Hey Writers. Yeah, YOU.

So I'm thinking about starting a publication...

I've always been a "pay it forward" guy. As a writer, where would I be without publications to which I submit my work? Where would I be without awesome editors who took the time to glance at my stuff, sometimes read it, and in some rare instances publish that work?

With all this in mind, I'm considering another publication. This is all groundwork and nothing is chiseled into a Lovecraftian stone monolith at the bottom of the ocean. If you have a few moments, please take my survey and feel free to share it with other writers. 

Publish This! (a survey for writers)

I'll collect surveys for the next month and share the results on the other side. Rumor has it flying monkeys might bring you a cookie.

The Graveyard of White Whales

Hello, my name is Aaron and I write short stories. Granted, the longest piece I've written was well over 100,000 words (my first "novel" and first piece of fiction I wrote), but after editing and trimming, it landed well within the 70K range. Yes, I cut 30,000 words.  Loathsome, Dark and Deep is only 67,000 words. Nothing else comes close.

I am a short story writer, and I'm not ashamed.

But things make me sad... like the white whale short story markets of yesteryear becoming the graveyard of today. After reinstating my account on Duotrope.com, I noted the following:

Of my reported acceptances (155 including poetry and reprints), 48 of those markets were dead (closed or defunct), including Everyday Weirdness, Necrotic Tissue, The Rose and Thorn Journal... some of my favorite stories had life there. Note those 48 markets represented more than 48 of my acceptances. Everyday Weirdness printed several stories and I was fortunate enough to place 3 with Necrotic Tissue. I loved those publications and did what I could to support them. Thanks to Nathan E. Lilly (Everyday Weirdness) and R. Scott McCoy (Necrotic Tissue) for everything they did to bring my stories and stories from other authors to readers' attention.

Short story venues die. It's the nature of the beast. My own brain child, 52 Stitches, is no more, but it had two years to run. It's time is done. But those which stick around? Wonderful. I'm proud to have a story in issue #118 of Space and Time. #118 people. The magazine has been around since before I was a zygote.

There are white whales I will chase and never capture before their deaths--this, too, is the nature of the beast. But I am a short story writer. I write short stories, and the submission/rejection process has made me a better writer. My stories are stronger because they've had to survive in a world of high casualty rates.

Here's a fear: writing is going to suffer in this do-it-yourself world. It already has. Why face rejections when I can easily publish myself via Smashwords, Kindle, Createspace and the like?* Why? Because, dear readers, without those white whales, even the dead ones, I would not have become the writer I am today. I wouldn't have sold a few stories to professional venues or found myself on any honorable mention lists. Writing short fiction is about the story, the art of words, and making life out of digital nothing. I want my stories to be like my flesh-and-bone children: resilient and beautiful.

Write on, chase those whales, and give some pause and respect when they leave us.

*Yes, I've published plenty of previously published material via these venues. But my first path--and it should always be a first path--was and remains the submissions trail and quest for those white whales.

21st Century Digital Boy

Yesterday I was amped for a rant (of sorts). Actually, it was more of an airing of my dirty laundry, past mistakes and present failures...

Once upon a time I was a writer who doubted myself too much. Note the phrase "too much". Any good writer should doubt a portion of his/her work because, let's be honest, no one does it right every time. No one writes a perfect story on the first draft. No one. (Although Harlan Ellison has come close...check out "Flop Sweat"...he wrote it in one day to be read on air that night. Chilling as today's temperature: 3 degrees Fahrenheit--I won't even convert to Celsius...yow.)

I still doubt myself. But I've moved on. Sort of.

And I'm thankful for the 21st century. I'm thankful for the ability to do certain things* for myself in the future. I'm thankful a 21st century storyteller can reach out and find an audience, even a small audience, without having to prostate himself to the whims of the big meat grinder.

I'd rather have a small, honest audience than a huge audience to which I lie so somebody else can reap the benefits. Don't know what I'm talking about? For the latest example, read: "E-Book Royalty Math: The House Always Wins" (thanks for the link to Robert Swartwood)

Look, no publisher which intends to stay in business can have only an author's best interests in mind. Publishers are in business to make money, and there are plenty of want-to-be writers lined up waiting to take an author's place if that author doesn't pay the bills. Didn't make a profit for the publisher? Next...next...next...

