Book
I am apparently likely to write a book. The prospect of writing a book seems very exciting to me, although I think the idea that something I write can be a real book (publisher, ISBN, LOC record, binding, in libraries and bookstores, doncha know) is still very foreign to me and may continue to be foreign until it actually happens.
I recently met with a bookstore owner and a publisher who are both really excited about what they do. (The bookstore owner is, by her own admission, particularly insane because she is selling only new books. Of course, all new book dealers' inventory is essentially the same in the sense that they all can order any book in print at the same price through the same wholesalers. And many of them display essentially the same things in their windows and shops, although there is some small room for creativity there. Used bookdealers at least have unique and widely varying inventory and ability to obtain particular titles.) It's really encouraging to me to find that people are still excited about these businesses.
Both publishing and book retailing have become extraordinarily concentrated. (Remember "media concentration"?) Despite many obstacles, and many economic challenges, people are still going into these fields (outside of the giant consolidated firms) and still finding them rewarding and meaningful.
Experience feuding over copyright policy can make us less than respectful of publishers. Entertainment publishers, of course, are our regular villains in the sense that they are constantly engaged in trying to make really bad law. And other people have criticized them on many other grounds than copyright. (Oddly enough, copyright hardly came up in the debate over the FCC's media concentration policies. People were talking about access to channels of publicity, and about editorial power, and things like that.) There are nonetheless some publishers out there who are (1) not trying to create insane copyright policy and (2) personally invested in their books and trying to get interesting and meaningful things out to the public and (3) loving it.
It would really be very interesting to be a part of that in a small way as a published author.
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