Books:The Birth of the Mass Media

– Referencing Mass Communication: Living in a Media WorldRalph E. Hanson

Memoir or Fiction

• Look inside – Amazon.com• The Smoking Gun:

muckrakers found that the book is filled with a million little lies. “Oprah Winfrey’s been had.”

Pictograph

Ideograph

Vocabulary• Pictograph• Ideograph• Phonography• Alphabets

• Papyrus• Parchment• Paper• Scriptoria

Development of Writing• Approx. 3500 BC: Writing originates in Egypt or

Mesopotamia• Earliest writing was pictographs and ideographs; symbols

that stand for ideas• Approx. 2000 BC: Phonography begins; symbols stand for

sounds• 1700 – 1500 BC: Alphabets developed; letters stand for

sounds

Development of Paper• 3100 BC: Egyptians develop papyrus, writing surface

made from papyrus reed.• Parchment – Writing surface from skin of goats and

sheep; much less fragile than papyrus.• 240- 105 BC: Paper developed by Chinese; moves to

Europe in mid-11th century.

Development of Books• Earliest books were papyrus scrolls• 400-800 AD: Religious books hand-copied by

monks in rooms called scriptoria.• 1200s: Licensed publishers distribute hand-

copied books such as The Canterbury Tales.

The Invention of Mass Culture• 1455: Gutenberg develops movable metal

type, makes printing feasible.• First mass-produced written word. The

printing press allowed text to be stored in multiple “perfect” copies.

William Caxton 1422 - 1491• Helped establish the rules for

English, standardizing word usage, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

• This was done by publishing books in English rather than Latin.

Books in the New World• 1539: First New World printing press in Mexico City.• 1640: Printing begins in North America with Whole

Booke of Psalmes. Book became early export for colonies.

• 1731: Benjamin Franklin establishes early circulating (subscription) libraries. Went on to become popular author.

Consequences of Gutenberg• Standardized books and language• Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation• Made possible transferring ideas beyond

community where they originated

Mass Produced Books• 1814: Steam-powered rotary press• 1830s–1840s: Popularity of serial novels• Civil War era: Popularity of paperback dime

novels• Growth of inexpensive books, magazines, and

newspapers fuels growth of mass literacy

The Book Business• Publishers• Authors• Booksellers

Publishers• Major commercial publishers• University and small presses• Vanity presses and self-publishing• Government Printing Office

Major Commercial Publishers• Just 20 companies publish nearly 80% of all

books today.• Globally: Pearson, Reed Elsevier, Thomson Reuters,

Wolters Kluwer, Bertelsmann Random House.• USA. McGraw Hill, Scholastic, John Wiley, Harper

Collins, Readers Digest.

University and Small Presses• May not be in the business for profit.• Sometimes breakaway successes.• EG. Prof at U of Chicago, Norman Maclean’s,

memoir “A River Runs through It” about growing up in Montana. Published by U of Chicago, made into a major motion picture.

Self Publishing• “Vanity Presses” are publishers that print

books with the author paying all costs of publication and discribution.

• Surprises happen eg James Redfield’s Celestine Prophesy.

Authors• Not everyone is a star.• Many books have limited promotion.

Book Writing Process

Booksellers• Wholesalers/distributors—Ingram Book Group• Major bookstore chains—Barnes & Noble is

largest bookseller• Independent booksellers—American

Bookseller’s Association• Mail-order book clubs

Textbook Business• Barnes & Noble has major campus bookstore division• GAO estimates on the average, a student spends

$900 a year on textbooks• Schools try variety of ways to lower costs• Schools experimenting with e-book readers• Authors/publishers make nothing on used books

“Literature” vs. Popular Books• Nathaniel Hawthorne vs.

the “scribblers” like Sarah Josepha Hale. Pg134.

• Hawthorne’s complaints about pop fiction are often echoed today.

Literature vs. Popular Books• Stephen King —“The

literary equivalent of a Big Mac and a large fries.”

• Vampires, wizards, and the NYT Best Seller list

Literature & Popular Intersecting• The Hobbit was written by

JR Tolkien to amuse his children.

• Has a lasting influence – movies, inspired Yes and Led Zeppelin, the game Everquest.

Books and Censorship• Book banning in the United States is generally local

and involves taking books out of libraries or off school reading lists.

• Globally, authors can have works banned, threats of violence and death.

• Salman Rushdie—The Satanic Verses• Sherry Jones—The Jewel of Medina

Books and the Long Tail• Amazon.com—Offering all books rather than a

selection of books• Tracks customers’ interests by recording what

they’ve already bought.• Started 1995. One reason for initial success is in

early days of Internet, people who owned computers were also likely to read books.

Electronic Publishing• “Audio e-books” have been popular for years.• Mostly, e-books now are books in form of a

text file that can be read on Kindle, iPad, Droid, etc.

• Print-On-Demand is e-publishing where the physical book is not printed until it is ordered.