Category Archives: Criticism
Why anyone can succed at publishing, or why publishing is failing
Just an abstract scenario, because I don’t want to get anyone (or myself) in trouble: Publisher owns print rights to backlist title. Publisher does not promote said title, resting on the title either selling well on its own or rotting. … Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Publishing
Virgin Pulp
A new report has stated that children’s publishers across the board are promoting Indonesian deforestation, and the children’s market across all industries is unhappily tainted with reports of corner-cutting. Perhaps we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a children’s book printed in China used that same ink mentioned in The Name of the Rose or a cheaper variant with the same implications. I suppose, all things considered, we’re lucky the books aren’t printed with lead ink! Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Features, Publishing
The Problem of Profit: Circulatory metaphor stated
The circulatory system is basically an efficient closed system that becomes open when wounded, sometimes losing blood at a rate faster than it can replace the loss. These situations can prove fatal, and this is exactly the situation of the American economy. Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Humanistic
Bridging the Gap: The American question of authority
Perhaps it’s that being young and not living through Nixon or Reagan I never lost faith in authority per se even though I grew up with a complete distrust of politicians. But then what is the definitive split I see between authority and politicians that allows me to trust the one and not the other? I would say it’s my perception of the echo chamber. Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Features, Humanistic, Journalism
Piracy as capitalism at work (part 1)
i’m writing this on my girlfriend’s laptop, which has the left shift key broken. apologies for the lack of caps, but smart people can read english without such an archaic tool. ** i hold piracy a subject near and dear … Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Humanistic, Publishing
Corporate free speech
We live in an age with the most advanced propaganda machines the world has ever seen. We call them, euphemistically, marketing departments. Public relations. The primary function of these branches, having worked closely with them myself for years, is to … Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Humanistic, Journalism
A letter to a client
The problem, however, is not one of artistry but of thoughtfulness. If you see how your world connects with the real world, you can exploit it in your writing to the delight of your fans; nobody how poorly this is done, your readership will appreciate the effort and the depth. Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Publishing
Giving Value: A practice in blogging
Blogging, to writers, resembles the gold rush. We put our ideas onto electronic drives where they appear as pixels to whatever ghostly visitor happens to stumble across them for whatever reason. Just like the ’49ers, we bloggers barely grasp the technology, hardly fully or in a way that would benefit us most, and more importantly we understand or misinterpret the tools and benefits of social media. Yet despite the technical inability of most writers and our lack of ambition to succeed in the ethereal communities of the internet (as opposed to our ambition to succeed in the commodifiable community of publishing), we press on into this dream. Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Humanistic, Journalism, Publishing
Everybody Panic! Six reasons to read "The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think"
A steady erosion of confidence in the stimulus bill is occuring because the happy-happy joy-joy news is vastly at odds with what is occurring in the United States, and it’s only a matter of time before people will see that. I wouldn’t put it past you political types to have foreseen that the charade was wearing thin, making your aggressive coming-clean with the American people a political ploy so that the WSJ could be the first mainstream media to report of monkies throwing feces. Well, congratulations, I guess. Continue reading
Filed under Criticism, Journalism
