[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.67,0:00:09.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thanks everyone for having me up here
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.12,0:00:13.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I used to come to Toronto to do presentations of individual book titles
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.82,0:00:18.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the sales conference for Publishers Group Canada.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.81,0:00:24.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's sort of funny to be here talking about books in a much more abstract way
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.40,0:00:33.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I look forward to also being able to present titles to PGC sales conference again in the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.94,0:00:43.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An odd little personal anecdote: I suffer from a very very benign heart condition
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.60,0:00:49.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that causes my heart to beat at 120 beats a minute while at rest
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.00,0:00:54.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I control it with beta-blockers, and I forgot to bring the beta-blockers.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.26,0:01:01.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I'm going to be doing this presentation in a biological state akin to permanent stage fright
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.77,0:01:08.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so bear with me if the adrenaline becomes too much.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.39,0:01:15.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the recorded history of publishing, risk was about what books you acquired,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.88,0:01:23.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was a supply-side issue: What product will we supply?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.52,0:01:27.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that contained two questions, effectively:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.34,0:01:32.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What titles? and how much do we pay for them?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.29,0:01:36.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Bob alluded to the "How much we pay for them?" problem
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.13,0:01:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I'd like to delve a tiny bit deeper for a second into understanding
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.54,0:01:46.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the true pathology of unearned advances.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.58,0:01:50.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because it was discovered in the early 1970s
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.39,0:01:55.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that, when you're engaged in a competitive auction,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.83,0:02:01.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for something the long-term value of which is not clear
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.46,0:02:09.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the winner always overpays. Not sometimes, but always.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.85,0:02:17.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was three oil economists trying to figure out why they were always overpaying for drilling rights.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.40,0:02:24.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they did exhaustive studies and comprehensive game theory analysis,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.88,0:02:30.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, in fact, the rest of the world has figured this out.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.65,0:02:38.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When they were auctioning the wireless spectrum for 3G, back in the early '00s,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.43,0:02:44.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,several countries structured their auctions so that the second bidder won,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.83,0:02:50.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the assumption was the first bidder was going to so overpay
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.71,0:03:00.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they would not have enough money left to build all the towers and infrastructure required to execute on 3G.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.62,0:03:08.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this isn't just an accident of a couple of individual editors going slightly off the reservation
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.83,0:03:16.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or sort of a little bit of a bad habit, it is a profound pathology in the industry that we are taking
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.96,0:03:23.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our working capital out of what we do and handing it to authors,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.70,0:03:27.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is part of the deep structure of how we've been operating.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.44,0:03:32.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even if we were to solve that particular miracle, however,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.72,0:03:37.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of transforming our capacity to not overpay,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.94,0:03:42.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the question with supply still becomes: Well, what do we publish?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.40,0:03:47.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And a fascinating thing of what's happened over the last hundred years
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.30,0:03:53.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that in a certain sense the supply... it doesn't matter anymore, because the supply
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.35,0:03:56.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of content is going infinite.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.11,0:04:07.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The 20th century has been a history of supply of long-form narrative content increasing.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.48,0:04:14.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It began...-and it's a beautiful thing-, it began with reductions in the overall degree of racism,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.77,0:04:17.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sexism in our society.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.31,0:04:22.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The so-called "Golden Era" of publishing in the 1950s consisted of white men in tweed jackets
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.97,0:04:25.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,publishing each other.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.64,0:04:30.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a golden age for them, it wasn't a golden age for the rest of society,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.18,0:04:36.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were suffering from bigotry, and racism, and sexism all along.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.84,0:04:45.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, as our societies let the other 60 to 70% start writing, start getting educated,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.76,0:04:54.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get access to tertiary education, access to the social, intellectual, creative capital