I've had dealings with three small presses--Belfire Press, Virtual Tales, and Aqueous Press. Jodi Lee and company at Belfire have been great. I have certain reservations about the author agreements I've signed with the other two, although Virtual Tales has been top-notch with artwork, promotion, and other "intangibles". Certain things remain to be seen with Aqueous. I'm not excited at all with recent developments (which have nothing to do with my book) because of the "guilt by association" factor involved. Again, I'll refer you to Mr. Swartwood for the scoop. One thing I appreciate about Robert is his unflinching honesty. I'm too much of a chicken-shit most of the time.

So why did I sign on? Once upon a time I was a writer who doubted myself too much. Doubt leads to fear. Fear leads to decisions founded in sand.

I've come to the conclusion that an author's best interests are handled best by that author unless you are a machine (e.g., Stephen King, John Grisham, etc.). An agent can be great in looking out for an author's interests but only as far as it serves the agent (i.e., makes the agent money). No, it's not sour grapes; it's business, and I don't fault any agent for seeking only those clients which will make him/her the most money. That is an agent's job. Many have kids to feed.** But I haven't bothered to query an agent in almost two years. It just doesn't seem like the right time for me.

So for me, small time author, right now it's best to do what I can for myself. The 21st century has laid the tools in my lap.*

At least, this way, when mistakes are made, they're all mine.***

One final note: thanks to everyone who has purchased, promoted, or talked about 52 Stitches. Jamie was family, and it does my sometimes bitter and jaded heart good to see the power of my extended internet family.

*cover art, e-publishing, promotion, etc.
**I do. Let me tell you, having a family changes perspective on a lot of things.
***Selfish much?

Can You Help with The Big Experiment?

Anyone who has followed JA Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing knows he's been talking up the power of e-book sales for a new generation of "indie published" authors--indie being the new term for self-published.

For years, the power-brokers in publishing have made the phrase "self-published" a big no-no, one of the few bad words we still have left. You were dirty if you were self-published. A hack. Stupid, too. You couldn't cut it with the big boys.

Now, Konrath says you're stupid not to.

I've waffled on this topic for a long time. I've stutter-stepped into Indie/self/whatever publishing with The Bottom Feeders, which surprisingly, has sold three copies this week to people I don't know. I've put Rock Gods and Scary Monsters out there. I've taken it down, fixed a few issues, and put it back out there (should be up again in a day or so).

I have two more books I'm planning to upload before the school year is out: The Last Days of the Springdale Saints and Borrowed Saints. All set in Springdale, my fictional home town. I had an offer from a small press for The Last Days of the Springdale Saints and I said no. I still plan to offer Borrowed Saints for free (because I made a promise), but it will be available to purchase, possibly with extras, on Kindle. All will be available through Smashwords. There might even be another self-released story collection next year or so. I'm going to release then in paperback, too, because I can and it's stupid, just plain stupid not to offer what I can to a potential audience.

I'm going to post monthly updates of my earnings and progress for the world to see. Because a) I have no shame and b) I'm sure plenty of people are curious about the experiment, too.

But I need help to make the big experiment work.

I noticed the strange uptick in sales of The Bottom Feeders after receiving a couple of reviews. Do reviews sell books? My results are inconclusive, but seeing stars under a title in Amazon.com does draw the eye. Besides, reviews, good or bad, gives an author something to talk about. If people are going to spend their money on your work, especially as an unknown, they need to hear your name a number of times before they give in. An author simply must talk about his/her book for readers to find it, and they have to find it before they buy it. I spent way too long feeling some weird shame spiral when I talked about writing. Whether this is my nature or a side-effect of the submission/rejection machine, I don't know.

But I think I can tell a good story, on occasion.

I'm looking for some brave souls to write reviews for my soon to be indie/self-pubbed books and post those reviews on Amazon when the titles are available. I know some of my dear readers don't feel all that great about self-publishing. I understand. Trust me. But I have to make my decisions based on what is right for me, right now. The future is the future, and no one knows how that will play out.

If you're interested, email me: aaron.polson(at)gmail.com. Sign up before the end of the month, and you'll be entered in the contest drawing.

Thanks. And good luck.

The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly

The good:

An acceptance from Innsmouth Free Press. "Ngiri's Catch" will be in their forthcoming Historical Lovecraft anthology. The cover art is special. I hereby eat all my rejection-whine from earlier this week. Have patience, Aaron. Have patience.

