Tuesday News: BISG focuses on collaboration, Alibaba’s massive IPO, the New York Times flubs race again, and the years top banned books
BISG Annual Meeting Looks Beyond the Book – The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) is meeting at NYY for its annual meeting this week, and among the topics under discussion are “the growing benefits of data capture and feedback; the rebound of indie bookstores; subscription and new business models; as well as the growing demand for video and other content beyond traditional book formats.” But mostly there seems to be a theme of collaboration and new strategies for growing readership. The Group itself is very diverse, including academic publishers, self-publishing services, and public libraries, among others, and it’s good to see a new focus on the way publishing and distribution engages with readers. [note: I think the article misspelled Fran Toolan’s name]
Echoing Michael’s video message the panel also urged more industry collaboration. Indeed the growing emphasis on collaboration between separate players in the supply chain and the emphasis on publisher/customer outreach can produce friction in an industry used to clear demarcations between manufacturer, retailer and consumer. But Catogge said publishers and retailers have to reassess the notion of “owning the customer,” and Toolian called earlier models of channel ownership, “outdated notions of customer relations. We need to share our understanding of customers though not necessarily their email addresses.” –Publishers Weekly
After Alibaba’s I.P.O.: The Big Picture – A very interesting analysis of Alibaba’s recent — and massively successful — IPO. Alibaba is China’s largest e-commerce company, and although its success is impressive, the example is notable because Alibaba’s success is not built on a particular product or technological innovation, but on the integrative nature of online transactions. In other words, Alibaba is capitalizing on the ways in which people use the internet, rather than providing content, per se. Which is a fascinating look at the different dimensions of ‘information technology.’
Alibaba is a holding company. It owns Taobao.com, China’s version of eBay, and Tmall.com, another popular shopping destination where major international brands like Nike and Samsung have online stores. It also owns a business-to-business commerce site, and it developed a fast-growing cashless-payments system, Alipay, which is a Chinese version of Pay-pal. (As Vauhini Vara notes, the company has also been compared to Walmart.) In short, Alibaba has done a better job than its Chinese competitors in mimicking the American pacesetters that first demonstrated the power of these network effects. –New Yorker
An Article on Shonda Rhimes Rightly Causes a Furor – You may have been aware of the controversy around an article by New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley that referred to Shonda Rhimes as an “angry black woman.” It was definitely a head shaking moment, and I’m glad to see that the Times appears to be taking seriously the completely legitimate criticism they have received, although I’m curious to see how far beyond public face-saving they’re really willing to go. Apparently the newspaper only has two people of color among its 20 critics, neither of whom are black. So yet another reminder of how important it is to have true diversity at the level of those who produce the news, in order to reflect and speak to the diverse nature of your readership.
There are some big questions here – about diversity, about editing procedures and about how The Times deals with stories about women and race. They are worth exploring in depth. . . .
“This is a signal to me that we have to constantly remind ourselves as editors of our blind spots, what we don’t know, and of how readers may react.” –New York Times
‘Captain Underpants’ tops list of most challenged books in 2013 – One of the best things about Banned Book Week is posts like these that highlight the top banned books for the year. Poor Captain Underpants heads the contenders this year, with Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye number two on the hit list. Frustratingly entertaining and enraging all at the same time. –CNN
Well, it’s good to see some media company is taking their blindness seriously. The Economist didn’t publish a single letter about their book review that stated that a book about slavery was “advocacy, not history” because it “depicted most blacks as victims and most whites as villains”. I know they got tons of letters. Their apology was rather weak, too. It sounded like a PR effort, not a sincere effort to figure out how they could have been so stupid.
Me, my husband and my two older sons are white but my youngest adopted son is black. It seems like there are a lot of news stories lately about racism and I’m obsessively following it all. I continue to be stunned at how clueless America is about racism. Members of my own extended family didn’t see a problem with what happened in Ferguson until I educated them (well, “ranted at them” is probably more accurate!). I hope America is getting a clue but I’m actually not all that hopeful.
I give the NY Times an ‘Eh’ for effort in their apology for the awful Stanley article on Shonda Rhimes. The article and the fact that it was vetted by at least three more editors and still allowed to be published in that incarnation with that particular lede speaks volumes about the blindness of privilege.
Also it is telling that the original author of that Rhimes article has a past rife with such other “tone-deaf” articles that often require correction after they’ve been published. As a tv critic she is an utter failure because it appears she has no appreciation for the subject she is writing about. It is one thing to be a critic, it is another to make it obvious that you feel as if you are slumming.
And as many have noted around the internet & twitter, it wasn’t just a hit job on Rhimes, it was a back-slap at most of the black actresses who are working in tv. Reducing their contributions & mangling facts so that it fit her narrative.
Also, you could almost feel the disdain dripping from her pen as she calls Shonda a ‘Romance Writer.’
Has anyone every successfully ordered from Alibaba? I tried when I was shopping for swag for RT, but none of the suppliers EVER responded to my messages. I was a little shocked to see it have a huge IPO since it was an unusable joke IME.
@Kim W: Kim, unfortunately, welcome to the world of the Black mother. Also, if your son were to ever be unlawfully detained for something, and then let go because authorities were too zealous, be prepared to hear him ask, “Why me?” It is then when you will have to explain to him why everything you believed about your country does not apply to him.
@P. J. Dean: I live in one of the most liberal and integrated parts of the country so I thought the bad stuff only happened in other parts of the country. When my cousin’s black boyfriend was detained and arrested for doing absolutely nothing, I was outraged. My son’s much older biological brother (also black) just shrugged at my outrage because he lives it all the time. I’ve started trying to explain this kind of thing to my son (he’s 11) but I think I am mostly just scaring and confusing him. It’s a challenge for sure.