The Future Value of a Literary Publisher

Wat er op dit rad staat (22 opties)

• What do you think Friedman meant that "dogged persistence was the biggest commonality I saw among successful writers, at least those who could make a 'living' at it?" (277) Is that not true now? What would you saw is the biggest commonality?
• What do you think about this quote from Clay Shirky "In a world where publishing is effortless, the decision to publish something isn't terribly momentous." (278) How does that relate to some of our other readings?
• What do you think Clay Shirky means when he writes, " If everyone can do something it is no longer rare enough to pay for, even if it is vital" (Friedman 278). How is that present in the modern world? What do innovations, such as AI, add to this discussion?
• The two big challenges facing literary publishing, according to Morgan Entrekin, says that it is distribution and discoverability. How does that make publishing different from other industries? In what way do you see people, businesses, and publishers try to address this? Is it successful?
• How does social media play into Entrekin's primary issues facing literary publishing, distribution and discoverability? What are it's strengths and limitations? What could potentially replace it?
• Opportunities for books to be discovered are being limited by big companies according to Jane Friedman, bringing up the increase in digital book sales. Is there no hope then? What are solutions?
• "As bookstores and physical retail become less and less important to book sales--and to an author's discoverability--what purpose does a publisher serve?" Jane Friedman, page 279
• From this class, what do you think Friedman meant that for literary publishing, "authors must be published by a certain someone to achieve the "right" types of attention" ? Is there a wrong kind of attention?
• What does Friedman mean by building a brand (280)? Do you agree with it or disagree?
• What did you think of the example from Triple Canopy "The Binder and the Server" where there is no way to "talk back" Why would they want to create this digital space? How does it serve them? Do you think it hurts them (Friedman 280-281)
• Were you suprised that even though Triple Canopy discouraged readership participation that they were able to raise so much? Do you think other things can come before the reader in literary publishing, both online and in print?
• Why do you support some of the magazines or literary houses or art galleries that you do? What is at that core? How do you relate that to what we have read today?
• There were different examples to build community and outreach in this article (page 282) do any methods particularly appeal to you? For example, are you more likely to subscribe to the New Yorker if you also get a tote bag?
• What do you think about Pocket's three industry-changing behaviors? Do you find issue with any of them? ( 283) How does that connect to other little magazines?
• What does this statement mean to you? "The proliferation of endless (and quality) digital content that we can save and read for later can take us away from the to-be-read pile on the nightstand or what's hidden behind our reading-app icon" (283)? How does that also correlate with other demands keeping people from reading? How do we sort through these choices?
• Are there more ways to engage with this idea, in a digital space, it is pertinent to stay relevant (page 284)?
• Looking at the bottom paragraph on 284, would a more catchy title or easily accessible website engage you more? Why or why not?
• Friedman says, "Without a framework and context for what is published, literary publications can feel virtually indistinguishable from one another." Do you agree with this? How can journals work on distinguishing themselves? (285)
• With the digital era, we have more tools to discover what fits us best (Friedman 285). In what ways is this happening? In what ways do people still experience a paralysis of choice? Should we have a conversation on AI?
• Bottom of page 285, can you think of a magazine or publisher that has an effective brand, one that has this following with a readership, almost keeping them in a conversation?
• With the closing paragraph on 286, are all the ways listed that a literary publisher should support a community too much for this role, or do we think this is what needs to happen?
• The last line, "Otherwise, many of us will turn away because we simply can't find the time to understand or discover the meaning of the quality of what's presented to us." (Friedman 286). Do you see this to be true? What has captured your attention before?