If there’s a mini-theme for the week, it’s shifting paradigms. First we have Los Angeles Times books editor David Ulin talking about the National Book Award nominations, but really he’s discussing City Lights owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s contributions to literature and his statement at the nomination ceremony last week: “The real culture of America…is not corporate monoculture and television. It’s the writers, teachers, universities, libraries and librarians. That’s the mainstream culture of America.” It’s eclecticism as reflected in the fiction nominees (certainly a diverse bunch) and in the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Orhan Pamuk, certainly not a mainstream, middlebrow choice.
And if monoculture continues to die, then its biggest expression in the publishing world – the giant bookstores – might be falling off, too. That’s the hope of Bryan Appleyard, whose column in the most recent Sunday Times about the high-street bookshops’ “imminent demise” as a result of improving POD technology and availability is still sending seismic waves throughout the UK book world. “Books, basically, are about to hit their iPod/iTunes moment,” Appleyard says, “when new technology drives down costs, transforms the medium and provides simplified, targeted distribution.” Simon & Schuster UK’s Andrew Gordon agrees. “Potentially this is the biggest revolution in publishing since the invention of movable type.”
But one thing Appleyard doesn’t discuss – and it will always be what distinguishes a bookshop from a POD outlet – is distribution. Until that’s solved, any and all pipe dreams will have to be put on hold. Will it be solved? I wouldn’t bet against it…