The bad:

The song, "Crazy Bitch", from Buckcherry. Who can take this filth seriously? Oh yeah, I forgot...horny fifteen-year-olds. Silly me. And people wonder why this country is in trouble. I'm not all that worried about offending Buckcherry fans because, well, they evidently like to wallow in offensive shit. At least try to make it interesting and original offensive shit next time, 'kay?

The ugly:

The state of the publishing industry. No, this isn't sour grapes. I'll never be a publishing industry darling. I don't travel on that vibe. But does anyone wonder why book sales suffer when Snooki's A Shore Thing (Oh...it's a pun. Ha.) sells so well? What about NewSouth revision of Huckleberry Finn? I might just have to take my paintbrush to the Mona Lisa and give that coy sister a real smile.

Sometimes I can't stop the rant. Sure, Snooki and crew are just other kids on the playground. But so am I. So are we all. But every playground has bullies. I'm tired of having all this water poured down the spout and them telling us it's wine when it's not. And I have Ray Bradbury to thank for that beautiful image. You da man, Mr. Bradbury.

Hell, it's not even water most of the time. Haters just gotta hate, I guess.

Print Will Always Be Undead

I don't usually post twice in a day, especially on a Friday, but JA Konrath wrote a cute little "play" about the death of print. You can read it at the Huffington Post.

Remember folks, Konrath is here to sell books. He makes money selling books. He makes his living writing and selling books. And yes, he's doing well.

But he's still here to sell you books, and he doesn't give a shit if you buy a paperback or an e-version of his latest. Wait...maybe he does. I think the profit margin on e-books is better. But I digress...

Print is obsolete?

Hardly.

The aforementioned "play" is full of implied comparisons which fall apart under any real scrutiny. Just look at the other members of "Obsolete Anonymous": VHS tapes, LPs (which are actually making a bit of a comeback), cassettes, the Phone Company, CDs...

All of which require a piece of technology to decode content. Print isn't the same (except for e-books...but I'll get to that momentarily). What is the technology that decodes text content? Don't say the printing press, 'cause that's not quite it. Go on. Think about it.

Try.

I'll wait...

It's your brain. That ugly lump of grey matter in your skull. It decodes the marks on paper (or a screen) and makes sense of them, not some kind of device, player, or receiver. Print books aren't the same as the other "obsolete" technologies because our brains are always going to be there. People will still read print. Two hundred years from now, a person can find a book in a hermetically sealed plastic bag, and the book will still be readable. Sure, said person may struggle with a few changes in syntax and spelling, but he/she can decode it without a special device. A CD in two hundred years will be a worthless lump of plastic because the technology needed to decode it is gone. And a Kindle file won't even exist (digital dark age, baby).

Print books are not the same as CDs, LPs, VHS, etc. because they don't require special, dated technology to decode and enjoy.

Yes, more people will have e-readers in the future.* Yes, there may be a shift in publishing and the print book industry. Yes, more books will go to print on demand. These things happen. Um, don't you think the shift to readily available and cheaper pulp paper made a difference to the print publishing industry in the last century? These things happen and the world has a way of changing rather quickly.

Our brains, unfortunately do not. Go on predicting the "death of print". I'll still be reading ink on paper when I'm eighty.

*anybody care to talk about how the consumer is being fleeced on this one? Instead of the old model (buy content and decode myself), we are rushing headlong into a model like the music industry or movies (buy content and buy a device--which will one day become obsolete--to decode content for me). Hey, but somebody's getting rich, right?

It's just not me.

Charlatans and Thieves

Here's the truth about truth: you'll never get the "real" story about anything that's ever happened.

Why?

Human beings have a propensity for skewing reality toward their own point of view.

Take my lies last Friday. Several people identified #6, When I was twelve, my mother took me on a cross-country camping trip in search of dinosaurs, sulfurous hot springs, and giant stone men, as the truth. Yes, we took a trip (in a camper) to see Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and Mt. Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. True.

But, all of the others held an element of truth:

1. The least true of them all, although I do have a score of unusual birthmarks and one sort of looks like Texas.

2. I did have a cat named MacArthur (General MacArthur was his full name). The others...not so much.

3. I didn't write the story, but I had plenty of nightmares and trouble sleeping after that funeral.

4. I dated a pre-med student once. (at least she said she was pre-med...) We did look at cadavers. She wouldn't let me snip an ear, though.