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.37,0:05:02.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,required to just be able to write, and discover an agent, and discover a publisher,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.21,0:05:09.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that was really the first moment revolutionizing over the supply chain of publishing.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.97,0:05:14.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the second moment is a digital moment that has nothing to do with the Internet,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.39,0:05:19.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is something that enabled a lot of the people here in this room to be publishers,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.42,0:05:22.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is good old Adobe Pagemaker.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.83,0:05:28.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The "desktop publishing revolution", as it was once called,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.04,0:05:36.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Xerox, the Kinkos -you don't have Kinkos in Canada but... oh, you do? Ok-
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.44,0:05:43.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Softskull Press started in a Kinkos in 1993, with two people who were employees
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.32,0:05:45.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,working the graveyard shift
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.36,0:05:53.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,laying out their book on Pagemaker, chopping it, chopping it, tape-binding it,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.91,0:06:00.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, over the course of about 8 weeks, they had 400 tapebound paperbacks to publish,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.49,0:06:03.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that the first Softskull book.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.08,0:06:08.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the explosion that we've seen in the number of titles published in the United States,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.51,0:06:16.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,depending on how you estimate it, about 25000 in 1990, and half a million in 2008,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.92,0:06:19.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not at all even a function of the Internet,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.90,0:06:24.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because those were all print books. It is a function of goold old desktop publishing.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.70,0:06:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we've barely even begun to see the effect of marginal cost of reproduction of digital narratives
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.00,0:06:40.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the fact that it goes to zero. We've not even begun to see the effects of that.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.51,0:06:45.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everything we're contending with right now is a function of Kinkos,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.24,0:06:49.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the aftermath of the Kinkos revolution.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.89,0:06:54.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The quote that you see behind me
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.25,0:07:01.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is taken from an article in Wired magazine from about two years ago
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.39,0:07:10.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was an article about the Netflix prize.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.68,0:07:15.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Netflix -is there Netflix in Canada? I should have checked out. No, ok.-
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.67,0:07:22.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Netflix is basically a DVD rental service where you sign up and
Dialogue: 0,0:07:22.96,0:07:26.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you pick 3 DVDs, they mail them to you,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.12,0:07:30.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you mail back the DVD when you've watched it and it sort of cicles through like that.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.76,0:07:33.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a monthly membership.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.59,0:07:38.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they've a very complicated algorithm that they use to try to tell people
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.68,0:07:45.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well, the people who watched this movie rated these other movies 4 stars,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.74,0:07:51.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and since you rated this movie 4 stars and they did, then, these other movies you might also like.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.68,0:07:55.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's "people who bought ... algo bought ..." in a more sophisticated level.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.12,0:08:00.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they wanted to improve the algorithm by 10%.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.25,0:08:03.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they announced a million dollar prize
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.21,0:08:07.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the person or persons who could pull this off.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.97,0:08:18.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It took about three years, and they got about 85% of the way there fairly quickly,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.62,0:08:28.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so they'd 1.5% left, and they looked at what was the other part of the 1.5,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:28.45,0:08:34.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the data points that were the components of what they weren't able to figure out
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.59,0:08:39.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was basically Wes Anderson movies.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.26,0:08:44.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How would you characterize a Wes Anderson movie?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.03,0:08:50.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not very plot-driven, it's driven by voice and by character.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.68,0:08:56.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, what's the contemporary novel
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.04,0:09:02.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other than a not particularly plot-driven thing, driven by voice and character?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.15,0:09:06.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So basically novels break algorithms.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.56,0:09:13.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when this guy who wrote the article interviewed one of the mathematicians
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.09,0:09:16.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-he was actually an organizational psychologist-
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.23,0:09:24.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he made a comment about media, and it was this comment here:
Dialogue: 0,0:09:24.20,0:09:28.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The 21st century is going to be about sorting demand..."
