Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts

Monday, June 09, 2008

Poem: Death at Suppertime, by Phyllis McGinley

This is a Phyllis McGinley poem I hadn't seen before: Death at Suppertime. It's about children's programming in 1948, but it's got food for thought for today, I think.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Creating demand in the book market

From Why Does It Still Take So Long to Publish a Book? - New York Times, by Rachel Donadio:

Technology may be speeding up the news cycle, but in publishing, things actually seem to be slowing down. Although publishers can turn an electronic file into a printed book in a matter of weeks — as they often do for hot political titles, name-brand authors or embargoed celebrity biographies likely to be leaked to the press — they usually take a year before releasing a book. Why so long? In a word, marketing.

[...snip...]

As soon as a literary agent has sold a publisher a book, and even before it’s edited, copy-edited, proofread and indexed, the publicity wheels start turning. While writers bite their nails, the book editor tries to persuade the in-house sales representatives to get excited about the book, the sales representatives try to persuade retail buyers to get excited, and the retail buyers decide how many copies to buy and whether to feature the book in a prominent front-of-the-store display, for which publishers pay dearly. In the meantime, the publisher’s publicity department tries to persuade magazine editors and television producers to feature the book or its author around the publication date, often giving elaborate lunches and parties months in advance to drum up interest.

Read the whole article

Now, as far as I can see, that article applies primarily to certain big name publishers and big name retailers, playing their long-established games. Bully for them, especially if they're publishing something I can sell in my little bookstore. (We have standards they sometimes don't meet, even though we're not as picky as perhaps we ought to be.)

But they're only a segment of the publishing world. They're a significant factor, sure. But if selling books has taught us anything, it's that the big publishers' obsession with creating fads, and replacing them quickly with new fads, isn't what a lot of consumers want.

Good backlist books, midlist books, small press books, niche books, regional-interest books, even self-published books, can do surprisingly well if they're kept in print, and are easily obtained. Novelty sells. But so does something that somebody stumbles across. Or backlist of an author a customer has recently discovered, perhaps years after the publisher has whipped up buzz and then abandoned the titles and the author. I won't be surprised if more big book houses learn to keep more books in their catalogs, long after the talk shows no longer care. We'll see.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but when I read the New York Times piece linked above, the thought that popped to mind was "Me thinks they do protest too much." (However that's supposed to go. Thinks? Thinketh? Protest? Protesteth? I never can remember...) If they want to keep giving elaborate parties, that's their business, of course. But I have to wonder if they're trying just a bit too hard to convince the rest of us that a high-flying style of promotion is necessary, in a day and age in which authors can self-publish, and self-promote, without ever even leaving their home, not to mention that this is a day and age when talk shows and magazines have more competition than ever, and perhaps can't quite drive the popular culture as much as they used to? It's not like the old days, when there were three networks, and no podcasts or bloggers, etc. Is it?

Am I calling big publishers and their marketing departments dinosaurs? Oh, my, no. Think Harry Potter. Think how people lined up to get into stores at midnight. Think how crazy some folks got waiting for the release date, book after book. Think how much people enjoyed the countdown.

Marketing can be powerful. No question. But word of mouth can spread a lot of different ways, and it can and does sell a lot of books ignored by the talk shows and magazines and newspapers. If I were one of those hotshots who is used to being wined and dined, I think I'd be keeping one eye out for signs that the gig was wearing thin. I wouldn't necessarily be sweating, because people who like to live high aren't likely go frugal without a fight. But I would be keeping one eye out.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Browsing through the links

I'm spending some time this week going through my links list, visiting sites I haven't been to in a long time. I've found a few places that have changed a name and/or a site, or gone out of business (I've removed those). And can Nathaniel be turning two already? Where does the time go? Wasn't it just a few months ago he was fighting for his newborn life?

At Cheat-Seeking Missiles, I found a couple of interesting posts right at the top. Fade-Out On The Campaign TV Spot looks at changes in how national political campaigns are run, now that television ads are so expensive, and now that there are more (and better) alternatives. Creationism Bragging Rights takes a mostly-humorous look at recent claims about machine-made life. He says what the scientists are really claiming (when you cut through the hype and spin) isn't that they're on the verge of creating life. As he puts it, they're talking about hijacking it. There's a difference.

When you get through laughing at Laer's punchline, though, please go read the article that prompted his post: Giant step toward artificial life, by Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical writer, San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2008. Except for the rather unfortunate "there is the matter of bragging rights of mythological proportions. Mere mortals have yet to lay claim to creating life" segment, it's really an interesting, informative, and rather well-balanced article, I thought. And it does give space to concerns about what's going on.

Update: Sallie is leading a discussion on Jane Austen movies. She also has a long and thoughtful, very good post in which she revisits a post from May of 2005 on deciding what's important, and acting on it. I'm in a simplify-and-cut-back phase right now, and appreciated the inspiration.

Update: Patrick Deneen takes a look at "the breakdown of a covenant of respect and honor," and "the growing evidence of shamelessness among our middling debtor class."