5. Oh, you know I will. I just can't keep doing it every week. (too many irons in the fire)

7. Totally true except for the part about stabbing the other kid. What did I offer for the exchange that year? Two Star Wars action figures from Return of the Jedi. What did I get? Lifesafers. Suckage.

So I lie. And I lie well enough to hide the truth some of the time. Do you feel robbed? Am I a thief of the first order?

Hope not.

But Robert Swartwood has a nice post today about a different kind of thief, and he raises questions that bear serious discussion. As to the New York Times article about e-book prices, just remember that stakeholders (editors and their ilk), have a stake or investment (hence the name "stakeholder") in keeping themselves relevant. And they are relevant. For now.

Me? I'm done giving away my work for nothing. Meaning, I will still give away my work to venues which increase my audience (I told you I was a liar), charities, and direct-to-my readers. Me to you. Free doesn't need a middle-man unless that middle-man brings something to the table (e.g., bigger audience).

I've got something free to offer in the next couple of weeks. Me to you. We only have to invite a middle man if you want.

Edited to add: You can preview a bit of "Empty Vessels" a short forthcoming in Morpheus Tales #8, here.

If Print is Dead, Who Owns the Stories?

Well, Anasi the Spider owns the stories of course. He won them from Nyame, the Sky-God.

Last Saturday morning, I took the boys to a puppet show featuring Anansi , and they both belly-laughed throughout.

But really, who "owns" a story?

As a writer of a certain stripe, I'd love to say I own my stories (which I do, kind of), but as any good writer I hope some of them outlive me. Life is pretty transient. It's far too easy to die.

I've learned a few things from studying literature for the past seventeen years and teaching for eleven of those: telling stories is part of what it means to be human. People have done it since before the cave artists rendered "the big hunt" on the walls of their subterranean homes. In light of that history, who am I to be brazen enough to say I own anything?

There's a big bout o' digital fisticuffs between Amazon and Macmillan right now...some argument over ebook prices...basically how much do they charge folks for the ability to read stories. This is important, I'm sure, to many authors. (I'd be right pissed at both a store and my publisher if they were so juvenile as to prevent folks from having access to my work because they were disagreeing on how much money each would make from my work...whew. As if anyone is being denied access to my work. Have I mentioned free stuff at my website? Huh?) I'm glad I'm not trying to make a living on writing any time soon (if ever). And I think this particular deal isn't going to help foster the ebook revolution. I'm just not going to pay 15 bucks for a digital document...not until the author sees at least 75% of the profit.

Can we really take a step backwards?

All I want right now, truthfully, is to share my work. And, if it isn't too selfish, I'd like readers to know I had something to do with it. Pretty narcissistic, sure, but nobody said I was a nice guy.

Except Alan W. Davidson. He kind of implied it with this:














(thanks, man)

Print is Dead

So I don't really believe print is dead, but is it dying? I dunno. The iPad won't kill it, that's for sure.

I was at Borders this weekend, browsing with no intent to buy (my favorite bookstore mode), and just felt the general sticker shock of a $25 hardback novel. I love stories...I love writing...I love reading...

I just can't see shelling out $25 for a book that I'll probably only read one time.

Before you throw your cuppa coffee at the screen, let me explain. I read a book: great. Then what happens? I put it on a shelf. If the book was amazing, I'll read it again. If not, it collects dust. A lot of dust. Then I move it to dust the shelf. Repeat or donate to the library/Goodwill/Salvation Army where it gets marked for a quarter and moves down the chain.

I love the feel of a hardback book. I love the ragged edges on nicer models, the grain of the paper under my fingertips. Don't start me on the smell. And stories? Yes, I love them, too. Being frustrated about a $25 price point is not disrespect for an author. How much do you think he/she makes out of that $25? It's disrespect for a broken system...a system that is too big with too many hungry parts...parts that force the price.

Maybe I'm cheap. I don't grudge dropping 10-15 bucks on a trade paperback, so what's with $25 on a hardback? (I don't buy mass market. It kills my eyes.)

Do books cost too much? Is this how we've arrived at publishing consolidation and layoffs? Will authors ever get a fair shake? Am I a whiny putz?

In the age of multimedia choose your own adventure, can the $25 book compete?

