Publishing Industries Social Ills

[Zorral]

Publishing traditionally has hired from an old boys and girls network, the network that begins in private schools, and the Ivies.  It was a genteel profession, and only genteel types could afford a genteel professions such art curators, critics, etc., meaning there was family money to fund the generally low pay.  Another reason young females were let in at all -- they are much less expensive as employees than young men, and one could fairly expect them to leave to get married to one of their own kind and raise more children who might prefer a genteel profession -- long before they noticed they were paid less, had no opportunity for promotion and influence.  (This is generally true -- there are always exceptions, but they tended to prove the rule.)

As things changed toward the end of the 20th century, the overt winnowing process was unpaid internships.  Who can afford unpaid internships?  Ya, the same people who have run the publishing industry all along.  Though let's face it, as books matter less and less, and book work and writing paid no more than ever they did, and consolidation via the enormous international mega corps bought them up -- the industry no longer carries the status it once did.  Though more people than ever seem to want to be writers!  

[Darth Richard II]

https://mashable.com/article/barnes-and-noble-diversity-book-covers-cancelled/

[Zorral]

28 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

https://mashable.com/article/barnes-and-noble-diversity-book-covers-cancelled/

Here's another one:

https://slate.com/culture/2020/02/barnes-and-noble-black-history-book-covers-canceled.html

Quote

 

.... A press release describing the selection process for the novels says that the organizers used artificial intelligence to “analyze the text from 100 of the most famous titles, searching the text to see if it omitted ethnicity of primary characters.” The algorithm apparently had the ability to account “for the fact that when authors describe a character, they rarely outright state their race, but often use more poetic and descriptive language.” Yet The Secret Garden, a book about a child of British colonialists who considers Indians subhuman, was somehow still included.

That choice, among others, reveals the fundamental problem with the “Diverse Editions” concept: The project assumes that stories written by and about white people are somehow racially neutral and that you can just slap a black or brown face on them and declare them diverse. But just because a character isn’t described as having pale skin or golden hair doesn’t mean that their whiteness isn’t a part of their narrative. And as authors like N.K. Jemisin and Mikki Kendall noted, “Diverse Editions” comes at the expense of lifting up and promoting actual nonwhite authors. (Of the 12 classics chosen, Alexandre Dumas is the only author who isn’t white.)....

 

Artificial intelligence is artificial.

[Heartofice]

I feel like the old classic phrase 'the left eating itself' feels quite appropriate in this situation. 

[Darth Richard II]

[Kyoshi]

17 hours ago, Raja said:

Because the publishing industry is white. Very white.

Thanks for this.

But I guess I'm naive because even with this, I just don't understand how a group of professional adult people sat in a room and decided this was a good idea. In 2020. This is basic idiocy, and I thought we'd advanced beyond this is a species, you know, in terms of microaggressions. This is just first level, basic nonsense. It's really disappointing.

[maarsen]

5 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I feel like the old classic phrase 'the left eating itself' feels quite appropriate in this situation. 

Publishing books makes you a leftist? Are you suggesting we go back to stone tablets and cuneiform tablets? If you want to be taken seriously, quit making silly and/or nonsensical comments.

And yes. People here do not put much stock in what you post. It tends to be good for an occasional giggle or an eye roll at best. It really does not advance the conversation at all.

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

Thanks for this.

But I guess I'm naive because even with this, I just don't understand how a group of professional adult people sat in a room and decided this was a good idea. In 2020. This is basic idiocy, and I thought we'd advanced beyond this is a species, you know, in terms of microaggressions. This is just first level, basic nonsense. It's really disappointing.

Yeah. I’m wondering if the Oscars will decide to black up Sam Mendes or put him in a dress and wig to answer their diversity critics , if he wins Best Director.

[DanteGabriel]

3 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

Thanks for this.

But I guess I'm naive because even with this, I just don't understand how a group of professional adult people sat in a room and decided this was a good idea. In 2020. This is basic idiocy, and I thought we'd advanced beyond this is a species, you know, in terms of microaggressions. This is just first level, basic nonsense. It's really disappointing.

