Publishing Ten Years After...

In 2020, I see the book publishing industry becoming much more fragmented and niche driven market economies then what we currently have now. While Random House, Pearson, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette may continue to dominate the Best Seller Trade lists with block buster best selling authors, more and more emerging niche authors will have a presence in the online marketplace. Just as television went from the big three networks until 20 years ago to over 400 niche channels on cable and satellite TV today, the book industry will continue to explore its place within technologies of the future for the reading audience. From traditional ink and paper to audio books, to e-book readers, like Kindle and the iPad, to online PDF books, CD books, and cell phone books in Japan, the nature of the book as a physical object or simply as a service will evolve. Economies of scale will continue to favor the smaller publishers and self-publishers who effectively know how to use effective marketing principles to make a name for themselves and sell their books. Unless net neutrality becomes a pay per download function on the web with AT&T and Qwest creating a toll and only the big publishers can pay to play their websites, I don’t think the large media/publishing conglomerates will continue to merge and acquire smaller houses who seek to create diversity for democracy. One great success story of a constitutional law attorney who used blogging on the internet to become a best seller is Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.

Glenn initially started a blog titled Unclaimed Territory in 2005, was able to attract a huge audience to his blog while posting criticisms about the Patriot Act to other blogs such as Salon. Over the course of six months, he developed a large fan base and was able to write the book How Would a Patriot Act? The book made it to Amazon’s #1 spot and the New York Times Best Seller list six weeks before it went to print and without any exposure to review publications like Publisher Weekly or Kirkus. Glenn Greenwald’s success was purely from grassroots blogging and connecting with readers daily online.

In ten years, I see that the big houses of today will continue to have blockbuster best sellers like John Grisham, Stephen King, Christopher Moore, J.K. Rowling, etc., but the landscape of media distribution will be so different technologically that the market share for the large block busters will be a lot less. We can only hope that the democratization of the internet continues to stay free and the smaller publishers as well as authors like Greg Palast The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (Plume Press), Chris Hedges’ War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (Anchor Press), and David Sirota’s Hostile Takeover (Three Rivers Press) will continue to thrive. If government resources do not adequately fund our infrastructure, especially our public school system and encourage literacy, we may wind up like characters in Sinclair Lewis’ novel It Can’t Happen Here.

Wealth Care

John McCain and others complain

Private insurance needs to stay

In the hands of profiteers,

Where wealth continues to play.

"We need price fixing and collusion;

We need the insurance cartel--

How can we get re-elected

When our campaigns go to hell?

"We need profit driven health care

That keeps our companies wealthy,

Our shareholders would be pissed

If there bottom line's not healthy.

"No regulation for insurance;

No oversight of the banks;

No rules for energy companies;

We need wealth care in the ranks!

"We cannot allow sick companies

With pre-existing bankrupt conditions,

To not get tax payer insurance;

That is our position!

"America should do the Far Right thing

For companies and their share;

These are what we stand for!

It's all about wealth care!!"

A Book with Shocking IMPACT

Many books have been instrumental in affecting and changing my perspective on the world and who I am. I remember fondly the early years of reading the whimsical and lyrical works of Ted “Dr. Seuss” Geisell to the canon of great literature I read in high school from Charles Dickens to Mark Twain to Kurt Vonnegut. Fiction was and continues to be part of the way I view the world since I also like tell stories through narrative fiction. It is through fiction that I can escape from the depressing realities that confront us each day, and go into a fictional world that may engage in its own set of depressing or humorous conventions, such as A Confederacy of Dunces and Catch-22.

These days, my reading habits are more focused on works of non-fiction and engaging the world I live in with information that helps me make sense of the world. Last year I heard an interview with Naomi Klein on Progressive Talk Radio on her new book: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. This book looks at the economic philosophy of the Milton Friedman Chicago School of Laissez faire economics and Naomi Klein puts that philosophy in context to both natural and manmade disasters around the world. Milton Friedman was also a subscriber to Ayn Rand and her "Objectivist" vision regarding limited government in order to unregulate the forces of capital. While I was familiar with the manmade disasters of CIA coups in Iran in 1953, Honduras in the 50s and last year, Chile in 1973, Iraq invasion 2002, coup in Haiti 2004 and 2009, I was not familiar with a particular socio/economic model of the Chicago school. This was a real eye opener that made me understand that unstable societies that have had either political or natural disasters such as New Orleans 2005 are ripe for the privatization of land and resources by private companies. Naomi uses the metaphor of multinational corporations as “vultures” that circle the carcass of vulnerable nations. The vultures wait for the right moment to dive in and privatize the common natural resources and industries of the vulnerable nation. This is the “shock” that Naomi talks about since the citizens of the country have no idea what just hit them. The companies, whether they be AT&T, ITT, Halliburton, KBR, Dynecorp, Blackwater (XE), etc. quickly seek to reap major profits over the shocked citizens.

While The Shock Doctrine may sound like a conspiracy novel, it is completely sourced with facts and brings the reader to an understanding that while the corporate charter is “profits at any cost,” the people will continue to lose. Naomi Klein only brings this to light in the systematic approach by the purveyors of the Milton Friedman/ Ayn Rand Chicago School. While the Chicago School is the theoretical and political arm of “objectivism,” we can take that “theoretical” school and see the practice of “objectivism” through the School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation in Ft. Benning, Georgia). This government institution of “We the People” is a training ground for insurgent forces of torture who help the Shock Doctrine make way for private industry. While these schools of “thought” are best hidden from the consciousness of public inquiry, many poor people in developing countries continue to be victims of what should be known as the Schools of Organized Crime.

