Chapter 3 Flashcards
Early history of books
1638 first printing press
1644 first book printed in colonies appears: the whole book of psalms
1765 printers revolt after passage of the stamp act
Mid 1770s anti-british sentiment had reached its climax
1884 linotype machine sped the process
Colonial America/early book industry/paperback novels
1860 Irwin and Erastus beadle began publishing dime novels
1865 Beadle and company had produced over 4 million volumes
1935 Allen Lane founded penguin books and invented the paperback
Cultural value of books
- Agents of social and cultural change
- An important cultural repository
- Windows on the past
- Important sources of personal development
- Bibliotherapy
- Mirrors of culture
- Little free library movement public library’s
Censorship and self-censorship
Books are targeted because of their influence as cultural repositories and agents of social change. Book publishers obligations demand they resist censorship.
Literacy and aliteracy
Literacy: the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols
Aliteracy: possessing the ability to read but being unwilling to do so
Categories of books
Book Club Editions, El-hi, Higher Education, Mass Market Paperback, Professional Books, Religious Books, Standardized Tests, Trade Books, and University Press Books.
Convergence and eReaders
Times have changed and digital books got popular. Digital books provided a new chance/way for a book to be published
Conglomeration: The big 5
- Penguin Random
- House Hachette
- HarperCollins
- Macmillan
- Simon & Schuster
Subsidiary Rights
hat is, the sale of the book, its contents, and even its characters to filmmakers, paperback publishers, book clubs, foreign publishers, and product producers like T-shirt, poster, coffee cup, and greeting card manufacturers.
Shopfiction in eReaders
the embedding of links into traditional and e-books taking readers directly to paid sponsors’ websites
Small presses
Today there are more than 80,000 book publishers in the United States, the vast majority being small presses.
Changes in book retailing (where can you buy books now?)
Book retailing has changed because you can now either order books online or buy a digital e-book copy online.
Chain bookstores vs. independent booksellers
Independent booksellers find it increasingly difficult to compete with chain bookstores. They both also have to compete with online retailers.
The rise of Amazon Publishing
Amazon is dominated book retail controlling 83% of all e-book sales.
Tie-in novel
books based on popular television shows and movies
What are the products of increasing hypercommercialism and demands for profit in the book industry?
One product of increasing hypercommercialism and demands for profit, is the trend of the “hollywoodization” of books. Whether it’s a book or a memoir written by someone famous, companies think that people will read those books, regardless of the content, because of the famous author. So in other words using famous people to get more profit out of something. Even making adaptations or books based off of movies or television shows. Another thing is adding product placement into books.
What is the impact of conglomeration on the book industry?
It took the book industry from a cottage industry to conglomeration. From book publishing just being very small operations they went to now the Big 5 publishing companies which control over 80% of all american book sales.
Name eight reasons books are an important cultural resource.
- Books are agents of social and cultural change.
- Books are an important cultural repository.
- Books are our windows to the past.
- Books are important sources of personal development.
- Books are wonderful sources of entertainment, escape, and personal enjoyment.
- The purchase and reading of a book is a much more individual, personal activity than consuming advertiser-supported or heavily promoted media.
- Books are mirrors of culture.
- Book readers are less likely to lose their jobs to robots.
What is bibliotherapy?
Using reading for therapeutic effect.
What factors allowed the flowering of the American novel, as well as the expansion of the book industry, in the 1800s?
The factors that allowed the flowering of the American novel were lower-cost printing and widespread literacy.
What was the Stamp Act? Why did colonial printers object to it?
The Stamp Act, was a mandate that all printing be done on paper stamped with the government’s seal. Colonial printers objected to it because it controlled and limited expression as well as brought a huge price to publish.
Why were the early colonists not a book-reading population?
The early colonists were not a book-reading population, because they didn’t really have any leisure time to sit down and read a book just for fun. Books were also considered a luxury, which many could not afford.
What were the major developments in the modernization of the printing press?
The linotype machine, a typewriter-like keyboard that allowed printers to set type mechanically rather than manually, and offset lithography, which permitted printing from photographic plates rather than from heavy, fragile metal casts.