They either had no minority representation in the room when making this decision, or there was a single minority who may or may not have objected, and got steamrolled. Big companies keep making these stupid mistakes, through some combination of ignorance, tone-deafness, and the propensity of committees to develop bad ideas far stupider than one single dumbass could come up with.

[Proudfeet]

4 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

Thanks for this.

But I guess I'm naive because even with this, I just don't understand how a group of professional adult people sat in a room and decided this was a good idea. In 2020. This is basic idiocy, and I thought we'd advanced beyond this is a species, you know, in terms of microaggressions. This is just first level, basic nonsense. It's really disappointing.

Aren't those books all public domain now? They probably started from not wanting to pay any royalties and books that are easy to sell(?)* and ended up with classics. 

Can only speak for myself, but outside of things that I'm conditioned to pick up, everything else is a giant blind spot that I only rarely stop and think about. I assume others work the same way.

 

*Do people even buy public domain books? Its a big ask for me to shell out for something that I can get for free on a medium that is usually easier to read on. It's got to be pretty special to be worth its price. Just new covers without even any illustrations seems a hard sell. The ones I've seen are more expensive than the newly released paperbacks I bought too.

[Zorral]

I prefer my reading to be convenient for making notes about what I'm reading, convenient for looking up the citations, glossaries,  maps and indices, if they are part of the book. Which, like family trees and pronouncers, are  in that public domain novel, War and Peace, for a single instance.  These are absolutely essential for works of scholarship -- not to mention illustrations and other visual content (as opposed to only the print).  Free online, ebooks, etc., just don't provide these essential tools that allow for ultimate penetration of the content -- or if they think they are, they are difficult at best to access (though not always!), or nearly impossible to comprehend properly.

Also one wants the best or more up-to-date translations -- again, I'll cite War and Peace as an example here.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, putting a bunch of books in blackface (and yellowface- that Jekyll and Hyde cover is particularly egregious) really wasn't a good idea. Ignorant on so many levels.

 

 

 

[Ser Not Appearing]

Was recently directed to this article, which relates to the subject here. I find it to well-describe an odd dichotomy and a sincere challenge.

In so many ways, it seems you may well be damned if you do and damned if you don't include diverse voices ... and a perhaps over zealous desire to see diversity of character and author voice is actually serving to limit diversity in a pursuit of perfection.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/15/torn-apart-the-vicious-war-over-young-adult-books

[Ser Not Appearing]

Just to be clear, I'm referring to the overall effect ... not defending any specific title.

[Darth Richard II]

YA publishing is just a clusterfuck of fuckery right now, and I haven't even read the link you posted yet.

[IlyaP]

27 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

YA publishing is just a clusterfuck of fuckery right now, and I haven't even read the link you posted yet.

It's a fascinating read. 

Makes me think that any writer with a social media account that's thinking of going into YA should delete their accounts right away.

[Zorral]

I remember that article -- from about 8 months ago now.  My how time flies.  Have things changed at all since June 2019?  In any case a whole lot seems fairly stagnant now -- i.e. just recycling, though often more slick, but not fresh, creative or even interesting.  We've seen it all before.

I mean, that's pretty much how I feel about these sorts of genre fictions these days.  Emphasis on the I here; for people who are quite young and haven't read the thousands of these titles over the years it may well be fresh and exciting.

 

[bms295]

Just read Richard Morgan's last few blog posts. His year isnt getting any better, it seems...

[Darth Richard II]

23 minutes ago, bms295 said:

Just read Richard Morgan's last few blog posts. His year isnt getting any better, it seems...

I was thinking about updating about that but I'm not sure it's really gone anywhere. Unless I missed something new.

And for fucks sake dude has a fuckiing show on netflix, I think he'll be fine.

 

Edit: Hahah oh fuck, there's new fuckery. *grabs popcorn*

[Darth Richard II]

Well, mastadon was very wrong for what they did, but RKM yelling about 1984 and mind control over some social media site no one uses...not a good look? Plus some of the comments on that post...I dunno. He seems to be digging deeper into his hole.

edit: I mean I can’t tell if he’s legit transphobic or just refusing to admit he got some basic facts wrong, but goddamn,

doesn’t help to have commenters advertising alt right web sites either, or that one commenter who went lol I bet eve is a man.