The Dead Tree Society

This post, from the great Los Angeles Review of Books, is quite awesome and on the money. We need to stop blaming the internet for killing everything. It didn’t. The internet didn’t kill the music industry: the music industry did, by its disregard for musicians and music. In other words, they killed themselves because they didn’t respect the content. The newspaper industry has been the poster child of the silly “dead trees” (the link is from 2006!) logic but the truth is the newspaper industry was killed by the investment community. Readership hasn’t plummeted anywhere. It’s down but it’s not dead (though this infographic is pretty convincing otherwise). My friend Andrew Davis of Tippingpoint Labs has done some interesting stuff about why print isn’t dead. Of course it’s not dead. We’re reading more than ever. We’re reading more magazines than ever. No really. We’re reading books. We’re reading newspapers. We’re consuming content more than ever. As a writer I’m kind of sad that publishers haven’t learned from the music industry. Book publishing is in trouble. But it’s not dead (here’s a great post for writers in this uncertain age). As a writer, I think this is an exciting time for me. I’m still going the “old fashioned” route – agent submitting to big publishers (who should get off their fat asses and make a decision already – it’s been months!) – but I don’t have to. I can publish in a myriad of ways to reach the reader. And I will.
But stop with the print is dead stuff. It’s not.
Right?
I just returned from vacation. And I’m already thinking. Look at me. Now, who’s into some planking?