their only option is to inundate our email inboxes with their constant promotions hoping they may reach a small portion of these people at their “perfect time.” With all of this in mind, I have no problem with the amount of junk emails I get, even if they rarely result in a sale for the company and an exciting purchase for me. We’re all just trying to make a living after all.
My point is that the vast majority of junk I receive was solicited by me. And while I am glad I don’t get these twenty-five junk emails per day sent to my personal email address, I am actually interested in most of what lands in my junk email inbox. That said, I rarely purchase anything based on the junk emails that are sent to me.
I have three main reasons for this: I don’t have any money and I don’t like putting a purchase on my credit card knowing I probably won’t be able to pay it off, I am impatient when it comes to getting what I want (waiting five days for shipping is usually not an option for me), and, even if I see something I am actually interested in, I rarely take the time to click through on the email message and get to the webpage where I could actually make the purchase. I will look at something, say to myself, “Hmm…that’s cute,” or “Hmm…that’s a good deal,” and move on.
Occasionally, however, one of these emails will reach me at the perfect time. Much to the dismay of the people actually sending these emails, a purchase is entirely dependent on my “mood.” I have to have the time, be in the mood to spend money I don’t have, and be presented with something specific that I was hoping to buy anyway. No matter the deal offered via email, or the flashy graphics used on the email promotion, if these factors aren’t met, I won’t buy.
The most recent experience I had with buying something based on an email campaign was through a sales announcement from Old Navy. I had wanted a khaki colored skirt for a long time, but it wasn’t something I actually needed and thus had never gone out to a store to look for. I was quickly going through my junk email inbox one day, clicking on those items that interested me and immediately deleting those that did not. In the midst of this, I happened upon an Old Navy “ad” that showed a number of items that were currently on sale via their website. Lo and behold there was a khaki colored skirt on the email; it was just what I had been looking for. I clicked through to their website and bought that skirt, as well as a dress. I thought, heck, I was already there and putting a purchase on my credit card, may as well look around and see if there was anything else I wanted.
The vast majority of online purchases I make are for items that I have sought out. I will think to myself, “I would like some new shoes,” or “I would like to travel to LA to visit my good friend,” or “I need to buy this book for school,” and onto the internet I go. But every so often the stars will all align, and I find myself making a purchase based on one little email that has landed in one of my many email accounts.
I suspect my attitude toward online purchases based on email campaigns is not unusual. As was mentioned in class, direct email campaigns can expect an average response rate of two percent. How could marketers expect a better result? Their customers are fickle. Their only option is to inundate our email inboxes with their constant promotions hoping they may reach a small portion of these people at their “perfect time.” With all of this in mind, I have no problem with the amount of junk emails I get, even if they rarely result in a sale for the company and an exciting purchase for me. We’re all just trying to make a living after all.
2.14.2010
Stephen King's Outdated Take on Books
Tonight I read this quote from Stephen King: “Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” I am not sure when King made this statement, but in the world of e-readers and digital books, everything about it has changed.
With the growing availability and popularity of the e-reader, the reading experience is no longer limited to ink on paper. There may not be commercials within e-books (yet) but in digital texts, it is possible to provide links within the manuscript so readers can navigate away from the story in order to learn more about the subject or to purchase something related to the subject, for example. And with the internet browsing capabilities of the iPad, I believe links such as these this will only increase in e-books.
The requirements of an e-reader are also greater than that of a print book. In fact, reading a print book requires nothing at all. An e-reader, however, does require a battery…and a charger…and an internet connection. The e-reader screen may look like paper, and the devise may have the size and weight of a typical book, so when you sit down on the sofa with it, the reading experience is much the same as a print book. However, the process of preparing to read that book is very different.
Finally, the portability of the e-reader makes the idea of carrying a book (or an entire library) with you wherever you go much more feasible. Print books can be cumbersome and easily damaged. I think in the years to come, as more people adopt the e-reader as their primary method for reading, it will be hard to imagine leaving the house without it. Life no longer has to have those dead spots, for better or worse.
