POD Excerpt Response

In your writing this week, consider one way in which POD has either transformed existing publishing practices, or opened up new ones.

Cite a relevant sentence or paragraph from the text.

“Having open tools which are collectively developed and shared, implicitly guarantees fair access to the means of publishing, thus promoting freedom of expression.”

Keeping this quote in mind, basically anyone can publish, without having an editor or publisher to shoot down your idea no matter how ludicrous the idea or how awful the quality of your writing might be. Freedom of expression! Honestly I don’t really understand how print on demand works after reading this excerpt. My mind couldn’t possibly process and understand all of the information I read about POD, of how it works or of the methods of POD; therefore I feel as if I can’t brainstorm any ideas of how POD transformed existing publishing practices or open up new ones. I mean, it does sound nice, if this is any similar to self publishing, you could make more profit off of the books you sell than to send your book to a publishing company who would sell and market your books for you.

And to conclude my answer to this discussion question, I will reiterate, from my first sentence, that POD basically gave anyone the freedom to publish whatever he or she wants. For example, someone actually published a book of twitter’s posts. I don’t understand why the author would do that or why anyone would buy such a thing. Maybe as a physical record keeping book like to preserve memories or history in a printed form rather than a digital one? I just answered my own question. Maybe I should write a novel myself.

Chapter 1.9 Response / Alessandro Ludovico's Post Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing since 1894

The Death of Paper… Has Yet To Happen

I find it both funny and interesting people have been predicting that the death of paper for about a hundred years especially when it hasn’t happened yet and I predict that it will probably never happen. Print has stayed with us for centuries and if print has stayed with us for that long of a time like how people have, for the most part, always worn clothes, then it will probably never die. Many people still like to draw, paint or write in journals and sketchbooks. What would happen to the artists or writers who still prefer traditional types of media if we no longer produce paper? Well, of course, they’d get frustrated. Many also still prefer to read the newspaper, novels, or magazines. How would we be able to comply with these consumers needs if they'd rather want to read from a physical form rather than a 2-D digital one? And even if we have technology like nooks or kindles, there will always be people who would prefer to buy the physical copy (like me)? Thus, I believe that paper will still be a needed medium for everyone in the future, whether or not you’re an artist, writer or reader. Paper’s existence will continue to exist just for a while longer, if not forever.

Response to William H. Gass article: In Defense of the Book - Why Books Are Good

1. What, according to Gass, are the things about books that cannot be reproduced on screens? What do you think?

 Firstly, one huge difference between books and letters on the screen is that books are dimensional, portable objects that you can hold in your hand. Since the screen is 2-dimensional, any sort of note taking such as making annotations, quotes or interpretations would be quite tedious in comparison to having a copy of a book in your hand where flipping through the pages takes seconds and you have the freedom to scribble done notes with ease. Books can also be borrowed, pre-owned and by being pre-owned, they also have some sort of tattered history form the previous owner like when the author described that sometimes you would fine a lot of the previous owner’s junk in between the pages.

 2. Write about a particular book you own and take a photograph of it. Write about your history with it: how you found it and the ways it’s been a part of your life. This recollection need not be as intimate and affectionate as Gass’. It could be very matter of fact.

 This book is called Drawing People: How to portray the clothed figure. I received this book as a present from my cousin, Donna, who is studying to become an art teacher. She decided to give me this book as a gift since she knows I enjoy drawing/illustrating and from experience, she also believes the book is a great reference and thought it would probably help or guide me into improving my drawing skills. Yet, I have not really touched it ( and only skimmed the pages) ever since I received it in the mail last semester since I was busy with school and have been so distracted with other things that I haven’t had the time to draw or have been in the mood to draw at all. I’ll most likely pick it up one day in the future… basically, it’s been sitting on the shelf with all my other books. Also, while flipping through the pages, in between them was a cardstock sheet of paper of a quick Adventure Time illustration, autographed and drawn by Ristaino, who is an artist who works for Adventure Time as a character designer and storyboard artist. My cousin picked up this sketch for me when she went to the 2013 San Diego Comic Con during the summer. I just left in the book because I don’t know where else to place it and I’m afraid I’d lose it if I didn’t leave it in there.