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

You don't want to hear this...

...but U.S. taxpayer-funded Al-Hurra television has apparently become terrorist-friendly. Joel Mowbray explains. (Television Takeover, OpinionJournal, March 18, 2007.)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Neil Cavuto: making the best of a tough situation

From Neil Cavuto Deals With MS (WebMD the Magazine, March 1, 2007):

When news anchor Neil Cavuto was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a decade ago -- after surviving stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma in the late '80s -- he sought second opinions in New York, Atlanta, Minnesota, and London, in his attempt to refute the undeniable.

Ten years later, Cavuto both accepts his MS and defies it. Doctors marvel at his MRI scans because they indicate a man unable to walk or talk. Yet while he sometimes has difficulty doing both, the Fox News anchor is remarkably fit, exercising on a stationary bike and treadmill to stave off muscle atrophy of the legs, a common problem in MS patients. Cavuto, 48, has the secondary progressive form of the disease, meaning it steadily worsens over time.

He has fatigue, headaches, trouble walking, some vision loss, and -- occasionally -- hoarseness. "Having difficulty talking isn't good in my profession, but my wife welcomes it," jokes the anchor, who memorizes scripts for his program, Your World With Neil Cavuto, in case he can't read the teleprompter during taping.

[...snip...]

He volunteers for the National MS Society. And children's issues, such as scholarships for kids whose parents have been immobilized by MS, are close to his heart, since he and his wife, Mary, recently adopted two boys, now ages 4 and 5...


Full article

hat tip: media blog at National Review Online

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

French radio dramas teach French, Polish, German

From the English-language website of radiofranceinternationale (emphasis in original):

RFI's latest bilingual radio-drama set in a video game. Follow Eva on her mission to save the French Republic from time-terrorists. Will she be able succeed?

Eva finds herself in the midst of a huge explosion at the "Gare de l’Est" in Paris. A wounded man gives her a first clue: a series of numbers. She then finds an old book with the inscription: "La statue domine le mort mais la fertilité est retrouvée". What does it all mean? The gamer has to guide Eva through Paris, past its old booksellers, via the painters in Montmartre to the Père Lachaise cemetery. At her disposal is a magic taxi to speed her around the city. Then there’s the handsome Adrien, a fearless fireman. But hot in pursuit are the mysterious Blackhats. Will Eva complete her mission in time and save the French Republic?

every Monday at 12, 14 and 16 UT.


I found audio links, but only got a promo, but elsewhere on the RFI site I found a webpage for people who would like to learn French online. There are fictional adventures,"The news in simple French," tests, more.

And there I found the Mission Europe site (emphasis in original):

Immerse yourself in the world of languages with three exciting Mission Europe adventures. Mission Berlin, Misja Kraków and Mission Paris offer an interesting approach to language learning in 26 episodes. You experience three missions from the perspective of a computer player who joins virtual heroines on adventures in France, Poland and Germany.

In Mission Berlin, the player and the virtual heroine Anna fight against the enemies of re-unified Germany. In Misja Kraków, the player and Suzanna must halt the opponents of Poland's EU accession. In Mission Paris, the player and the heroine Eva compete against an enemy who wants to return France to the era of Napoleon III and restore the Second Empire. After you've successfully completed your mission, you are rewarded with insight into a country, its language and its culture. Choose an adventure and discover the French, German or Polish language. And remember: Danger is lurking everywhere.

Christians growing in Algeria?

I couldn't have dreamed this up. From "God's Time for Algeria" by Deborah Meroff at Today's Christian January/February 2007:

Over the last 20 years I have had the privilege of covering stories of God's people in 94 countries. This was my first trip to Algeria, the fabled northwest African country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. My assignment that April 2005 was to report on the fastest-growing church-planting movement in the Muslim world.

My translator was a product of this phenomenon. On the way to my accommodations, Davy shared how he had loved to listen to Christian music on Radio Monte Carlo when he was a university student. Eventually, at his request, they sent him a copy of the Gospels. Reading Jesus' Sermon on the Mount made a big impact, especially the phrase "love your enemies."


Give me a minute. I've had a lifetime of thinking casinos when I hear Monte Carlo. This is rather unexpected, I must say.

Being openly Christian in a Muslim country isn't safe, however, as Meroff explains later in the article.

The high cost of following Christ means there are few nominal believers. Christians commonly suffer beatings, lose their homes, jobs, and sometimes their lives. Yet they continue to put themselves on the line, even giving their testimonies on television.

Hold on a moment while your hostess googles...

Ah, Radio Monte Carlo isn't broadcast out of the gambling center. It's actually... well, actually it appears to be several stations run by different organizations, broadcasting to and from all sorts of places: France, Monaco, Italy, Russia...

And the Arabic broadcasts originate from Paris, over Radio Monte Carlo Moyen-Orient, which is part of the Radio France Internationale Group? Am I reading that right?

Some Algerians have found Christ through broadcasts from Paris? Am I reading that right?

It certainly is an interesting world in which we live, no?