Sometimes here at SoTB, we get a little disenchanted with publishing, right? We just think screw it. Where is the hope? Where is the possibility? Where is the potential? In the world of corporate publishing, when independents are kicked around, when new and interesting voices are ignored, when the holidays we so love become merely an excuse to publish absolute tripe (and no, that link is not to a certain moronic Alaskan), what have we left?
But today's brief post is giving credit where credit is due.
Hachette Audio is releasing a new David Sedaris recording on vinyl, under the title Live for Your Listening Pleasure, reports Andrew Adam Newman in the NY Times. This seems like a great pairing of format and content to me offhand, even if I've grown a bit tired of Sedaris in recent years. Sure, an occasional article in the New Yorker can be fun, but page after page, he becomes a bit predictable. But hey, suddenly I'm interested anew.
As formats explode and everyone seeks out the Next Big Thing, I appreciate that this particular publisher is looking across all formats, old and new, to see what might work. I'm all for thinking aloud about formats that work and talking seriously about those that don't. In fact, Susan Ruszala has a nice post about hardcovers over at Follow the Reader worth reading. I just worry about our racing ahead and leaving valuable formats - such as vinyl - behind.
So well played, corporate giant Hachette. You could be onto something!
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