• burning bookI’ve finally had to really, truly and honestly admit to myself that the publishing model that we know and love is broken and there ain’t no way to fix it other than to switch off the internet. The Kindle and iPad have arrived like Caxton’s press before and we can’t go back.

    Is this a terrible thing? It is if you love paper bound books and wan’t that old world to continue – do you still listen to shellac 78 records?

    The “BOOK” has been seen as a holy object for so long because it was the best information storage system we had. The book’s new role will be that of souvenir, gift item or collector’s edition.

    The threshold to publishing has been brought so low, there is no way an author can survive by giving away 90% or more of potential earnings to publishers – more if they employ an agent too. Publishing is something anyone can do now and many are leaping in, muddying the market and reducing quality to the very lowest common denominator. But some new media published works will rise the the surface and make a healthy profit while the rest turn into digital compost. Fear not – there will be millions trying – “There is a book in all of us” – the quote goes. Soon they will be available.

    So what to do? Stop thinking about books. That’s where the vanity lies. People want to see a book – their book with their name on it – as a physical object on their bookshelf and in a bookshop window. The screen is the new delivery vehicle. Words, pictures, video, whatever are the medium. Anything is possible and those that break free of the shackles of print will probably be the winners. The book and the printed word have no God given right to be the delivery vehicle of future thought.

     

    I’m throwing off the shackles of an old system and embracing the new – today – now – this moment 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J88skcs-6M

  • michael morpurgo world reading recordOn tuesday, “At 27 schools cross the capital, 2,735 children set a record by taking part in the biggest co-ordinated reading lesson, all enjoying Born to Run by Morpurgo at exactly the same time.”

    But take a look at the picture of one of the students featured in the Evening Standard Movie in this article, and you will see that nothing of the sort was going on at all. The children weren’t reading books, they were shuffling a few photocopied pages around.

    This perfectly explains the appalling reading standards ushered in by the National curriculum, and the Literacy Strategy in particular. Children don’t read books any more – they analyse texts.

    There is no time or need to read books in school. Education is arranged for the sake of accountants, who need boxes to be ticked so they can analyse progress and massage figures more easily. Reading books doesn’t fit into that structure. Books take too long to read and – heaven forbid! – the children might make up their own minds about the message and meaning in the book. There may not be an appropriate box for them to tick!

    The sooner the Literacy strategy is abandoned, the sooner British children can get back to the very difficult job of learning to read – that requires real books with a beginning a middle and an end, with a great story filled with life’s funny, sad and awkward truths.

  • Edward Bache nagged and nagged me to do a drawing tutorial for Robin Hood. I thought it would be a great way to start my Monday Challenge. The best idea for next weeks video will be the one that I do. Get your suggestion in, preferably as a video response that I can use i my Wednesday video, and I’ll choose the best idea!

    looking forward to hearing from you on video or in the comments below!