I second the comment about the Daily Show. There was a time when that was where most of my news came from, and I looked at it this way: all news/media outlets are biased in some way, and you have to know how to filter the bias if you want actual news. Personally, I think newspapers in print are dying out and will likely be gone within our lifetimes. I would never subscribe to a paper when I can get the same news online because it's an easy and cheap way to save trees.
Everyone I know reads a shitton of books, and I'm trying to find time to read more myself, because I'm rather embarrassed that I don't read as much as them. Though to be honest, that's because when I pick up a book, if it's any good, I neglect important stuff like eating, sleeping, and paying attention at work until I'm finished. :-)
From my mother's experiences with agents and editors for her novels, I'd say the publishing industry is actually doing itself in. It's a money-making enterprise, pure and simple, and to that end, it's very leery of taking a chance on a new author unless it can pigeonhole that author into one of several easily marketable categories: mystery, fantasy, sci-fi. Right now, writers of fantasy are going to have an easier time because the Harry Potter readers are looking for the next thing, and publishers will be quick to shove similar books at them ("reminiscent of J.K. Rowling at her best!"). Writers like my mom, however, who simply do good literature, will always have a tough time, because it's hard to market her work. There's a new genre of "chick lit" emerging--fluffy, dumbed-down books meant to appeal to younger women who don't read much--and Mom's former agent tried to sell her work as such. Mom writes for intelligent people and called it quits with that agent. Everything I've seen so far about the publishing industry indicates that it's doing both authors and readers a disservice by promoting books based on genre rather than on quality. We're lucky that good writers can still get published, but we miss out on some subtler, more unusual work.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-08-11 03:42 pm (UTC)Everyone I know reads a shitton of books, and I'm trying to find time to read more myself, because I'm rather embarrassed that I don't read as much as them. Though to be honest, that's because when I pick up a book, if it's any good, I neglect important stuff like eating, sleeping, and paying attention at work until I'm finished. :-)
From my mother's experiences with agents and editors for her novels, I'd say the publishing industry is actually doing itself in. It's a money-making enterprise, pure and simple, and to that end, it's very leery of taking a chance on a new author unless it can pigeonhole that author into one of several easily marketable categories: mystery, fantasy, sci-fi. Right now, writers of fantasy are going to have an easier time because the Harry Potter readers are looking for the next thing, and publishers will be quick to shove similar books at them ("reminiscent of J.K. Rowling at her best!"). Writers like my mom, however, who simply do good literature, will always have a tough time, because it's hard to market her work. There's a new genre of "chick lit" emerging--fluffy, dumbed-down books meant to appeal to younger women who don't read much--and Mom's former agent tried to sell her work as such. Mom writes for intelligent people and called it quits with that agent. Everything I've seen so far about the publishing industry indicates that it's doing both authors and readers a disservice by promoting books based on genre rather than on quality. We're lucky that good writers can still get published, but we miss out on some subtler, more unusual work.