Re: amateur auteur

DB (DB.PRESSBKS@press.uchicago.edu)
Fri, 23 Dec 1994 13:33:48 -0800

In his very interesting post, Ron Silliman wrote,
> It seems quite evident that the internet and electronic publishing
generally hold >great potential to transform what has historically been the
terrain of the book (and >all the institutions associated with it). To date
none has done so. My guess is that it >will be quite awhile before any
effort at this succeeds, for some reasons I'll outline >below. And that
when and if it does happen, the transformation will occur at the >furthest
reaches of commerce--like avant-garde poetry--and will only very >gradually
have any impact on the industry of the book as such.

The furtherest reaches of commerce are wherever the monetary rewards of
authoring are in greatest disproportion to the work expended in authorship.
Where the rewards, if any, are intangible -- recognition, or inclusion in
a scholarly community, or making a contribution to culture. So, yes,
avant-garde literatue. And certainly all scholarly journals, where authors
typically receive no monetary return, and where speed of publication, low
production cost, and ease of access is more important than high production
values or the creation of an aesthetic object. That's where network
publishing will first transform the business of academic publishing.

Dean Blobaum
The University of Chicago Press
dblobaum@press.uchicago.edu
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