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.47,0:09:38.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the supply side... the game is over, in a certain sense.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.15,0:09:43.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The genie is out of the bottle. We're going to keep at least doubling,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.52,0:09:47.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if not tripling or quadrupling the number of books published
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.53,0:09:51.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the English language on this planet every year.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.52,0:09:57.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even in everyone here in this room said: "We won't be a part of it, we won't do it," everybody else will.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.71,0:10:01.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this is happening. So how do we respond?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.21,0:10:07.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do we manage risk now that we cannot manage it by controlling supply?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:07.56,0:10:12.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's going to be demand, obviously.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:12.49,0:10:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What can we do, therefore, to manage demand?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.71,0:10:31.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the main things we did in the United States over the last decade was pray for Oprah.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:31.80,0:10:37.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She doesn't have the same effect here, I know,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:37.24,0:10:40.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but there's Canada Reads, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.75,0:10:48.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saw a woman on the plane yesterday reading Lawrence Hill with a Canada Reads sticker on it.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:48.93,0:10:57.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oprah's genius, though... -we used to think of her as the patron saint of publishing in a certain sense-
Dialogue: 0,0:10:57.40,0:11:03.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I want to propose what I think is a relatively radical notion about Oprah,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:03.07,0:11:08.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is that she needed books more than books needed her.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.91,0:11:14.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because Oprah was in the broadcast business.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.78,0:11:20.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the broadcast business is not really a very good business to be in.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.32,0:11:22.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's one-way communication.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:22.100,0:11:32.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Oprah had an hour a day, at most, with her audience,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:32.11,0:11:35.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it was a one-way conversation.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.84,0:11:43.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So how does she own her audience all their waking hours seven days a week?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.18,0:11:45.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How does she get into their heads?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.49,0:11:47.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How does she get mindshare?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:47.100,0:11:51.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She starts a book club.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.05,0:11:56.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Books are cultural objects that take fifteen hours to read,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.96,0:12:01.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fifteen hours of another person's voice inside your head,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.19,0:12:07.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so the commonality between two people who've read the same book
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.56,0:12:19.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a profound and deep intervention.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.79,0:12:36.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The genius of Oprah was to use the book as the platform to own her audience.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:36.09,0:12:40.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if we actually get to be in the book business
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.27,0:12:45.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the book business where you are inside a person's head for fifteen hours
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.94,0:12:51.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you own that proxy object, that cultural proxy object,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.66,0:12:58.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that connects two people to one another in a deeper deeper way than any other media
Dialogue: 0,0:12:58.75,0:13:03.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you've got something going for you,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.18,0:13:06.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you've got something really really deep going for you.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.49,0:13:16.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,About two years ago I had lunch with a guy called Michael Cader,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:16.29,0:13:20.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who runs a newsletter called Publishers Lunch in the US,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:20.47,0:13:26.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he said to me at one point, our business, our industry...
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.58,0:13:33.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(you'll see the slides go a little faster than I go,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:33.77,0:13:37.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,consider that they took their beta-blockers and I didn't)
Dialogue: 0,0:13:37.19,0:13:48.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Michael said to me: we're a tiny industry perched atop a massive hobby.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.66,0:13:57.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I submit to you in that sense that what Bob alluded to in the Q&A earlier
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.20,0:14:06.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the person who's going to self-publish their memoir on a Espresso machine in a bookstore
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.12,0:14:16.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's the bottom, that's the massive pyramid, that's the industry
Dialogue: 0,0:14:16.89,0:14:25.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if we only stick to the little triangle on top, and functioning as gatekeepers,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.23,0:14:32.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,deciding which of the hobby bit stuff reaches the little triangle on top,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.23,0:14:36.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we're going to be stuck in managing the supply side,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.68,0:14:41.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas if we can engage with the entire pyramid,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.06,0:14:47.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the whole hobby, then we're in the business of managing demand
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.09,0:14:55.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is a somewhat sexier area to be in.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:02.54,0:15:11.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As I moved into my post-Softskull life, a year ago, when I resigned from Softskull
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.41,0:15:14.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a number of writers would come to me and say:
Dialogue: 0,0:15:14.76,0:15:17.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How do I get published?
