Book Oven pal Neil Gorman wrote an open letter to the reading public:
Dear Reading Public,
I have said this again and again, and now I’m going to say it again. I honestly don’t know why I keep saying it over and over, maybe I think that if I say it (or write it, podcast it, email it, or whatever) enough, it will sink in.
Print is alive and well.
It is a fact that the methods for delivering the printed word to readers are rapidly evolving now days, but that does not mean that the printed word is dying or dead, as many people seem to believe it is.
~1~
Words are words are words.
Whether the words someone wrote appear on paper or on a screen does not matter. Let’s make this a simple If/Then statement…
If the words that the reader reads are the words that the writer wrote,
then it does not matter what the words appear on, or what size they appear in, or what color they are.
In other words: The words are what are important, not the way they are displayed.
I can understand people wanting to read the words on paper. I like reading words on paper. Paper is a good storage device for words of fiction and non-fiction. But if the words appear on something besides paper it does not mean that the words are dying or that they have died.
~2~
This has happened before.
The time period that we are in is a time of great change for several industries that have been built up around the printed word.
The paper industry
The book seller & news stand industries
The print shop industry (makes paper into books, magazines, and newspapers)
The publishing industry (pays the writers who make the words)
The print news industry
I’m sure that there are others, but I think you get the idea.
The only constant in life is that there are no constants in life. That goes for the life of a person and it goes for the life of industry/industries. The printed word is at a point in its life cycle where things that have been considered givens are being changed or disregarded.
Change is difficult for people to deal with. As the industries that bring the printed word to readers change, there will be many false starts, mistakes, and at times things might be just plain fucked up. But every mistake will be a learning experience; every challenge will be an opportunity to grow.
I was at a wedding reception once, and when the best man gave his speech he said, “Remember that no meaningful… no worthwhile change ever comes without a temporary surrender of security.” Those words ring true for the people and the industries that bring us the printed word.
~3~
What about print journalism?
There are some bad things happening to the printed word as a result of the changes it’s going through; for example, the closing of many newsrooms that produced great works of print journalism. It really sucks that newsrooms are shrinking… Notice that I said newsrooms and not newspapers. I say that, because a newsroom is the heart, soul, and brain of a newspaper.
I truly believe that when someone finds a way to make a newsroom profitable in the age of the web (and mark my words someone will find a way… There is far too much money to be made for someone not to find a way…), you and I will get the same quality of journalism on the web that we got from newspapers.
In short: the newspaper might not be as strong as it use to be; it might shrink, it might go the way of vinyl records or eight tracks, but the newsroom will survive, and print journalism will survive with it.
~4~
What about book sellers & newsstands?
These are affected by the creation and subsequent advancement of two technologies:
1. Internet (mainly web-based) technologies; and
2. Print-on-demand technologies
The cost that has been associated with the creation, fabrication, and distribution of a book in the physical form is greatly reduced. While this is bad for book, magazine, and newspaper sellers, I believe it is a good thing for the reading public.
I say this because I believe that today web-based and print-on-demand technologies have made it much easier to get more books and more information presented via print into the hands of more people for less cost. I believe that these technologies will go a long way towards increasing literacy and appreciation for the written word.
The printing press was a huge technological leap that increased literacy and appreciation for the written word. I see the web-based and print-on-demand technologies of today as doing much the same.
The web and print-on-demand technologies are the printing press of the now.
The companies and the people who attempt to sell mass-produced physical artifacts that contain the printed word will shrink; they may even go the way of the Pony Express. That is the cost of progress. It’s bad for those industries, but good for the world.
~5~
To sum it all up.
Change does not mean death or dying.
The words don’t change. It doesn’t matter if they are on paper or a screen.
Newsrooms will find a way to survive, even if newspapers don’t.
The web and print-on-demand technologies are the printing press of today.
What is bad for people who sell the printed word might be good for the world.
The reading public (that’s us) are living in a time of great change. The change will involve many mistakes and much learning. It will be both scary and exciting. The change will be bad for some, good for more.
Please don’t mistake the growing pains of the industries that create, fabricate, distribute, and sell the printed word with the dying or death of the printed word. They are not the same thing.
Thank you.
-Neil Gorman
