Chapter 3

Question 1

Early history of books

Answer 1

1638 first printing press
1644 first book printed in colonies appears: the whole book of psalms
1765 printers revolt after passage of the stamp act
Mid 1770s anti-british sentiment had reached its climax
1884 linotype machine sped the process

Question 2

Colonial America/early book industry/paperback novels

Answer 2

1860 Irwin and Erastus beadle began publishing dime novels
1865 Beadle and company had produced over 4 million volumes
1935 Allen Lane founded penguin books and invented the paperback

Question 3

Cultural value of books

Answer 3

1. Agents of social and cultural change
2. An important cultural repository
3. Windows on the past
4. Important sources of personal development
5. Bibliotherapy
6. Mirrors of culture
7. Little free library movement public library’s

Question 4

Censorship and self-censorship

Answer 4

Books are targeted because of their influence as cultural repositories and agents of social change. Book publishers obligations demand they resist censorship.

Question 5

Literacy and aliteracy

Answer 5

Literacy: the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols
Aliteracy: possessing the ability to read but being unwilling to do so

Question 6

Categories of books

Answer 6

Book Club Editions, El-hi, Higher Education, Mass Market Paperback, Professional Books, Religious Books, Standardized Tests, Trade Books, and University Press Books.

Question 7

Convergence and eReaders

Answer 7

Times have changed and digital books got popular. Digital books provided a new chance/way for a book to be published

Question 8

Conglomeration: The big 5

Answer 8

1. Penguin Random
2. House Hachette
3. HarperCollins
4. Macmillan
5. Simon & Schuster

Question 9

Subsidiary Rights

Answer 9

hat is, the sale of the book, its contents, and even its characters to filmmakers, paperback publishers, book clubs, foreign publishers, and product producers like T-shirt, poster, coffee cup, and greeting card manufacturers.

Question 10

Shopfiction in eReaders

Answer 10

the embedding of links into traditional and e-books taking readers directly to paid sponsors’ websites

Question 11

Small presses

Answer 11

Today there are more than 80,000 book publishers in the United States, the vast majority being small presses.

Question 12

Changes in book retailing (where can you buy books now?)

Answer 12

Book retailing has changed because you can now either order books online or buy a digital e-book copy online.

Question 13

Chain bookstores vs. independent booksellers

Answer 13

Independent booksellers find it increasingly difficult to compete with chain bookstores. They both also have to compete with online retailers.

Question 14

The rise of Amazon Publishing

Answer 14

Amazon is dominated book retail controlling 83% of all e-book sales.

Question 15

Tie-in novel

Answer 15

books based on popular television shows and movies

Question 16

What are the products of increasing hypercommercialism and demands for profit in the book industry?

Answer 16

One product of increasing hypercommercialism and demands for profit, is the trend of the “hollywoodization” of books. Whether it’s a book or a memoir written by someone famous, companies think that people will read those books, regardless of the content, because of the famous author. So in other words using famous people to get more profit out of something. Even making adaptations or books based off of movies or television shows. Another thing is adding product placement into books.

Question 16

What is the impact of conglomeration on the book industry?

Answer 16

It took the book industry from a cottage industry to conglomeration. From book publishing just being very small operations they went to now the Big 5 publishing companies which control over 80% of all american book sales.

Question 16

Name eight reasons books are an important cultural resource.

Answer 16

1. Books are agents of social and cultural change.
2. Books are an important cultural repository.
3. Books are our windows to the past.
4. Books are important sources of personal development.
5. Books are wonderful sources of entertainment, escape, and personal enjoyment.
6. The purchase and reading of a book is a much more individual, personal activity than consuming advertiser-supported or heavily promoted media.
7. Books are mirrors of culture.
8. Book readers are less likely to lose their jobs to robots.

Question 16

What is bibliotherapy?

Answer 16

Using reading for therapeutic effect.

Question 16

What factors allowed the flowering of the American novel, as well as the expansion of the book industry, in the 1800s?

Answer 16

The factors that allowed the flowering of the American novel were lower-cost printing and widespread literacy.

Question 17

What was the Stamp Act? Why did colonial printers object to it?

Answer 17

The Stamp Act, was a mandate that all printing be done on paper stamped with the government’s seal. Colonial printers objected to it because it controlled and limited expression as well as brought a huge price to publish.

Question 18

Why were the early colonists not a book-reading population?

Answer 18

The early colonists were not a book-reading population, because they didn’t really have any leisure time to sit down and read a book just for fun. Books were also considered a luxury, which many could not afford.

Question 19

What were the major developments in the modernization of the printing press?

Answer 19

The linotype machine, a typewriter-like keyboard that allowed printers to set type mechanically rather than manually, and offset lithography, which permitted printing from photographic plates rather than from heavy, fragile metal casts.