Dialogue: 0,0:15:17.24,0:15:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They felt more comfortable asking me now that I didn't have any direct influence
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.73,0:15:24.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in whether they would get published.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:24.03,0:15:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I told them the things I think a lot of editors here,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.43,0:15:29.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they're on pannels, talking to would-be writers say
Dialogue: 0,0:15:29.15,0:15:33.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and agents would also say
Dialogue: 0,0:15:33.04,0:15:37.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is: "You should submit your stuff to literary journals,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.14,0:15:41.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,check out your favorite author's blog, comment on it
Dialogue: 0,0:15:41.69,0:15:45.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go to reading series, apply to reading series,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:45.08,0:15:50.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go to writers retreats, participate in your community."
Dialogue: 0,0:15:50.67,0:15:56.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I explained that has the opportunity to increase serendipity.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.34,0:16:00.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,An agent might discover you, an editor might discover you.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:00.93,0:16:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I realized over the last year, as I was telling them this,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:04.60,0:16:08.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that that wasn't really the reason they should do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.86,0:16:13.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reason they should do it is that it would make them happy.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:13.78,0:16:21.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because I saw what happened when I published writers in the conventional way in which we do.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:21.89,0:16:29.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We edit, design, print, ship, shelve their books.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:29.20,0:16:33.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The moment they're shelved, the post-partum depression kicks in.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:33.66,0:16:42.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're not happy being published, in the sense of the publishing supply chain.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.68,0:16:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They want to connect.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:46.73,0:17:01.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is in a certain sense the massive sidetrack that we've gone on in the publishing industry
Dialogue: 0,0:17:01.23,0:17:08.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where we've allowed ourselves to believe that being published is the thing, is the end,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:08.73,0:17:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is a means to an end.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:12.15,0:17:17.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The end being happiness, the end being connection.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:17.61,0:17:22.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're in the writer-reader connection business,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:22.10,0:17:27.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the fact that we build this elaborate supply chain to effectuate that
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.75,0:17:33.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,does not mean that we have to remain prisoners of that supply chain
Dialogue: 0,0:17:33.96,0:17:38.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if it is not effectively connecting writers and readers,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:38.32,0:17:44.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or, to frame it more possitively, only to the extent that it enables us
Dialogue: 0,0:17:44.47,0:17:54.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to best connect writer and reader should we be using the supply chain that we have constructed.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:59.64,0:18:03.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The slide that I just put up is something I'm sharing with you,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:03.61,0:18:08.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm in the middle of launching a startup called Cursor
Dialogue: 0,0:18:08.09,0:18:13.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, when you do startups in this day and age, you do a lot of slides,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:13.70,0:18:16.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you do a deck, they call it.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.70,0:18:21.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A guy called Guy Kawasaki says "ten slides". This is one of the ten slides.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:21.41,0:18:27.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one's seen this yet, other than a couple of venture capitalists, and my co-founder.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:27.65,0:18:34.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it is a way to try to describe the economic logic of what I'm saying to you.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:34.64,0:18:39.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In interesting ways it reflects something that Bob already alluded to.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:39.92,0:18:49.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Basically, it's a demand curve,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:49.06,0:18:53.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it basically says that a demand for a given writer,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:53.32,0:18:59.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one person will pay ten grand, or a thousand grand, to have them wash a toilet,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:59.96,0:19:04.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to connect with a writer or artist in some personal way,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:04.50,0:19:09.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then there's maybe ten thousand people who will pay a buck to connect with that writer
Dialogue: 0,0:19:09.44,0:19:11.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let's say, with a digital download.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:11.90,0:19:14.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the demand curve basically is everything in between.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:14.93,0:19:19.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we in the publishing business, because we got so addicted to our supply chain,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:19.10,0:19:22.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have only ever captured the value
