Print is Dead

Karen Eng, Ted.com • Thu 2016 Mar 10, 6:48pm

The ancient al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez isn’t just the oldest library in Africa. Founded in 859, it’s the oldest working library in the world, holding ancient manuscripts that date as far back as 12 centuries. But modern life had taken a toll on the library, with its buildings falling into disrepair. That’s why in 2012, the Moroccan Ministry of Culture asked TED Fellow and architect Aziza Chaouni to rehabilitate the library…

Alan Gardner, Daily Cartoonist • Fri 2015 Feb 20, 8:10pm

"Archie is getting a reboot. The last issue (#666) will be released in June…" —Alan Gardner, Daily Cartoonist

The accompanying illustration has a redhead and a young woman of ethnicity where Betty and Veronica are supposed to be. You don't suppose… No, it's too vile to contemplate…

In any case, what kind of evil corporation ends a run on #666? This can't bode well.

epobirs at Ace of Spades • Fri 2012 Apr 13, 12:45pmThe real major expenses for publishers are the Manhattan offices and other perks, like hiring English lit majors at 80K a year to do proofreading any decent high school grad could perform for a few hundred bucks per book. (Also, an established author can easily crowd source a book's proofreading to a small group of fans. I was part of such an effort recently. We produced an almost perfect draft in less than 24 hours in terms of correcting basic text errors and continuity issues.) The big publishers are going to die. It's that simple. There is simply no reason for them to exist any more. Many small agencies will emerge from the wreckage and earn their keep with meaningful service with a low overhead. A home office in the suburbs is just as good as a Manhattan skyscraper for this purpose.

comicmix.com • Fri 2011 May 20, 9:02amAmazon announced that eBooks are now the most popular sales format on Amazon.com, outselling the joint sales of hardback and paperback books. Since April 1, 2011, for every 100 print books Amazon has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle editions. It took Amazon just about four years to make that statement come true, and it represents the tipping point.

breitbart.com • Fri 2009 May 15, 5:53pm

Arizona's oldest continuously published daily newspaper, the Tucson Citizen, will publish its final print edition Saturday but will continue operating online.

washingtontimes.com • Wed 2009 Apr 22, 2:12pm

Troubled by the possible shuttering of his hometown paper, Sen. John Kerry reached out to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, then called for Senate hearings to address the woes of the nation's print media. "America's newspapers are struggling to survive, and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount," Mr. Kerry said. [Also seeks to bolster the blacksmith industry....]

breitbart.com • Fri 2009 Mar 20, 5:57pm

US news weekly Time, which like other publications has been looking for ways to reinvent itself in print and on the Web, is allowing readers to put together their own personalized magazine. The experiment, called "Mine," allows readers to create a print or Web version of a magazine with content drawn from titles owned by Time and its partner in the venture, American Express Publishing.

wonkette.com • Tue 2009 Feb 24, 4:37pm

Hey, America: This is what you'll lose, once the last bloated newspapers close forever: People like this, whining about the Most Important Thing Ever, a soggy newsprint version of yesterday's wire copy and weeks-old syndicate features about "winter vegetables," wrapped around a Big Lots! circular and six or seven pages of foreclosure notices in the back, along with a few "I HEREBY REFUSE TO PAY MY DEBT" classifieds, where the jobs/real estate ads used to be. Oh god.