Even with all of these changes, however, one thing about King’s quote will always remain the same. Books are the perfect entertainment, and whether you pick up a paperback for $10, or purchase an e-reader for $400, books will always provide hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.
With the growing availability and popularity of the e-reader, the reading experience is no longer limited to ink on paper. There may not be commercials within e-books (yet) but in digital texts, it is possible to provide links within the manuscript so readers can navigate away from the story in order to learn more about the subject or to purchase something related to the subject, for example. And with the internet browsing capabilities of the iPad, I believe links such as these this will only increase in e-books.
The requirements of an e-reader are also greater than that of a print book. In fact, reading a print book requires nothing at all. An e-reader, however, does require a battery…and a charger…and an internet connection. The e-reader screen may look like paper, and the devise may have the size and weight of a typical book, so when you sit down on the sofa with it, the reading experience is much the same as a print book. However, the process of preparing to read that book is very different.
Finally, the portability of the e-reader makes the idea of carrying a book (or an entire library) with you wherever you go much more feasible. Print books can be cumbersome and easily damaged. I think in the years to come, as more people adopt the e-reader as their primary method for reading, it will be hard to imagine leaving the house without it. Life no longer has to have those dead spots, for better or worse.
Even with all of these changes, however, one thing about King’s quote will always remain the same. Books are the perfect entertainment, and whether you pick up a paperback for $10, or purchase an e-reader for $400, books will always provide hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.
2.12.2010
José Builds a Woman
Title:
José Builds a Woman
Description:
In a male-dominated culture, how does a fiercely independent woman contend with machismo and still find sexual and spiritual satisfaction? This is the question asked by author Jan Baross in her vibrant first novel, José Builds A Woman. Bringing her background as an artist to the written page, Baross paints a vivid portrait of Latin American culture with the brush of magical realism. Her writing celebrates the sensual, sexual, and supernatural as it challenges social and cultural taboos. It balances exaggerated masculinity with exhilarating feminine strength.
José Builds A Woman tells the story of Tortugina, a wild young woman who is destined to make her quiet family weep. Through the waters of the womb, Tortugina transfers her yearning for love and acceptance to her son, José, conceived during an otherworldly union with her drowned lover. It is José’s fate to also suffer the twining of flesh and spirit, earth and water, love and loss. In a melding of free spirits, earthly passions, and Latin American culture seasoned with irreverent humor, José Builds A Woman reminds us what means to be alive and in love.
Keywords:
Latin America, Mexican, Mexico
Magical realism, mysticism, mystical
Woman, feminine, mujeres, mama, mother, wife, sister-in-law
Man, masculine, machismo, padre, father, husband, brother-in-law
Coastal, coast, ocean, cliff(s)
Divers, dive
Little turtle, octopus, pulpo
Wedding, marry
Virgin, womb
Strength
Dream
Tragedy, tragic
Village
Tortillas
Legs, lips, hands, heart, head, face
Tortugina
José
Gabito
Miguel
Jan Baross
Article:
Readers of magical realism will be delighted with Jan Baross’ novel, José Builds a Woman. Magical realism is a literary element common in Latin American literature, and is defined as “an aesthetic style in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even ‘normal’ setting.”
Baross’ book incorporates mystical elements seamlessly into the lives of her characters, and particularly that of the protagonist, Tortugina, and her drowned lover, Gabito. The two grow up together in their small coastal village of El Pulpo, Mexico. Gabito is an octopus diver, one of the brave young men that dive off the high cliffs into the ocean below to catch the octopus that feed their village. Tortugina’s admiration of Gabito is only strengthened by her own to desire to become an octopus diver as well.
