Teen Paranormal Romance

[Conservationist]

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/paranormal-teen-romance-dark-romance/379002329/

I think this was the publishing industry's version of hip-hop, like the auto industry had the SUV.

Just about when you thought a new market had died, you get one more product that makes everybody fat and happy, but the underlying business model is still dead.

Mass publishing was a neat idea... until we figured out the proles cannot tell the difference between a good book and a stupid one. That made it easy to sell them crap, while it was rare. Now we're publishing 100x as many books, and the proles buy randomly. All theory goes out the window.

Hip-hop, SUVs, iPods, etc. are all cash cows from dying markets. Selling to masses of idiots only works for so long.

[Sammaellofi]

After 500 years, I think mass publishing has had it's day.  Now it's only virtue is that you can find a $5 of t the Prince, this being a virtue the internet is making useless.

When the Divine Comedy came out, who the Hell was gonna read it?  Not that many.  That has nothing to do with quality, but as long as mass publishing exists, people will believe (even the ones who don't believe sale = quality) that unless a great book is read by at least x number of idiots, it was somehow a failure, as if a great book is only entertainment and nothing more. 

[Gefechtsgruppe10]

Ever been in people's houses?  Nobody has books anymore.  This might be a good thing for the publishing industry.  In my field of military history, I have noted a recent uptick in the past 10-15 years of phenomenally high-quality works.  As far as literature goes, the only modern author I read is Alexandr Solzhenitsyn so I really can't comment on fiction... though I suppose I read a Salmon Rushdie book a while back that was decent.
I've noticed more and more people consider surfing around the internet or looking at forums to be reading.  Much like people who watch the history channel or learning channel and think they are seeing anything other than simplistic propaganda.  Women also seem to read actual physical books much more than men; indeed, the OP link is a genre aimed mostly at young girls.  I've been able to positively influence the reading habits (from Danielle Steele to  JW Goethe, etc.) of women much more than I have been able to positively influence the music listening habits of males (as women just have terrible taste in music because they don't look for the same things from it that men do, I therefore care not what women listen to).  I've also found thats the easiest way to find a good woman - go to the bookstore and find one to CHALLENGE... they WANT you to tell them what they want anyway. 

[diesel]

I listen to some hip hop. *dodges stones* there is no better lyricist out there than K-rino, except maybe Saul Williams.

The reason mass production is so dumbed down is because it begins by tailoring material for ornamental people ages10-18. dumb shit songs, books, movies, etc. Of course this is an easy demographic to capitalize off. People older get sucked in to that garbage for some reason, and consume it also probably because it's everywhere you fucking look. It's tragic that we now have men 25 and older paying attention to the Kardashan show or Jersey shore.

[Heydrich]

Ever been in people's houses?  Nobody has books anymore.  This might be a good thing for the publishing industry.  In my field of military history, I have noted a recent uptick in the past 10-15 years of phenomenally high-quality works.  As far as literature goes, the only modern author I read is Alexandr Solzhenitsyn so I really can't comment on fiction... though I suppose I read a Salmon Rushdie book a while back that was decent.

As a voracious reader of military-history oriented works, I agree with this completely! Once you sift through all the propaganda and bullshit printed by the usual suspects, there are - believe it or not - STILL many fine new titles. Keeps me busy...

[rapidshare]

many fine new titles

Please list any good books you've found lately. I'll share any I find, in addition to the usual suspects

[Gefechtsgruppe10]

Ever been in people's houses?  Nobody has books anymore.  This might be a good thing for the publishing industry.  In my field of military history, I have noted a recent uptick in the past 10-15 years of phenomenally high-quality works.  As far as literature goes, the only modern author I read is Alexandr Solzhenitsyn so I really can't comment on fiction... though I suppose I read a Salmon Rushdie book a while back that was decent.

As a voracious reader of military-history oriented works, I agree with this completely! Once you sift through all the propaganda and bullshit printed by the usual suspects, there are - believe it or not - STILL many fine new titles. Keeps me busy...