Dialogue: 0,0:19:22.64,0:19:27.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,under that demand curve that lies between 10 and $30,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:27.71,0:19:31.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we've let everything else on the table,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:31.44,0:19:37.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have no products under $10, and we have no products above $30,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:37.60,0:19:41.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so whether there might be people willing to pay $1000 to connect to our writer,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:41.78,0:19:47.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we haven't figured out a way to get those other $970 from them
Dialogue: 0,0:19:47.09,0:19:50.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we refuse to supply them with stuff for a dollar,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:50.79,0:19:56.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the belief that all these products are completely interchangeable,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:56.64,0:20:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas pretty much humans beings have shown in every area
Dialogue: 0,0:20:01.48,0:20:05.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from fashion and cosmetics to furniture
Dialogue: 0,0:20:05.58,0:20:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we don't actually consider these things interchangeable at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:10.12,0:20:13.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we buy paperbacks because we buy paperbacks,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:13.41,0:20:15.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we buy digital objects because we buy digital objects
Dialogue: 0,0:20:15.92,0:20:21.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we go to dinner parties with Paul Auster because we want to go to a dinner party with Paul Auster
Dialogue: 0,0:20:21.86,0:20:29.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a digital download is not a substitute for the $250 Pen Awards gala ceremony with Paul Auster.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:30.72,0:20:38.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the only way we are going to be able to effectively get out from under the supply chain we've created
Dialogue: 0,0:20:38.08,0:20:42.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is discover all the other value that exists under the demand curve,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:42.92,0:20:49.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is there either being fed in a half-assed way by MFA programs
Dialogue: 0,0:20:49.16,0:20:54.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or for-profit writing centers, or bittorrent.
Dialogue: 0,0:20:55.72,0:20:59.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's going to get supplied by somebody
Dialogue: 0,0:20:59.03,0:21:03.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, for our sakes, it better be publishers,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:03.07,0:21:09.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you're interested in finding out more about this particular endeavor,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:09.67,0:21:13.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this Cursor endeavor, you can go to ThinkCursor.com
Dialogue: 0,0:21:13.84,0:21:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and just stick in your email address.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:19.82,0:21:23.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This here takes a lot of work to do in PowerPoint.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:28.48,0:21:33.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's there because I believe that our industry has to face the same thing
Dialogue: 0,0:21:33.46,0:21:37.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we ask our authors to face,
Dialogue: 0,0:21:37.22,0:21:42.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they have to face the blank page with the blinking cursor
Dialogue: 0,0:21:42.86,0:21:45.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we need to do that too.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:45.34,0:21:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:57.76,0:22:06.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm happy to answer less abstract questions than the much more 30000-feet-style-thing that I just did.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:08.18,0:22:16.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All those questions that you asked Bob, I was like, I have to ask me something like that
Dialogue: 0,0:22:20.28,0:22:24.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I could just start answering some questions.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:24.82,0:22:25.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will throw out one thought, in relation to enhanced books.
Dialogue: 0,0:22:35.16,0:22:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I lean towards the "enhanced digital books are the CD-ROMs"
Dialogue: 0,0:22:41.00,0:22:45.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's absolutely no evidence that there's any demand for them
Dialogue: 0,0:22:45.70,0:22:55.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if there were, people have been making pictures out of words for a very very very long time
Dialogue: 0,0:22:55.65,0:23:01.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yet we still read long-form text-only narrative.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:02.24,0:23:11.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The absence of audio and video in text-only long-form narrative is a feature not a bug,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:11.63,0:23:22.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thus far it's been treated as a bug by people who have basically hammers
Dialogue: 0,0:23:22.15,0:23:29.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if that's the only tool you have, then you see an enhanced ebook,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:29.45,0:23:37.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is not to say that there isn't a role for video and audio in relation to text,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:37.27,0:23:40.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that's called a website.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:41.37,0:23:45.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Creating something that downloads is going to be kind of pointless
Dialogue: 0,0:23:45.76,0:23:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a universe of 4 and 5G and Wi-Max
Dialogue: 0,0:23:50.00,0:23:55.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,already there's 4G in Stockholm that works 60 feet below... in tunnels 60 feet under the ground
Dialogue: 0,0:23:55.84,0:24:02.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we're going to be in a universe of completely pervasive always-on connectivity
Dialogue: 0,0:24:02.48,0:24:07.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where text and image and sound will work together in a device,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:07.65,0:24:14.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the notion that we have to bundle it together into a downloadable file seems...