Early in the novel, Gabito dies in a tragic diving accident. But his role in the novel has only just begun. He and Tortugina “marry” shortly after his death in a private, dream-like wedding ceremony, and they conceive a child, José. Tortugina remains committed to Gabito throughout her life, although she marries another, Miguel, and must keep her devotion to her deceased husband a secret.
In the midst of the magical elements woven throughout this story, very real issues are addressed as well. Readers will identify with the power struggle between man and woman as Tortugina must assert her feminine strength to survive her mortal husband’s brutal machismo. Other issues touched on in this book include infidelity, loyalty, and the relationships between mother and daughter, father and son, mother and son, and wife and sister-in-law.
This is a beautifully written story that readers will appreciate especially for its strong descriptions of tactile sensation. Her descriptions of the body and the physical sensations of the characters are powerful, and her use of simple words such as legs, lips, hands, heart, head, and face make the reader feel connected to the characters in an intimate way.
José Builds a Woman
Description:
In a male-dominated culture, how does a fiercely independent woman contend with machismo and still find sexual and spiritual satisfaction? This is the question asked by author Jan Baross in her vibrant first novel, José Builds A Woman. Bringing her background as an artist to the written page, Baross paints a vivid portrait of Latin American culture with the brush of magical realism. Her writing celebrates the sensual, sexual, and supernatural as it challenges social and cultural taboos. It balances exaggerated masculinity with exhilarating feminine strength.
José Builds A Woman tells the story of Tortugina, a wild young woman who is destined to make her quiet family weep. Through the waters of the womb, Tortugina transfers her yearning for love and acceptance to her son, José, conceived during an otherworldly union with her drowned lover. It is José’s fate to also suffer the twining of flesh and spirit, earth and water, love and loss. In a melding of free spirits, earthly passions, and Latin American culture seasoned with irreverent humor, José Builds A Woman reminds us what means to be alive and in love.
Keywords:
Latin America, Mexican, Mexico
Magical realism, mysticism, mystical
Woman, feminine, mujeres, mama, mother, wife, sister-in-law
Man, masculine, machismo, padre, father, husband, brother-in-law
Coastal, coast, ocean, cliff(s)
Divers, dive
Little turtle, octopus, pulpo
Wedding, marry
Virgin, womb
Strength
Dream
Tragedy, tragic
Village
Tortillas
Legs, lips, hands, heart, head, face
Tortugina
José
Gabito
Miguel
Jan Baross
Article:
Readers of magical realism will be delighted with Jan Baross’ novel, José Builds a Woman. Magical realism is a literary element common in Latin American literature, and is defined as “an aesthetic style in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even ‘normal’ setting.”
Baross’ book incorporates mystical elements seamlessly into the lives of her characters, and particularly that of the protagonist, Tortugina, and her drowned lover, Gabito. The two grow up together in their small coastal village of El Pulpo, Mexico. Gabito is an octopus diver, one of the brave young men that dive off the high cliffs into the ocean below to catch the octopus that feed their village. Tortugina’s admiration of Gabito is only strengthened by her own to desire to become an octopus diver as well.
Early in the novel, Gabito dies in a tragic diving accident. But his role in the novel has only just begun. He and Tortugina “marry” shortly after his death in a private, dream-like wedding ceremony, and they conceive a child, José. Tortugina remains committed to Gabito throughout her life, although she marries another, Miguel, and must keep her devotion to her deceased husband a secret.
In the midst of the magical elements woven throughout this story, very real issues are addressed as well. Readers will identify with the power struggle between man and woman as Tortugina must assert her feminine strength to survive her mortal husband’s brutal machismo. Other issues touched on in this book include infidelity, loyalty, and the relationships between mother and daughter, father and son, mother and son, and wife and sister-in-law.
This is a beautifully written story that readers will appreciate especially for its strong descriptions of tactile sensation. Her descriptions of the body and the physical sensations of the characters are powerful, and her use of simple words such as legs, lips, hands, heart, head, and face make the reader feel connected to the characters in an intimate way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
