1. Introdu
Introduction to Mass
Communication:
Media Literacy and
Culture 8th edition
Stanley J. Baran
Chapter
3
Books
1
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Books
 The role of books in the country’s
development
 Importance of books
 Economics and structure of the book industry
 Media literacy issues
2
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Books
 What’s your
favorite book???
WHY?
3
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. A Short History of Books
 Books in Colonial North
America
 Settlers were poor and
illiterate

1638: First printing
press arrived

Printing was under
control of the British
Crown (no secular
texts; no criticism of
government)
4
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. A Short History of Books
 Some early books

1638: Poor Richard’s
Almanack by Ben
Franklin

1644: The Whole
Booke of Psalms: The
FIRST BOOK!!!

1740: Pamela by
Samuel Richardson:
The FIRST NOVEL!!!
5
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. A Short History of Books
 1765: Printers revolt after
passage of Stamp Act
 Act was designed to
control expression in
the increasingly
restless colonies.
 By the mid-1770s antiBritish sentiment had
reached its climax.
 Pamphlets motivated
and coalesced political
dissent, challenging
British right to govern
the colonies. (e.g.,
Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense)
6
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. A Short History of Books
 After the War, printing became central to cultural life in major cities.

Printers/bookshops were connected to coffeehouses and taverns
(pre-Barnes & Noble).
 Books were still expensive, often costing the equivalent of a working
person’s weekly pay.
 Literacy a luxury

Literacy rate grew (now, US literacy at 95%).
7
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

8. A Short History of Books
 The Flowering of the
Novel

1884: linotype
machine (set type
mechanically)

Approx. 1875: Offset
lithography made it
possible to print from
photographic plates.
8
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. A Short History of Books
 The Flowering of the Novel

Lower cost printing
combined with
literacy=novel

1860: Irwin and
Erastus Beadle began
publishing dime
novels/pulp novels.
 By 1865 Beadle
and company
produced over 4
million volumes;
made books a
mass medium.
9
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. A Short History of Books
 The Coming of Paperback
Books
First
pub.
in
1952


Began as a
paperback
1935: Allen Lane
founded Penguin
Books and invented
the paperback.
Today more than
60% of all books sold
are paperbacks.
10
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. Books and Their Audiences
The Book Industry



3 million titles (trad. & non.
trad.) published in North
America each year
Readers buy 3 billion
books
Generate $33 billion in
sales
but book sales have FALLEN
(while the cost of books has gone
up).
Books are the least “mass”
medium…titles can be targeted
towards broad or narrow
audiences. New and innovative
ideas are likely to appear in books.
11
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

12. Why are books so important,
anyway?
What
lessons
was Mr.
Bradbury
giving us
with this
book?
 Would our lives be
any different if
books ceased to
exist?
 If yes, how so?
 If not, why not?
12
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

13. Books and Their Audiences
 The Cultural Value of the
Book

Books are:



Agents of social
and cultural change
Important cultural
repository
Windows on the
past
13
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

14. Books and Their Audiences
 The Cultural Value of the
Book

Books are:

Important
sources of
personal
development
14
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

15. Books and Their Audiences
 The Cultural Value of the
Book

Books are:



Good sources of
entertainment,
escape, and
personal reflection
More individual,
personal activity
than consuming
advertiser supported
media
Mirrors of culture
15
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

16. Books and Their Audiences
 Censorship

Books are targeted because of
their influence as cultural
repositories and agents of social
change.

If a book is dangerous,
should it be banned?
 Is there such a thing
as a “dangerous
book”? (we’ll see…)

Book publishers’
obligations demand they
resist censorship.
 Can you make any
pro-censorship
arguments? (Here are
some reasons WHY
people censor…)
16
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

17. Books and Their Audiences
 According to the American
Library Association,
among the library and
school books most
targeted by modern
censors in the U.S. (20002009) are:

Harry Potter Series
The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn
To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men
The Color Purple
The Goosebumps series

In the Night Kitchen
Are any
of YOUR
faves on
here???





17
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

18. Books and Their Audiences
• According to the American Library
Association, between 1990 and 2010, more
than 10,000 books were banned because:
18
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

19. (Developing Media Literacy
Skills)
 The Lessons of Harry
Potter

Why does it resonate with
young people?

Why does it appeal to those
of all ages?

The success of this wellwritten content contrasts with
what critics contend is a
steady decline in quality in
other media (i.e., reality TV).
19
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

20. Books and Their Audiences
• Aliteracy as Self-censorship

What happens when we refuse to read?

How much do you read?

The National Endowment for the Arts released a summary of
many studies that investigate all types of reading, even online.
 In summary, we learn how to read, but we read less during
adolescence, which can have negative effects on our school
work, getting a job, and participating in culture.
20
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

21. So, one more time, why are books
so important???
21
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

22. Scope and Structure of the Book
Industry
• Categories of
Books

Book club editions

El-hi (textbooks for
elementary and high schools)

Higher education (college
and universities)

Mail order books

Mass market paperbacks

Professional books
22
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

23. Scope and Structure of the Book
Industry
Categories of Books

Religious books

Standardized tests

Subscription
reference books
23
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

24. Scope and Structure of the Book
Industry
Categories of Books

Trade books

University press
24
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

25. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing

Convergence
 E-publishing

Helps with the issue of
inventory

E-books




Account fo 10% of trad.
publishes’ sales
Good outlet for first-time
authors
Has a financial
advantage over
traditional publishing
 Writers get 4070% of royalties
 Enjoy those free
e-books!!!
Print on demand (POD)
 No remainders!
25
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

26. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing
 Smartphones, Tablets, and
e-readers

e-readers
 iBook, The Nook,
The Kindle
 In 2011, almost
1/3 Americans
had an e-reader
or tablet
 Hundreds of
thousands of
books are
available for
platform agnostic
publishing
26
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

27. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing
 Conglomeration

cottage industry

Today, industry dominated by a few giants
which are divisions of national or international
conglomerates.

e.g., Time Warner Publishing (bought by the
Hachette group, the second largest pub. in the
world), HarperCollins (part of News Corp), Simon
& Schuster (CBS Corporation).
27
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

28. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing
 Demands for Profits and
Hypercommercialism

Now, the parent
company expects
profitability at all
costs.


Focus on brand
name authors and a
bestseller-driven
system of high
royalty advances.
What happens to the
little guy?
subsidiary rights

synergy
28
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

29. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing
 Demands for Profits
and
Hypercommercialism

Instant books


Paid Product Placement


Lack true substance
Does the quality of
work suffer?
Hollywoodization

Only books that
have such potential
will receive
publishing deals
29
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

30. Trends and Convergence in
Book Publishing
 Growth of Small Presses
 Over commercialization of
book industry mitigated
somewhat by rise of smaller
publishing houses.
 Focus on narrow target
markets (e.g.,
environment, GLBT
issues)
From Mother Courage
Press, (Mother Courage,
1989)
Click me!
 Restructuring of Book
Retailing

The number of bookstores in
the U.S. is dwindling.
 Independent
bookstores can offer
personalized attention.
(e.g., Religious
specializations )

Another alternative is
buying books online.
 Amazon, Bigwords, etc.
30
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

31. Developing Media Literacy Skills
 The Lessons of Harry
Potter

Why does it resonate with
young people?

Why does it appeal to those
of all ages?

The success of this wellwritten content contrasts with
what critics contend is a
steady decline in quality in
other media (i.e., reality TV).
31
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.