Dialogue: 0,0:24:14.89,0:24:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bob says it's only ($)10000, but only 10000 is only 10000 if your marketplace is the United States
Dialogue: 0,0:24:20.87,0:24:26.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,10000 is not an "only" number for a Canadian independent publisher.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:26.28,0:24:34.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So my little advice there is don't waste money on elaborate video in relation to text,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.95,0:24:37.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just make a website.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:39.94,0:24:43.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Are there non-imaginary questions? Shawn, thank you
Dialogue: 0,0:24:43.49,0:24:47.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Q: Can you talk about Print-On-Demand, Publishing 3.0,
Dialogue: 0,0:24:47.54,0:24:51.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the opportunity to explore under-served, unknown markets through digital?]
Dialogue: 0,0:24:54.43,0:24:58.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My belief is that if you're in the demand management business
Dialogue: 0,0:24:58.78,0:25:01.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you've got to own the community.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:01.19,0:25:03.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's just no other way around it
Dialogue: 0,0:25:03.41,0:25:06.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the price of digital content is going to zero
Dialogue: 0,0:25:06.74,0:25:08.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it has already in music
Dialogue: 0,0:25:08.55,0:25:10.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can get any song you want for free
Dialogue: 0,0:25:10.87,0:25:14.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and at a certain point you'll be able to get any text you want for free
Dialogue: 0,0:25:14.60,0:25:18.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's just not going to not happen
Dialogue: 0,0:25:18.32,0:25:21.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's delusional to think it's not going to happen simply because it hasn't happened yet
Dialogue: 0,0:25:21.69,0:25:27.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only extent to which it has not happened is frankly lack of demand
Dialogue: 0,0:25:27.13,0:25:34.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as Bob pointed out, 2000 pirated whatevers is a good sign, it means somebody wants the damn thing
Dialogue: 0,0:25:34.91,0:25:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,most of our problem in the publishing industry it's been people don't want the things that we create
Dialogue: 0,0:25:40.54,0:25:47.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the price of digital content is going to zero, so how the hell do you make money?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:47.32,0:25:49.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, you make money by owning the community.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:49.74,0:25:51.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How are you going to make money under that demand curve?
Dialogue: 0,0:25:51.66,0:25:58.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've got to own the community. You've got to know who's going to pay the ten grand to take a workshop
Dialogue: 0,0:25:58.50,0:26:02.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a personal tutorial with Miriam Toews,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:04.51,0:26:11.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People are already doing this. The British publisher Faber has launched something called "Faber Academy"
Dialogue: 0,0:26:11.00,0:26:16.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is basically Faber writers teaching writing workshops.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:16.12,0:26:20.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Miriam Toews is going to be the first writer doing that in Canada.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:23.01,0:26:28.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That works, Faber is a brand, people think: "'Faber Academy', I want to write like a Faber author"
Dialogue: 0,0:26:28.77,0:26:31.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,therefore there they go.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:31.26,0:26:38.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it's by really establishing mindshare over your audience,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:38.14,0:26:44.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,either at the level of the author, which would be the case of blockbuster publishing,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:44.34,0:26:49.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the Gary Vaynerchuks and up, where he's got mindshare of his audience.
