Brief History of Books Chapter 3 Books Mass Media Unit 2 Lecture Notes Important people are in BLUE For the lecture know the Ideas as stories and processes not just memorizing terms Quizlet Link for book Vocabulary Terms http quizlet com 37522273 mmc2000 test 2 flash cards Quizlet Password MMC2000 Books becoming a MASS medium 19th to early 20th century Parallel tracks between newspapers books and magazines Issue of Censorship If you didn t like what someone was saying you could burn the book 1950s Red Scare Mccarthy encouraged to pull communist leaning books off the shelves What s the rationale of censorship Wide variety and long history Indecency sexuality Language Communist ideas We treat books differently books are cultural repositories so they are treated differently than other forms of media In some cases books are removed completely to be able to get a hold of WHY Presumes that media matter in ways that when we go to a bookstore or a library that forces people to make decisions on what to do with it Examples Assumption that books are a part of formal curricula ways to learn Books do not have same rating system Books have a fixed nature format unchangeable Reading requires more attention span you are very invested in it Books are open to interpretation 1 Early Novelists Hawthorne Melville Twain Beadle Company s dime novels Paperbacks penguin books and pocked books Today More than 60 of books sold in US are paperbacks Book Industry Today 2012 33 billion in revenue Examples of major categories different than just sections at bookstore Trade books Largest section Juvenile and adult fiction ex Harry Potter Non Fiction Cookbooks Biographies Coffee Table picture books Educationally oriented El Hi elementary and high school HUGE money made Higher Education textbooks put together several sources University Press owned and operated at schools not secondary source like a text book but University press put together their own ideas Ex Oxford press oldest in the world EP Professional references for a variety of professions Law guides Medical Mass Market paperbacks romance novels quick diet guides Appeal to a wide variety of people Produced quickly and cheaply Quick How to guides for dummies Industry is slowly growing but in general the average household spending on books is on the decline Books is the only form of print media in terms of number of minutes spent per day that is on the rise 2 Book Industry Trends Aliteracy people possess the ability but are unwilling to do so 50 of people in our age range 18 24 do not read for pleasure Older generation thinks it may be something to be concerned about Convergence on the rise From books e publishing e books e readers POD print on demand E publishing makes up 10 of book industry 3 4billion Christmas day 2009 FIRST time that more books were bought in the electronic version than paper books in that day in 2011 1 in 3 Americans owned an e reader Summer of 2011 amazon sold 110 e books for every 1 hard copy of book POD print on demand do away with the air conditioned storage areas as soon as the person says I want to buy this book the electronic file gets printed and sent to you Saves publishers money good for works that aren t as popular Conglomeration More than 80 sales from 8 major companies PROS a lot of money to print high quality and market the books and deliver and invest in lesser known works and introduce them to literary world CONS Limited voice cut out the mom and pop shops that cannot compete to attract big talent to write Emphasis on profit and hypercommericalism Blockbuster mentality pay a lot of money to a few people so it makes a big splash publishers pay 45 million dollars up front and then Clancy then write two books THEN revenue from book Film making characterized by reduced risk taking and more formulaic movies Subsidiary rights Idea of selling off the rights of the likeness of characters to other properties authors get revenue from that ex Book was turned into Harry Potter world lunchboxes figurines etc Potential PROBLEM publishers are looking for potential for subsidiary rights NOT because it is a good book Instant books published right after event and in the stores immediately Ex Royal Engagement written in 48 hours 3 Chapter 5 Magazine Brief History of Magazines Book stores started with mom and pop shop that knew all the books and could recommend books but NOW 30 books are sold at warehouse type of stores like Costco Target and Wal Mart Amazon makes up 15 book sales today The word magazine used to be known as a place where things are stored Early 1730s in England when magazines emerge First magazine in colonies 1741 Benjamin Franklin Went to an old editor of his Pennsylvania Gazette John Weeby and wanted to put together a magazine Weeby told Andrew Bradford Franklin s biggest competitor and Bradford released the American Magazine and two days later Franklin released General Magazine Neither magazine lasted very long but they established an early format Characteristics of early magazines Targeted at elite intellectuals Heavy political and literary content Limited local circulation NYC and Philly Didn t have the means to deliver them across long distances When magazines truly become a mass medium 1865 700 published 1885 more than 3000 In the era at the end of the civil war they increased dramatically 1945 More than 32 Million families subscribing Why so much change Targeting woman Magazines differentiated audiences to become more popular targeted woman because now kids went to school EX Ladies Home Journal Better Homes and Gardens Cosmopolitan Increased literacy Era of mass circulation 4 Act allowed magazines to have cheaper postage and prices magazines lowered their prices when newspapers did competition breeds lower prices Spread of railroads Industrialization cheaper ways to print but specifically to magazines it was sociological change of leisure because the basis of US economy in 1700s was agriculture but post civil war we develop industry Industry introduced fixed work schedules 8am 5pm The by product of this was LIESURE TIME The factories also pay people on a regular basis so more people can afford media with disposable income Characteristics General Interest appeal to a lot of people Ex Saturday Evening Post and Readers Digest that was good for the whole family National Prevalence Visually Superior Mass audience FIRST media to be distributed from coast to coast first NATIONAL media Introduction of television is
View Full Document
Unlocking...