Yes sir, the general public's, even well-educated folks, conception of how war works and what goes on in a battle is hilariously misinformed.  Its good to know that there is a fellow mil-hist reader here.  A very metal subject of inquiry.  I've been obsessed with WW2 since childhood and my shelves sag with an overflow of titles, yet I am still discovering lots of great new stuff that is of fairly recent publication.  The Vietnam War has probably seen the most intense changes as far as quality goes, although certain aspects of WW2 have made major breakthroughs as well.  Other than official military publications, I've only seen terrible work done about the United States' recent wars in the Muslim world.  All this high-quality work is aimed at vary narrow audiences and the authors all seem to have deep respect and reverence for military history, so it is not terribly surprising that they are making worthwhile works.

"Triumph Forsaken" by Mark Moyar is an excellent re-analysis of the early years of American involvement in Vietnam.  Revisionism at its finest.

"Last Victory in Russia, the Battle of Kharkov" by George M. Nipe.  Great operational view of the Soviet capture of Kharkov and Herr Feldmarschall Manstein's counteroffensive to re-take the city.  Nipe is a very skilled Waffen-SS Historian.

A shitload of titles by David M. Glantz notably "Zhukov's Greatest Defeat."  All excellent histories of the Ostfront in WW2 using much newly released Soviet archival materials.  Uncovers massive casualties and lost battles that were hidden by Soviet 'historians.'

"House to House" by  SSgt. David Bellava.  A great personal account of the war against the Iraq insurgency from a small-unit perspective.  Perfectly illustrates the utterly barbarous world of infantry combat despite the layers of technology that supposedly insulates us from such things.

Edited to add list of good new books.

[Conservationist]

Ever been in people's houses?  Nobody has books anymore. 

If we could get the idiots to stop reading, the quality of literature could rise again...

[Gefechtsgruppe10]

Ever been in people's houses?  Nobody has books anymore. 

If we could get the idiots to stop reading, the quality of literature could rise again...

Indeed.  I've pointed out how the general lack of interest in a certain segment of published materials has resulted in an increase in quality.  I am sure that since the interest in 'social' history has been on the increase in the past 20 or so years the quality has taken a general downward trend; military history is being increasingly ignored (outside of the basest propaganda needed to sustain a low-level of quasi-imperialistic warfare) and has experienced an increase in quality.  It seems that the way to maintain literary quality is to specialize and find a niche market...much like black metal.  A lot of the more modern military history is rather stripped to its essentials, harshly realist, and ruthless in its search for the structures and forms that make for effective warfare, much like black metal.    I think that the novel/fiction realm will keep trending ever downward because there seems to be fewer obvious niches to fill.  I know many otherwise smart people who read boatloads of trashy new novels.  I've known Senators, businessmen, military Officers, and teachers who had vary little reading outside of oprah's book club-type fare.  I always wince and prepare for the worst when people tell me, "oh, I love to read!"  The internet has delivered a crushing blow to the quality of writing as well as the attention-span of potential readers.

Its easy to point out all the fails and such.  I cannot really think of any positive action to countermand this other than what I have outlined in previous posts.  I will have to think of this a bit.

[Jim Necroslaughter]

What are the cornerstone books about WW2?  I already have the Albert Speer autobiography/memoirs.

And let me aim this question at Gefechtsgruppe and Heydrich, specifically.

[Conservationist]

It seems that the way to maintain literary quality is to specialize and find a niche market...much like black metal.

A niche market which didn't exist. I think it's a question of quality versus popularity: you need an audience that is conservative and stable, so they reward quality. Your other option is the "trendy" audience, which can't tell the difference. Black metal was great when it faced a hostile audience and so was limited to the fanatics with a vision making the music, for the most part. When it became accepted, it got too easy to plop out the same crap "with a twist" and take home the teenie dollars.

[freshblood]

FYI, there are still many absolutely brilliant novels being released. Granted the turnover rate for novels is a lot slower than other artforms (films, music) but in the last ten years or so, many wonderful wonderful things.