Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
conan50 wrote that "People like her bemoaned the mass publication of paperback books in exactly the same way."
Orwell didn't tell people not to buy paperbacks. So it wasn't anywhere close to "exactly the same way."
And even though Orwell claimed to be a socialist, I think literary merit was his real concern, rather than that being a smoke-screen for a dislike of big business, as in the Le Guin case.
However, maybe my challenge to come up with names who met the conan50 criteria was unfair. History rarely repeats itself in "exactly the same way," and it's not a terrible crime that conan50 engaged in a bit of overstatement.
Paperbacks were attacked more by publishers than authors. With Amazon, the attacks are broader. Also, early paperbacks were mass market books aimed at low-income readers, whereas the need to purchase a Kindle or other eReader, or own a tablet, means that eBooks skew to a higher demographic.
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"people like her" meaning those invested in the status quo reacted much the same way, that was my point. There are always those who will defend the making of "buggy whips" in the face of change.
I think ebooks have in the past skewed to a higher demographic, as you say, but that is quickly changing. It begins to make little economic sense now to buy many print books when you can pick up one device, an inexpensive tablet for instance, and have access to many thousands of free ebooks, either via a library or like Project Gutenberg.