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Question of the Day: What Are You Reading?

Posted by on Dec 4, 2008 in Business | 5 comments

News broke yesterday that Random House, the world’s largest book publisher, was re-structuring and would eliminate two large publishing groups.  This is not the first time we have heard about trouble in the book publishing industry, but certainly one of the most alarming signs that the books are suffering in the digital age (as well as the slowdown in the economy).

I have a pile of books in my office, and more at home, that I haven’t yet had time to read.  Of course, the pile of books is sitting on top of a pile of magazines and newspaper articles that I am working my way through.  And those piles are sitting next to my computer, which is my access point to hundreds of blogs and online news sites which I read regularly and throughout the day.  So, you get the picture.

The point is this: I don’t fully understand why the publishing world is having so much trouble.  Almost every week a new book, sometimes two or three new books, are released and want to run out and purchase them.  Often I do (which is why I have a pile I haven’t been able to get through).  I love books!  And I know I am not alone.  My assumption is, the book publishing industry is producing books that most people don’t want to read. They can’t sell enough books to offset the cost or production (or the big advances they give to authors).

I want to help.  I want to tell the book industry what types of books they should print, so that if/when they listen, I will do my part.  And I want you to do the same.

The question of the day: What are you reading?  Or should I say, what would you read more of if the publishing industry were to make it available?  What do you want to see books about?

Thoughts?

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Brian Reich

Brian Reich

Brian is Managing Director of little m media which provides strategic guidance and support to organizations around the use of the internet and technology to facilitate communications, engagement, education, and mobilization. He is well known for his expertise in new media, web 2.0, social networks, mobile, community, ecommerce, brand marketing, cause branding, and more. Reich, the author of Media Rules!: Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience (Wiley 2007). He blogs at Thinking About Media and contributes as a Fast Company Expert. Previously, Reich was a principal of EchoDitto, one of the most successful online communications agencies in the nation, Director of New Media for Cone Inc, a brand strategy and communications agency in Boston and a Senior Strategic Consultant and Director of Boston Operations for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, an interactive public affairs agency. From 2000 – 2004, Brian ran how own strategic communications firm, Mouse Communications. Reich has worked in and around politics, including helping to direct dozens of campaigns across the country. He spent two years as Vice President Gore’s Briefing Director in the White House, handling both official activities and activities during his 2000 presidential campaign. Brian serves on the board of Investigate West, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of investigative and narrative journalism. Brian served as an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University in Washington, DC and is currently teaching a course on consumer behavior and marketing at Columbia University in New York. Brian attended the University of Michigan and is a graduate of Columbia University. He and his wife, Karen Dahl, live in New York City with their son, Henry.

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  • http://theturnerreport.com Gloria Pan

    Given your personal situation, which I share and which I think is very typical, perhaps the question you should be asking is: What’s on your nightstand?

    The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin
    Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, by Barbara Kingsolver
    Akhenaten, by Naguib Mahfouz (which I actually finished – only 168 pages)
    Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky (yeah, right)
    A Little History of the World, by EH Gombrich (which I’m reading to my 7-year-old, slllooowwwwwwllly)
    The Meaning of Night, by Michael Cox (which I’ll probably finish sometime soon because it’s escapist and easy to digest.)

  • Liz Mace

    Where to begin! So many books, so little time. I’m a social media fan but I also love to read – passionate about it. I’m listening to (on my i-phone mostly when I travel) The Secret Life of Bees and I’m reading Dreams From My Father and just finished Agent Zigzag about a WWII British double agent that I picked up in a bookstore on Bainbridge Island. I have a bookshelf full of social media/non-profit books too. Audio books though are the best – I get so much more “reading” done b/c of them. However, I absolutely have to have my work-related books in print so I can highlight them – I’m old fashioned that way.

  • http://www.wemedia.com Andrew Nachison

    I read books for work when they really grab me – but more likely I’m reading books that have absolutely nothing to do with media, business, investment or the other things that keep me busy during the day.

    Just finished:

    A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (ok, not staggering)

    Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar … by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein. It’s a funny intro to philosophy.

    Reading or on my nightstand and in the queue …
    Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer
    Collect Short Stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    No Time To Think by Howard Rosenberg & Charles S. Feldman (so far: no time to read … this one is connected to work)
    The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
    The Cloudspotter’s Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
    Stress City. That’s a collection of short stories by Washington writers – including moi. It’s huge.
    It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be. By Paul Arden.

  • Dima Jurf

    As I am a research student, I need to read a lot, by the way my research area is “How to encourage people to read books through illustrative websites”, I am still a fresh student, so two useful books I found,

    - Reading Images, The Grammar of Visual Design; by Gunther Kress; Theo van Leeuwen; 1996
    - Researching The Visual; by Emmison Michael; 2000

    Actaully I am more reading journal articles now as I think they are more useful, and give me what I want in a direct, hurry way.
    I like books too, and I have to read books, but book means to me “long time” in the time when everthing is running.


  • Doni Tamblyn

    I guess I’m no different from anyone — I only want to read a book that’s intelligent, witty, highly unusual, beautifully written, and a page-turner. Is that so much to ask…?

    Seriously, I really did find one like that recently: THE MASTER PLANETS by Donald Gallinger. I’d recommend it to anyone. What an experience!

    http://www.amazon.com/Master-Planets-Donald-Gallinger/dp/1601641591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205668458&sr=1-1

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