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The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Reader The convergence of several trends leaves the book-buying public out in the cold. by Colin Robinson, co-publisher of OR Books. “TO read a novel is a difficult and complex art,” Virginia Woolf wrote in a 1925 essay, “How to Read a Book.” Today, with our powers of concentration atrophied by the staccato communication of the Internet and attention easily diverted to addictive entertainment on our phones and tablets, book-length reading is harder still. It’s not just more difficult to find the time and focus that a book demands. Longstanding allies of the reader, professionals who have traditionally provided guidance for those picking up a book, are disappearing fast. The broad, inclusive conversation around interesting titles that such experts helped facilitate is likewise dissipating. Reading, always a solitary affair, is increasingly a lonely one. A range of related factors have brought this to a head. Start with the publishing companies: Overall book sales have been anemic in recent years, declining 6 percent in the first half of 2013 alone. But the profits of publishers have remained largely intact; in the same period only one of what were then still the “big six” trade houses reported a decline on its bottom line. This is partly because of the higher margins on e-books. But it has also been achieved by publishers cutting costs, especially for mid-list titles. Read the rest of this article at the NY Times.

Interestingly the recently announced merger of Random House and Penguin Publishers, forming the largest publishing company the world has ever seen fail to generate any conversation on my regular online haunts. I could be the presidential elections was more than Black folks could think about for the last few weeks. Or if could be, in my circles at least, the two companies are largely inconsequential beyond talk of how a mediocre book like Fifty Shades of Grey could sell so many copies. I guess the "Big 6" are now the "Big 5": HarperCollins - Rupert Murdoch's, News Corporation Macmillan, owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck of Germany Hachette - Lagardère of France; Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS. "Random Penguin" Penguin Random House (Bertelsmann AG 53% and 47% Pearson PLC.) All things considered this is another sign of how bad things are in the publishing world, particularly if these consolidations continue. Read a NY Time Article: Random House and Penguin Merger Creates Global Giant By ERIC PFANNER and AMY CHOZICK Published: October 29, 2012 The deal between the media companies Bertelsmann, which owns Random House, and Pearson, which owns Penguin, might draw antitrust scrutiny.

See the first footage from Black & Write - A documentary on black authors and the publishing business. C. Mikki, Ifalade Ta'Shia Asanti, Bryan-Keyth Wilson, Kim Johnson, Sherrice Thomas, Pat Tucker, Nakia R. Laushaul, Renee Daniel Flagler, Kim Green, Dr. Jacqueline Green, Takeyah Young, Jamillah M. Warner, LaVonda Howard, Dr. Venise Berry, James Jackson, Faynetta Lavergne Burrle, Irma Bryant, Dr. Linda F. Beed, Kimberly A. Bibbs, Kim Johnson, Patricia Haley, Tia Ross, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9JmfGVEgco

Join Book Industry Professionals and Authors for the 6th Annual Black Pack Party Visit http://aalbc.it/bpp12 for more information

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