Dialogue: 0,0:26:49.52,0:26:52.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or if you're not in that business, if you're not in the blockbuster business,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:52.98,0:26:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything below that, everything midlist and below,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:56.22,0:26:59.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're going to have to basically circle everybody together,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:59.09,0:27:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cluster everybody together, so that you can really get to learn who the hell is reading these books.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:07.69,0:27:11.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The role of POD [Print-On-Demand] in that? It's a tool
Dialogue: 0,0:27:13.13,0:27:16.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's certainly a tool for reducing your working capital outlay,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:16.71,0:27:20.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the extent that you're still participating in the supply chain
Dialogue: 0,0:27:20.65,0:27:31.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's also a tool... You could say a 25-copy artisanally-made limited edition
Dialogue: 0,0:27:31.75,0:27:37.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you've printed the 25 copies of because you've already got 25 credit card numbers
Dialogue: 0,0:27:37.60,0:27:39.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're going to charge them 250 bucks
Dialogue: 0,0:27:39.83,0:27:44.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the author is going to put his bloody thumbprint on the title page
Dialogue: 0,0:27:46.12,0:27:48.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a kind of Print-On-Demand.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:53.52,0:27:58.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know almost everybody in this room has to think very concretely about what do you do tonight,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:58.15,0:28:01.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what do you do tomorrow to address some of these things?
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.29,0:28:10.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I also urge you to be able to step back and think about the business you're in,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:10.16,0:28:14.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that you can make choices about which of these tools to use
Dialogue: 0,0:28:14.43,0:28:19.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because otherwise you're just throwing a bunch of tools against the wall and seeing what sticks
Dialogue: 0,0:28:19.60,0:28:23.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's not going to work any better than throwing all the books against the wall to see what sticks.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:26.01,0:28:31.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Print-On-Demand can mean two very different things to very different publishers.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:32.82,0:28:37.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The trick is: who am I selling the book to?
Dialogue: 0,0:28:37.86,0:28:43.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who am I connecting this writer I represent with?
Dialogue: 0,0:28:44.09,0:28:49.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Q: Do you consider this a marketing or a publishing strategy?]
Dialogue: 0,0:28:49.70,0:28:52.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a complete business strategy.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:52.94,0:28:56.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is the business you're in.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:03.80,0:29:10.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It always used to bug me when people announced they had open online marketing departments
Dialogue: 0,0:29:10.19,0:29:14.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I was wondering what the offline marketing department was doing.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:14.33,0:29:18.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It couldn't be anything terribly useful,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:18.13,0:29:23.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if it was going to be separated from how people spend half their lives.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:23.60,0:29:30.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of their reading life, our text-processing life.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:31.32,0:29:35.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think you have to think about it in profoundly integrated ways.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:36.28,0:29:41.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, your act of publishing is an act of marketing.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:43.49,0:29:50.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My business is perceived -to some degree by outsiders- as a digital-only business, let's say, this Cursor model
Dialogue: 0,0:29:50.93,0:29:54.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it takes a while to point out to people why I'm being distributed by Publishers Group West
Dialogue: 0,0:29:54.97,0:29:57.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Publishers Group Canada
Dialogue: 0,0:29:57.44,0:30:00.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These communities are going to produce books that are going to go through the supply chain
Dialogue: 0,0:30:00.99,0:30:04.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why am I doing that? I'm not doing that to make money.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:04.46,0:30:06.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the ways in which I tested my business plan was
Dialogue: 0,0:30:06.88,0:30:13.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I took all the non-publishing-supply-chain revenues out of it, and costs out of it
Dialogue: 0,0:30:13.95,0:30:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I discovered I had in the business plan operating margins of 3%,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:17.86,0:30:25.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I'm like, ok, this model clearly works, because we know that's true.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:25.03,0:30:36.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm doing it because 500 heavily-trafficked-by-book-reading-people bricks-and-mortar retail locations
Dialogue: 0,0:30:36.83,0:30:43.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around the country, where I can put a 6 by 9 inch ad about the book and the community for free
Dialogue: 0,0:30:43.08,0:30:46.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not something I intend to give up very likely.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:46.88,0:30:52.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Publishing is a marketing strategy for an owner of a community.