Thoughts, witticisms, perspective please?

A Little Light in a Dark Room

This is what I've learned:

1. Most of my "readers" are also writers. The situation will likely remain this way until "big commercial success".

2. "Big commercial success" isn't what I thought it was. Like the proverbial kid who dreams of NBA millions, I fell for the illusion of the Kings, Grishams, and Pattersons of the world.

3. The publishing industry is designed to "discover" the best sales representatives for their work. This may or may not coincide with transcendent (or at least thought-provoking) fiction.

On item 1.

Face it, when most of what you've published is short fiction (and I'd argue genre doesn't matter), most of your readers will be other writers (or writer-hopefuls), especially when you publish in semi-pro mags (and below). This is how it works. Taking another step, the small genre press (even the good publishers) aren't read all that broadly. Sorry, but I'd never heard of Nick Mamatas, Jeff Vandermeer, Laird Barron, or other fine genre authors before I started to write. All write well. All are well reviewed. Maybe the market isn't there. Maybe their writing isn't all that accessible to the masses (not necessarily a bad thing). Maybe it's something else. (see item 3)

Item 2: So you wanna write full time?

Writing and making a living is a hard effing job. Read JA Konrath's "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing" to see how hard one writer works. A single NY Times bestseller would not allow me to quit my job, even though NY Times bestseller level of sales would require a whole butt-load of greasing palms on my part. (again, see item 3) Super agent Nathan Bransford addresses this issue on his blog a few days ago.

So I won't be buying that cabin in the mountains any time soon.

Which brings me to item 3.

There's a good deal of discussion out on the 'net about the "unfairness" inherent in the publishing "system". Stop whining already, will you?

1. Publishers are in business to make money.

2. Agents are in business to make money.

3. Writers are not always in business to make money.

(screech of brakes...what?)

3. Writers are not always in business to make money.

Think about it. A writer-hopeful writes a book. What do they want? Go on, ask them. I'll wager most would answer "to have my book published" before "make money". Doesn't the continued success of vanity presses (um, Publish America isn't exactly bankrupt yet) provide enough evidence? Regardless of how you may feel about Harlequin's move to create a vanity publishing arm, they are a publisher, and publishers are in business to make money. Seems like they see the potential to make money, eh?

So there's a huge amount of folks wanting to be published. All are reaching for the brass ring. The dream. Agents sort and sift through the best pitches, request fulls on only the best books, offer to represent even less. Not every represented book is sold to a publisher. Talk about the camel through the eye of a needle.

And some books flop after being published. I've read something like 1 in 5 actually makes money. (yeah, I'd love to cite a source, but it's the 'net...could you trust it?) There's a glut of "the same book" on the shelves all over the place. (um, paranormal teen romance featuring vampires, anyone?)

Why?

The "unfair system" (again, suck it up folks) is designed to find the writers who can sell. All those authors of "unnamed paranormal teen romances" can scrap it out on the bookstore shelves and signing tables. Need I remind my dear readers that publishers and agents are in business to make money? Who cares if Slash's memoir is a piece of dog crap. It's going to sell.

I can't say it better than The Publishometer at Editorial Anonymous. So what if you've written a transcendent book that no one wants to read? Go on and complain about Dan Brown's crappy writing; he won't care, being too busy counting his money.

Sometimes the audience is too small for "Big Commercial Success". See the authors I mentioned above...all good, but they aren't going to bring in Dan Brown numbers because of what they write. Hell, maybe it's partially because of how well they write. (now that's a double-edged sword if I ever saw one)

To sell well, a book must be accessible to the masses. There is a paste-pudding blandness to pop culture. Transcendence doesn't sell well.

But I'll take it.

On Writing in Our Age

I spent some time in a used bookstore last week. The Dusty Bookshelf, with stores in Lawrence and Manhattan (Kansas...not that Manhattan), is a wonderful maze of old paper, words, and dreams. The photo on their website doesn't do the store justice. I've never been in the place without books stacked ten to twenty high around the desk.

It's where books go to die (if they are good and lucky). A sort of book Valhalla.

I perused the Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy sections, flipped through the yellowed pages of books by past lumanries, and remembered. Some books screamed their age with woefully dated cover art. Others looked like they might crumble in my hands. Words filled each one, someone's thoughts and ideas, sweat and hard work...and I was left to feel a bit like Hamlet as he stares into Yorick's empty gaze.

