Read Roger!

I mean, you probably already do read Read Roger if you’re reading this. But in case you missed it, I think there are some interesting comments (not just mine) on Roger’s excellent “The best of all possible worlds” post last week (points for Voltaire reference amid all the Mockingjay hubbub).

My comments are pretty clear, though apparently not entirely persuasive, as you’ll see. I don’t want to beat a dead horse (because publishing is dead and so is the web, as you’ve probably heard), but this is the same thing I was saying in my Godin post (the one where I chased him right out of traditional book publishing). Writing, publishing, and bookselling are not a simple businesses. I know I’m biased, but I’m not convinced we want a book culture entirely devoid of the intermediaries who make it their jobs to understand the interactions of these businesses (I say this as a proud intermediary). Author, manuscript, publisher, retailer, audience. These are a lot of moving parts, and the intermediaries play a role in keeping them from crashing into each other.

Photo by Improbable Roach