Download Books – Day 3

Books – Day 3
Books -- Contemporary
Medium
Mass Medium (42-3)
• Different from other media
– Not heavily supported by
advertising
– Made to last longer than any other
print media
• Only sell a few thousand copies,
max 10 million (less than single
soap opera)
• Important
– Persuade influential (new
policies/solutions)
– Readership/influence beyond sales
– Major channel for transmitting
cultural heritage
– Promote powerful ideas/inspire
great changes
Industry (43-4)
• Publisher’s role
– Select/shape what is published
– Produce the book
– Advertise/distribute book to
receivers
• Numbers
– Fig. 2.1 shows growing sales
• Recent turn toward
commercialism, focus on
profits
• Expanding market – Book of
the Month Club, Literary Guild
• Higher education, esp. after
WWII (textbooks, GI Bill, baby
boom)
• 1950s cheaper printing/paper
processes favorable to
paperback
Books -- Contemporary Medium,
cont.
Profits (44)
• From mid-20th century to
present day, 100x more
(435 mil to 40 bil)
• Previous family-owned
business, small, private
• Went public for growth
opportunities, attract
profit-oriented investors,
increasing DEMAND
Consolidation
• Mergers/acquisitions
– Gain financial resources
and sophisticated
business/marketing skills
– Loss of autonomy
(freedom/independence)
in decision-making
• More market research,
higher use of
freelancers/less in-house
• Less of a search for
noteworthy/groundbreaking,
more for mass consumption