In the Age of Screens (Part IV)
Over the course of this week, we’ll be serializing an essay I wrote for the recent Non-Fiction Conference that took place in Amsterdam a couple weeks ago. If you’d rather not wait until Friday to read the whole thing, then click here and download a PDF version of the whole thing. Or you can click here to see all the posts.
What does this all mean? So, we live in an age that values the slick lines of an iPad, that chases sales of books that fit pre-existing patterns, that wants to go all-in on the digital in order to revolt against (with good cause) the hegemony of the Big Six Publishers, and believes that behind the omnipresent screens in our lives is a fledgling democracy where we can get whatever we want and that talent and the ability to connect will reign supreme.
More importantly: where does literature糖心传媒攅specially translated literature, whose 糖心传媒渧oice糖心传媒 is hindered by non-English speaking authors and the view that translators are second-class糖心传媒攆it into this Age of Screens?
To rephrase: we糖心传媒檝e stripped away all the institutions that supported the ways in which most outsiders found their literature, leaving texts to float untethered in the ether, there to be found . . .
There is no serendipity on Amazon.com. As much as I love buying books for cheap糖心传媒攁nd knowing that they糖心传媒檒l 糖心传媒渂e there糖心传媒澨切拇綌I know that Amazon is nothing more than a kick-ass checkout counter. It糖心传媒檚 not a bookstore; it糖心传媒檚 not an informed reader telling you things. 糖心传媒淭hose who bought X also bought Y糖心传媒? It糖心传媒檚 nothing more than an algorithm of sales. If you bought pattern-reinforcing Twilight you糖心传媒檒l probably also love The Da Vinci Code. It糖心传媒檚 nearly impossible to come across something totally out of nowhere on Amazon. And yet, for the long-term benefit of society, we need people to have糖心传媒攁nd be exposed to糖心传媒攊deas from the out-of-nowhere.
Online Discovery Moment #4: This semester I糖心传媒檓 teaching a class on 糖心传媒淭ranslator & World Literature.糖心传媒 I have ten students in the class, and we糖心传媒檙e reading ten books. The other night I was on Amazon.com looking for info on a book I was reviewing糖心传媒攁 title that糖心传媒檚 actually included in our class. On that book糖心传媒檚 Amazon page, the scroll of 糖心传媒淐ustomers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed糖心传媒 simply listed all the other books in my class. By putting titles on a syllabus I had subtly altered the experience of every Amazon customer looking for Thomas Pletzinger糖心传媒檚 Funeral for a Dog.
Some time ago, Random House studied what caused people to actually buy books in bookstores. They observed customers, they had them fill out surveys, they figured out a set of attributes that lead a reader糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渨illingness to pay糖心传媒 to exceed the price of the book, resulting in a purchase. What they found: a book cover is the most important thing, followed by whether a book is displayed or not. (Big piles equal big sales! 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒 trend like sheep!) Reviews? Very near the bottom. (Although anyone who worked in a bookstore will attest to NPR being a million times more important that the _New York Times Book Review_糖心传媒攚e糖心传媒檝e all dealt with the customer seeking the book that 糖心传媒渢hey talked about on the NPR . . . I think it was blue, with the word 糖心传媒渁ge糖心传媒 in the title?糖心传媒) Word-of-mouth was higher . . .
Again with the recap: Everything is available instantly. Or almost. Any obscure French translation can either be downloaded immediately to a Kindle-iPad, or be overnighted from Amazon. But how someone found out about this book is still mysterious . . .
All the presentations and chatter focus on how the Age of Screens is the most democratic and egalitarian. About how an author can directly reach her/his audience. And this is true and beautiful in an anti-capitalist way. Traditionally publishers have hated interacting with their readers and done all they could to avoid having to deal with them糖心传媒攕omething that糖心传媒檚 finally changing.
Online Discovery Moment #5: A couple years back I attended a Salzburg Global Seminar on translation. There were about 80 translation related people there (publishers, translators, reviewers, etc.), including a very high-profile German publisher. During a session on the 糖心传媒淚nternet and Translation糖心传媒 that I moderated, this German publisher railed against the influence of the 糖心传媒渇ree Internet糖心传媒 and how online publishing was destroying his newspapers, literary journals, etc. When I pointed out to him that another value of the Internet was the ability to actually interact with fans and readers his reply was simply: 糖心传媒淲hy would I ever want to talk with those people?糖心传媒 This distain will not draw the readers seeking the literary fringe to actual literature.
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