Lule Chapter 3: Books Flashcards
papyrus scroll
a form of early writing paper (3000 BCE)
codex
a stack of pages bound along one edge (6th century CE)– dominated religious works
scriptoria
first type of book that copied and decorated written work
illuminated manuscripts
decorated covers added to handwritten books
Gutenberg’s mechanical movable type and its significance
created in 1488 and combined existing technologies with Gutenberg’s innovation– standardized book printing and made books plentiful
Gutenberg Revolution
the period of immersible cultural technological change after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of mechanical moveable type– rise in literacy rates, grew interest in vernacular, gave ruse to new ideas (Renaissance)
vernacular
the native language of a population (speech of the “common people”)
chapbook
inexpensive, pocket-sized books that usually contained popular literature such as children’s stories, ballads, and poems (AKA CHEAPbook)
copyright
allows a person the right to exclude others from copying, distributing, and selling a work; a right usually given to the creator or sold to someone else
public domain
a place in which works not covered by copyright, or for which copyright has expired, belong– works in the public domain are essentially public property without royalty fees
fair use
a law about copyright which specifies the ways in which a work (or parts of a work) under copyright could legally be used by someone other than the copyright holder (such as for criticism)
significance of 6 publishing houses
consolidation led to international media empires acquiring smaller companies in many different industries and was popular in the 20th century
William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy (1789)
considered the first American novel and is an epistolary novel, or a book made up of letters and correspondences
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
an impassioned critique of slavery which heightened tensions between the North and the South over slavery– eventually led to the civil war
genre fiction
works that are intended to fit into a known genre or category, such as western, mystery, or science fiction
pulp stories
generally sensational and were printed on cheap pulp paper– featured tales or murder, sex work, gangster violence, aliens, monsters, etc.
beat generation
a name given to a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s and who were known for literary experimentation and nonconformity– often critiqued American society and government
multicultural literature
were celebrated as a way to promote cross-cultural understanding by examining the different value systems, histories, traditions, and speech patterns of people in America and giving voices to people that history overlooked
novel franchises
multiple series of books with recurring characters and high marketability– leads to marketing tie-ins (ex: Harry Potter)
paperback original
books that had their initial print run as a paperback edition– introduced in the 1950s
mass market paperback
small, inexpensive editions that are sometimes issued after a hardcover edition, although many genres are printed only in mass-market paperback editions
trade paperback
larger and generally of better quality (on higher-quality paper)
e-books and their significance
- E-books are generally less expensive
- There are no physical production costs
- There’s no cost to store or transport them
- They don’t have to go out of print
- They appeal to readers who want instant gratification
audiobooks
date back to 1932 as a reading alternative for the blind
digital decay
the breakdown of data stored in digital form, in which digital formats of book tend to decay much faster than physical copies
blockbuster syndrome
names the publishing industry’s focus on books with bestseller potential– leads to publishers looking not for the next great artist but for the next great best seller and is damaging to new writers
advance
a sum of money paid to the author in expectation of future royalties— it is granted to the author in estimation of how much money the book’s sales will earn
royalties
a percentage of the book’s sale price
self-publishing
a system that involves an author, not a third party company, being in charge of producing and publishing a work– attractive for authors who want control over their own content
print-on-demand
a system in which a book is printed only after an order is received
“vanity press”
charge writers a premium for published copies of their own books
paperbacks
developed as a cheaper alternative and were sold in nontraditional retailers, such as drugstores– introduced in 1930s