All that struggle, for this...

My sister used to be a journalist. She wrote for a few newspapers before returning to school to become a teacher. Even then, she wrote feature articles and made pretty good money. She still writes and has one book out through a small press. We spoke recently, bantering about the current state of publishing.

She started in the industry before the past decade or so of consolidation, before small houses became imprints for bigger publishers, before editors by the score were fired in the name of profit margins. She had a few houses look at her work unagented--can you even imagine such a thing today? Today: no agent...no way. Most of all, my sister loathes the idea of working for free. She can't believe I blog regularly or write short stories for pocket change...sometimes even less.

But now, you're expected to work for free as an author. You're expected to build a platform...find a following. You're expected to spend your own advance on promotion...if not (snap), your book runs the risk of landing in the other book graveyard, the one in which no one pulls it off a shelf and pays pennies on the dollar to take it home and cherish. Your book lands on a remainder table to be passed over by fickle consumers. You're done.

Pardon the forthcoming extended metaphor (my wife abhors any reference to war). I can't fight a battle that way. I don't have the resources, the troop strength, or experience to win. But, as guerilla fighters through the ages have shown, a good insurgency is a mighty weapon against superior forces. They don't fight with the intention of winning one battle, but winning the war.

What I can do, all I can really do, is keep writing. If I do...if I do...I've already won.

Round 'em Up! (In the Digital Corral)

Free e-books for the Amazon Kindle "sell" like hotcakes, don't they? (as of this writing, 3 of the top ten Kindle books and 7 of the top twenty were "free" downloads) Too bad writers and publishers are shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by making content free/cheap for the device.

What am I talking about?

Read this recent article by Daniel Lyons (from the June 15, 2009 Newsweek). (the comments are fantastic, too)

Here is my fear: publishers/writers/other "content creators" list books/etc. for free/cheap with the intention of driving up readership (building the ol' fanbase)...but inadvertently giving consumers more incentive to buy a Kindle (look at all this free stuff I can download!). The Kindle becomes the iPod of the e-book revolution (yeah, I know, what revolution?) If a writer wants his/her content to be read, Amazon sets the price; "content creators" lose. Publishers...they lose, too.

I'm not into playing Chicken Little; I'm just trying to read the digital writing on the bathroom wall.

Maybe I should have stayed in DeVry...learned to write some code...developed into a "gatekeeper".

Here's the truth: Personally, I don't care who is taking the money; "creators"--save those blessed few who conquer the world--have always received peanuts for their work. Creators have always "lost" at this game. But here's a little something to turn your mental gears--the scops that sang about Beowulf? While we don't know their names, we are still telling their stories.

To me, that means more than a fistful of dollars.

Cool, Niche Market Done Right

I'm still thinking about this IndieReader.com fiasco. You just can't force cool.

One nice niche market is The Horror Mall. They know their product and sell limited editions not available anywhere else. Their affiliate structure allows everyone to play and lets the customers decide what is good, not some cabal of secret gatekeepers.

Check them out (I'm sure most of you have).

I love the movie, Hype!, and I think it is appropriate to point out the pitfalls of manufacturing cool. (The movie is fantastic--a documentary about the rise of grunge in Seattle during the early '90s. We all know how that turned out.) If you haven't heard of/seen the movie Hype! I leave you with this:

The Big and Small of Publishing

I've been receiving the Galley Cat daily feed, and news is good for small publishing houses (or at least better than it has been for the dinosaurs). In the latest bit of news, Chelsea Green Publishing reported record sales last year. While Chelsea isn't a fiction publisher, I want to reflect on what I believe might be happening.

Purely speculation, but that's what I do.

When the purse strings are tight, people stop spending money on "extras". For a huge chunk of the popular fiction/non-fiction crowd, these "extras" would include books. Schunk! We just eliminated a swath of the big publishers' sales. Small houses (whether fiction or non-fiction) do a better job with niche markets. They know what readers (those people for whom books are not "extra") want. When the surplus money dries up, they are still above water because the dedicated readers are still buying books.

Just a theory.

Recessions have a way of forcing the cream to the top (i.e., better music, better art, better literature). Consumers must become more discerning in their purchases when their purchasing ability is limited. I hope this recession can create a renaissance, too.