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Cargando... Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishingpor John B. Thompson
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Thompson is an eloquent and lucid writer who has a real talent for telescoping smoothly from individual cases to a bird’s-eye view of the industry of trade publishing. . . . . Any reader who can summon forbearance for some repetition . . . will find in Thompson’s book a most rewarding read. I do not imagine there are many other scholars working today who could provide such a magisterial account of the past two decades of the digital revolution in Anglo-American trade book publishing. This is a deeply informative book that can be read cover to cover and then put on a nearby shelf as a reference, not only to the grand themes of the digital revolution in books, but to a plethora of companies and organizations that have contributed to every aspect of that revolution, from Smashwords to Booksmart to Blurb to Unbound to Inkshares to so many more. For those of us in the scholarly publishing world who frequently encounter the names of unfamiliar companies and organizations in our work, this is no small benefit.
This book tells the story of the turbulent decades when the book publishing industry collided with the great technological revolution of our time. From the surge of ebooks to the self-publishing explosion and the growing popularity of audiobooks, Book Wars provides a comprehensive and fine-grained account of technological disruption in one of our most important and successful creative industries. Like other sectors, publishing has been thrown into disarray by the digital revolution. The foundation on which this industry had been based for 500 years - the packaging and sale of words and images in the form of printed books - was called into question by a technological revolution that enabled symbolic content to be stored, manipulated and transmitted quickly and cheaply. Publishers and retailers found themselves facing a proliferation of new players who were offering new products and services and challenging some of their most deeply held principles and beliefs. The old industry was suddenly thrust into the limelight as bitter conflicts erupted between publishers and new entrants, including powerful new tech giants who saw the world in very different ways. The book wars had begun. While ebooks were at the heart of many of these conflicts, Thompson argues that the most fundamental consequences lie elsewhere. The print-on-paper book has proven to be a remarkably resilient cultural form, but the digital revolution has transformed the industry in other ways, spawning new players which now wield unprecedented power and giving rise to an array of new publishing forms. Most important of all, it has transformed the broader information and communication environment, creating new challenges and new opportunities for publishers as they seek to redefine their role in the digital age. This unrivalled account of the book publishing industry as it faces its greatest challenge since Gutenberg will be essential reading for anyone interested in books and their future. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Publishers normally buy the book, publish it, promote it, send it to bookstores, take returns, and decide how to keep the book available on the backlist in the future. Publishers have skin in the game. Publishers pay authors with advances and royalties; they normally take copyright on the work. Publishers favour big or brand name authors whose reputation attracts interest.
Publishers have used technology to reduce costs and expedite production of paper books. Publishers were hesitant to embrace ebooks but like audiobooks. Publishers were opposed to Google's project of digitizing the collections of several large libraries. Publishers like Amazon as a bookstore and delivery service except when Amazon tries to set prices. Publishers are unable to cope with Amazon in the market - their leverage is that Amazon will not pay for content except on the terms of Amazon's self publishing service. The US courts are unwilling to interprete US anti trust law as restraining monopoly practises in Internet commerce, and lawmakers are unable to formulate law reform. The Internet giants make moves without seeking consent or permission. The title refers to the conflicts as wars.
The author's sociological approach is limited by the assertions of privacy of publishers, author's agent and Internet players to supplement or clarify information on number and value of books published, and the author's hesitation to comment on many aspects of business and financial practices. ( )