McGrum’s Ten Milestones, McSweeneys, and 12
Robert McGrum is retiring from The Observer. He lists ten milestones from the past ten years in book publishing over at the Guardian.
- New blood (aka the passing of the guard)
- Amazon
- Harry Potter
- Jonathan Franzen
- Festivals
- Prizes
- Ian Mcewan
- Blogs Vs Reviewing (It is quaint he thinks these are opposed)
- Lynne Truss
- The Kindle
I bit my tongue a couple of times reading his story — but the one glaring omission I have to mention is McSweeney’s. I am not an Eggers fanboy by any means but the rise of boutique publishing should get some recognition. Eggers has been able to assert the modality of text-as-artifact with his Quarterly, while simultaneously freeing his writers from the literary establishment and its traditional means of production and distribution. He is so new because he is so old-school. Projects like 12 owe a lot to Eggers. As the industry shifts from a supply driven business to a demand driven one, I see the importance of McSweeney’s coming into the foreground.
Thanks for the link Rob.
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