History of Publishing

7 Responses to History of Publishing

  1. Cassandra Carper says:
    May 4, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    The article, “Real Romance,” by Lauren Collins was interesting and captivating. I will admit right now that I like some romance novels, but I have never read any of Nora Roberts’ books. This article makes me want to read them, all of them! This article takes a name and turns it into a person by giving descriptions of Roberts, her books, and the dialogue both in the books and in Nora’s real life.

    It was very interesting to find that Roberts writes anywhere from six to eight hours a day. I have been wondering, as I am a creative writer by nature, how long should a person spend writing a day? Ask any author and you will get an array of answers ranging from whatever feels right for you to a specific number of hours as Roberts has. In the summer time I find that I do prefer to write for at least six hours a day, but during the school year I’m lucky if I can write a sentence that isn’t for school.
    Another aspect of the article and of Roberts that caught my attention was the fact that Roberts never went to college for writing. She just writes what she writes without worrying about what everyone else thinks. This is the best way to write. This is another aspect that I have problems with because I am constantly second guessing my writing both my style and my story. I have found that I write the best if I can simply make myself not care about the little voice in my head telling me my stuff isn’t good enough.

    I absolutely loved this article! It showed aspects of a writer, a well-known writer, that I could relate to. It makes me feel better about my career choice when I can see authors who have made it work for them.

  2. Cassandra Carper says:
    May 2, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    In the article, “Math of Publishing Meets The Ebook,” the author explains how the price of e-books works. I found this article interesting because it broke down e-book pricing which is something that none of the guest speakers have been able to do. They have broken down the price for paperback and hardcover books but never e-books. I liked that the author pointed out how silly it was for publishers to try and stunt the growth in popularity of e-books by keeping prices relatively high. It’s understandable that they want people to keep buying paper books to keep the bookstores in business, but personally I think they are just using that as an excuse to keep the prices higher.

    I own a Kindle and I purchase e-books, but I don’t think e-books will ever replace paper books. Most people I have talked to about this topic prefer paper books. They prefer the feel and smell of the paper books as well as the atmosphere of bookstores. E-books, like most everything internet related, feel a little cold and impersonal. You scroll through a list of titles and pictures and pick one. Going to a bookstore is an experience. You can actually hold them and flip through them which makes it an experience. No matter the price set for an e-book people will still love books.

  3. Brett Roberts says:
    May 1, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    I read through the article on ghostwriters in medical journals three times and still have a hard time understanding what exactly this article is about.

    My first question: What does it mean to ‘underreport’ a ghostwriter? The article mentioned that, “to underreport the use of a ghostwriter is considered an academic crime akin to plagiarism.” What is the standard, accepted way of acknowledging the presence of a ghost writer (the one class I missed was the one about ghostwriting, so perhaps these questions have already been answered)?

    My other question, and I’m sorry if I sound dense, but I just don’t really understand why ghostwriters in medical journals is such a bad thing. Is it that they can purposefully lean their information towards a certain bias and then not have to accept responsibility for it? Is the point of this article that medical associations want to completely stop ghostwriting outright?

  4. Brett Roberts says:
    May 1, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    “I took 20 minutes and finished the paper, mostly by extending sentences until all the paragraphs ended with an orphaned word on a line of its own.”

    I thought this was the best line from the best reading we have been assigned thus far. I found the article by Nick Mamatas to be fascinating. This is something I had never heard of until now. The idea that there are people who make a profit off of writing term papers for others is very intriguing. One thing to ask is: Is this ethical? I’m inclined to say no but then I also believe that some types of classes are simply not meant for some people. I could work my butt off in a science class but I would probably still get a very poor grade. It’s just not my thing. Would it be wrong to get someone to write a paper for me in a class like that?

    It is also interesting for me to remember that when I was much younger, like 10 or 11, and my sister was in high school, I would read the books she was assigned and then write the papers for her, and she would pay me (and buy me Subway, as well). Our folks knew about it and they didn’t care. Seems like I was doing at a young age what Mamatas is writing about in his article.

    I do have a few questions about this, though. If the teacher or the dean of the school finds out that you are getting papers from someone like Mamatas, what happens? Do you get expelled? Do you simply fail the course and have to take it again? This is against the rules, right? What would happen to Mamatas if people found out he was writing for others, would be get in trouble?

    Do you guys think this is inherently wrong and unethical? Or are there circumstances where this could be okay?

  5. Brett Roberts says:
    May 1, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Having reread through Jennifer Margulis’ proposal where she pitches the story about the LAST HERD OF AFRICAN GIRAFFES, I think there are both good qualities and bad qualities in her proposal.

    First of all, I can’t remember if this was just an example pitch or if this was really one that she sent in to a magazine. If it’s a real pitch, one of the first things that caught my eye was numerous typos or strange bits of awkward phrasing. One example is, “At 10 a.m. in the morning the sun is already brutal.” To say “a.m.” and “in the morning” seems repetitious. Also, she writes, “though it is easily 90 degrees, both of the guides are both wearing parkas,” using “both” twice in the same sentence.

    I have never had to write a pitch (though I am going to write one for a homework assignment), so I’m not an expert on how these things work, but my question is: Where is the line between stating your credentials and just plain bragging? There were a few parts of this pitch that I thought bordered on the latter (for instance, the little bit about “my mother is a famous microbiologist” and “I was awarded a Fulbright”). Would a person reading this pitch letter be impressed by those bits of her letter or would they find them, for lack of a better word, tacky?

    Another question: How long are most pitches? This one is about three pages and I do wonder if that is too long, or is it the perfect length? It seems to me that you would want to keep it short and sweet, but I could be way off.

    I’m not trying to insult her pitch. I thought Jennifer was a wonderful speaker and a delight to listen to (she was my favorite of all of our speakers so far), and there was plenty of good in her pitch. She does demonstrate a knowledge of this topic, especially in her long paragraph about the African giraffes, and her insights about what happens to them. The paragraph near the end where she writes about her credentials would certainly convince me that she knows what she’s speaking about (and speaking fluent French doesn’t hurt either).

    Is anyone else planning to do a pitch letter as a homework assignment (or perhaps already has done one)? If so, what do you think of this example pitch? Am I seeing flaws that aren’t there?

    Thanks for reading my first blog post ever. I’ll be interested to see replies!

  6. Cassandra Carper says:
    April 30, 2011 at 12:09 am

    For my research paper I’m thinking about doing the history of Cover Art for books. If anyone else was thinking of doing this topic please let me know. I don’t want to steal someone’s topic.

  7. Melody Condon says:
    April 5, 2011 at 10:34 pm

    The article “How Thor Power Hammered Publishing” was informative and interesting, once I got past the confusion of having to read math and financial terminology.

    I can certainly see the negative aspects of publishers printing fewer copies of each book, but the idea that they have to publish more titles in order to make a profit was a new one to me (and somewhat encouraging, with my own career aspirations). My ultimate aspiration is to be a published author, but not since elementary school have I been under the impression that writing novels could ever be my only profession if I want to live comfortably.

    Maybe publishers are less willing to take risks on new authors than they used to be, but the bookstores (physical and virtual) are filled with so many more choices. That’s good for readers—and all writers should first be readers. (My discussion of changing bookstores is all theoretical; the Supreme Court ruling in question was made a dozen years before I was born, so I obviously haven’t been around to witness these changes in the industry.)

    What the article didn’t mention is that if there’s huge demand for a book after its first printing, the publisher will be happy to print more copies of the book. I mean, I hope so; that seems like common sense. More titles mean it’s harder to stand out, but it also seems to mean that an author is more likely to have a chance to reach the public in the first place.

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