Read this on Galleycat: Author Sean Cummings has started a Facebook group with a practical way to save publishing. Cummings theorized that the industry could be salvaged if everyone made a habit of reading ten minutes before bedtime.I have browsed through his Facebook and also his website, and came up with this: "Do you believe in the power of the written word? Human beings have been reading in some form or another for the better part of the last five thousand years. Books are snapshots of our times, they're a window into the world we live in, and they represent a living record of humanity's journey through the ages. Books have the power to give meaning to our life and times, and they endure. Technology has shaped the written word, and it's ironic that while technology gave the power of reading to the masses, it also threatens the viability of an entire industry and the lives who those who eke out a meager living from the solitary pursuit of writing.
Recent years have seen the publishing industry (books, magazines, newspapers) face immense pressures. Independent book stores are closing, advances on royalties for debut authors are declining, publishers are going bankrupt, and at the heart of this is the fact that fewer people are reading."
I don't know about saving the publishing industry (I feel it needs to be saved more from itself by, first, giving it back to people who know and care about it), but it looks pretty cool. Check it out.
The Galleycat