Overall, The Shock Doctrine has been a valuable resource to me in my writing and my understanding of the pathology that goes into a philosophy based upon profit driven motives at the cost of human degradation. I also recommend another great book I read called Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by Thom Hartmann which gets into the history of corporate "personhood."

CPAC and Stack

Rhythmic reflections on this weekend's news events between the Conservative Political Action Committee and Joe Stack who flew his plane into the Federal building in Austin, TX.

The neo-con's CONvention

Of fascist fellow craze,

Met in the nation’s capitol

As Joe set his house a blaze.

Dick and Newt and the arrogant suits

Smiled at Michelle’s vacant pose,

While Joe fueled up his Cesna plane

For a flight that was undisclosed.

Glenn Beck’s rubberneck

Blared out his federal hate,

Joe Stack aimed his Cesna plane

For federal disaster mandate.

Bolton, Coulter, DeMint, and Tucker

Drank wine with venom they spewed,

Joe Stack hit a federal building

With hatred he fostered and grew.

Marco, Mitt and Rick didn't quit

Lying on the CPAC stage,

How many more Joes are ready
To take out their violent rage?

E-mail Campaigns for We the People

As an avid listener of Progressive Talk radio, AM620 KPOJ, and a reader of publications such as The Nation magazine, and viewer of LinkTV cable that features Democracy Now!, I appreciate getting my information without a corporate spin. I rely on these independent media outlets and those who sponsor its programming to refer me to online sites for more information that I view with frequency. With a lot of garbage on the internet, I have come to trust the referrals I get from progressive media outlets to check out progressive online media campaigns for their products and services.

I tend to go back forth between cynicism and hope with the state of our country. I have contributed to online e-mail marketing campaigns by becoming a member of MoveOn.org as well as contributing to progressive candidates in states where the threat of reactionary politicians is more prevalent than in Oregon. I have given $50 contributions online to Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) for his campaign seat as well as Allan Grayson (D-Florida). Progressive talk radio is but a small fraction of the overall talk radio market which leans "conservative." This is why I believe that the continued growth of progressive talk radio coupled with the internet and world wide web can become valuable tools to spread the message of democracy in this age of corporatism. When I am not giving to notable causes on the internet, I like to support independent businesses as well as local businesses for local economies.

My feelings overall have been positive in supporting causes I believe in by using the internet and the web. The greatest fight I believe in is the fight for getting accurate and free information. While the internet was funded through a research project of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency), the ground work for creating the world wide web was funded with federal dollars by We the People. Members of congress who have been getting huge campaign donations from ISPs such as Comcast, Qwest, and AT&T have been proposing legislation to impose fees to We the People in the form of "tolls" for the uploading and downloading of content on the internet. This imposition of fees would effectively stifle free speech on the web when companies can impose arbitrary fees for download times to progressive organizations that do not fit the same profit driven model. Disney.com, Exxon.com, or Cocacola.com would be able to pay $20,000 month for quick download times of content versus organizations such as TheNationMagazine.org, MoveOn.org, or GardenOfLightPublishing.blogspot.com that has a very limited budget to express our ideas on various issues. The threat of private industry to get rid of net neutrality is very real especially since the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United versus the FCC that corporations can send unlimited money to Right-wing politicians, essentially legalizing bribery.

I believe that our country is on the precipice between an age of openness and enlightenment and a dark age of corporatism (fascism). While the internet is still free and I am able to go to websites that I trust, I will continue to support those organizations and their e-mail campaigns that support a world view of openness and enlightenment.

Confessions of a Digital Blog Publisher

Behind the doors
Of dusty floors,
Are flickering computer screens.
Lights are dim,
Our thoughts begin;
We type thoughts in digital streams.

Millions sit
For mental trips,
But we're plainly out of sight,
And in the dark,
Our butts are parked
Well into the moonlight.

We sit at tables
With laptop fables,
And virtually organize,
Our cluttered thoughts
Where memories caught
In files of any size.

We’re millions strong,
With solo songs,
And distant e-letters to send.
We’re all about
The muscular clout
That twitch from numb rear ends.

We’re a nation,
In isolation,
With many virtual powers,
Through e-mail,
We cannot fail,
To stay up ridiculous hours.

From millions of home,
In bubbles and domes,
We’re a nation that’s out of sight.
But even alone,
We have a home,
“Agoraphobics UNITE!”

Search Engine Words for "42"

In a world of mysterious coincidences, George Olson struggles to understand why he is the central suspect in a Portland, Oregon murder mystery that’s wrapped in a numerical enigma of 42. This suspenseful thriller takes place in the great northwest city of Portland where George Olson’s paranoia seizes control of possible conspiracy theories that threaten his own perception of reality. Mr. Olson continues to see the recurring “42” throughout the story and builds conspiracy plots around his alleged crime. Is this a murder mystery with a mastermind conspiracy plot about to devour the mind of George Olson or is George Olson a delusional paranoid bent on his own self-destruction? Find out in the Ooligan Press novel “42.”