News is what we say is news
By Dave
May 20th, 2008 | Leave a comment
I don’t typically do a lot of insider news about the publishing industry. But when Random House gets a new CEO, that’s worthy news. And with the German parent company making it clear that Random has to make more money, it could lead to the kind of earthshaking changes that will directly affect book consumers. The industry sold more than 3 billion books last year, according to a gov’t report. That’s a lot of freakin’ books! And a lot of consumers out there. If you figure one in three Americans bought at least one book (a totally made-up figure, I have no idea what the real number is), that would amount to 100,000 book buyers.
I had a journalism professor who, among other things, used to frequent a restaurant where I tended bar and order three manhattans (not all at once!) with dinner. From the journalism class he taught, I remember two things. 1. News is when those who are in a position to say “This is news,” say “This is news.” 2. The purpose of a newspaper is to make money! His voice would swell up two octaves and 30 decibels as he said “MAKE MONEY.” Ohio State j-school alumni from a certain era will recognize this professor immediately.
That “make money” part is happening less and less at newspapers now — which played a large role in my job description of “former” Akron Beacon Journal editor. Bitter? Me? Actually, I’m having a blast here with DelMio, holed up in the Akron Innovation Campus and at the moment overhearing some UAkron tech guys try to figure out what’s wrong with the Wi-Fi (which, as far as I can tell, is nothing).
This moment shall live on in DelMio lore.