Dialogue: 0,0:30:55.08,0:30:58.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Publishing is a marketing strategy for the Daily Beast,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:58.66,0:31:02.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this website that Tina Brown has set up in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:02.07,0:31:05.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She's going to do publishing. She's not going to make money publishing,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:05.34,0:31:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but she's going to build brand equity for the Daily Beast publishing.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:11.44,0:31:15.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A lot of people who own communities, knitting, fly-fishing,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:15.85,0:31:18.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,paranormal romance, whatever the community is,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:18.39,0:31:24.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're going to start publishing, because that's a way for them to build brand equity,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:24.65,0:31:28.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for them publishing is marketing,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:28.66,0:31:32.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's the kind of conceptual challenge that we face.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:32.30,0:31:37.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're not going to face it tomorrow, or the day after, but that is the challenge we face,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:37.97,0:31:42.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I know this sounds very abstract, but when we think of this topic,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:42.74,0:31:45.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this "Calculated Risk", effectively what we are saying is that
Dialogue: 0,0:31:45.78,0:31:51.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is too risky not to completely reconceive our business.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:52.47,0:31:56.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's where the risk lies, it's in remaining siloed,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:56.99,0:32:01.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remaining in the manufacturing business.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:01.29,0:32:06.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are in an intellectual property business where almost our entire cost basis is based in manufacturing.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:07.64,0:32:15.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you look at the markup on shoes, farmaceuticals, anything,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:15.11,0:32:20.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the markup that everybody else gets to put over the manufacturing bit of the business
Dialogue: 0,0:32:20.09,0:32:23.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is so much greater than what we do in publishing
Dialogue: 0,0:32:23.90,0:32:26.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we are in the pure intellectual property business.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:26.86,0:32:32.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I say content isn't king, culture is, that's what I'm trying to get at,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:32.50,0:32:38.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the container, the cultural artifact, the object itself, isn't what we are doing
Dialogue: 0,0:32:38.71,0:32:42.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's the connection between people that that object enables,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:42.57,0:32:48.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether that person is a writer or a reader, or a reader and a reader, or a writer and a writer.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:48.79,0:32:52.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Q: Does asking writers to start selling something other than their writing
Dialogue: 0,0:32:52.58,0:32:55.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,undermine our commodity (writing as culture)?]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:55.24,0:33:06.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Pulped-wood bound in cardboard isn't culture, the words in it are the culture.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:07.61,0:33:11.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's no more cultural than a t-shirt.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:20.38,0:33:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not suggesting the we abandon it,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:24.59,0:33:31.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I've been chatting with a number of writers...
Dialogue: 0,0:33:31.19,0:33:33.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I get what you are trying to get at,
Dialogue: 0,0:33:33.91,0:33:40.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are we distracting writers from the pure process of creativity
Dialogue: 0,0:33:40.66,0:33:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and turning them into product shells?, the cruder way of summarizing that.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:47.49,0:33:49.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I have two observations about that
Dialogue: 0,0:33:49.53,0:33:55.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one is that there is no writer happier than the writer who is not writing.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:57.36,0:34:03.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Beckett, the greatest sort of allegedly antisocial curmudgeon of all time,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:03.65,0:34:12.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wrote plays and TV scenarios and radio stuff so that he could get out of the house.
Dialogue: 0,0:34:12.02,0:34:18.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Writers actually want to connect, they don't like spending three years stuck in the attic,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:18.90,0:34:21.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they like getting out, they like connecting,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:21.77,0:34:26.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they may be erratic about doing it or may be scared because they're not used to it
Dialogue: 0,0:34:26.44,0:34:30.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but engaging with the readers is what writers want,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:30.52,0:34:34.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we're not forcing them to do something that is absolutely alien to them
Dialogue: 0,0:34:34.91,0:34:38.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is also the case that, prior to Gutenberg,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.90,0:34:47.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,culture thrived, poets were allowed to run around and sing for their supper,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:47.33,0:34:51.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that worked reasonably well,
Dialogue: 0,0:34:51.50,0:34:56.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so assuming that the physical book is the only conceivable incarnation
Dialogue: 0,0:34:56.74,0:35:03.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the writer-reader connection is, I think, a mistake.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:04.68,0:35:07.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They want to connect.
Dialogue: 0,0:35:08.72,0:35:13.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm... Time. Thank you very much.