Reading Edward, Jim and Joe Vitale. 2007. How to WRITE and PUBLISH Your Own eBook in as Little as 7 DAYS. New York: Morgan James. p.127-210
The content is manufactured by the market: The author investigates what the reader wants to hear and then produces the content according to his/her market analysis:
Step 1: “Locate the niche market and pick your topic. Use a keyword rich filename, title and description” (Edwards and Vitale 2007, p.34)
Step 2: Before you start writing, write the sales letter first (Edwards and Vitale 2007, p.58)
Step 3 Write: Do not define the problems of your target group based on what you think (Edwards and Vitale 2007, p.35). Instead, define their problems based on what they tell you. Learn the words they use to communicate and tell them what they want to hear.
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Market-driven content |
Author-driven content |
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The author does not provide her expertise. |
The author provides his very own expertise. |
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There is no progress of knowledge. |
There is progress of knowledge |
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There is no moral, no social responsibility. |
There is social responsibility.
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The consumer learns nothing new, but is told what another person thinks she wants to hear. |
The consumer learns perspectives of society that he most likely never had considered.
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The reader will like the text and is entertained |
The reader might be surprised or even shocked and hereby is inspired to think. |
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Through consumption, the reader becomes an object. |
Through reflection, the reader becomes an agent. |
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Although market-oriented ePublishing appears to empower the reader, it actually deprives her of information. |
The reader is empowered. |
Populism:
"1. antielite politics: politics or political ideology based on the perceived interests of ordinary people, as opposed to those of a privileged elite
2. focus on ordinary people: focus or emphasis on the lives of ordinary people, for example, in the arts and in politics"
Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2005.
Populism and elitism are often seen as antonyms. However, populism can also be a source of elitism.
Market-driven publishing can falsely be seen as a form of populism.
Author-driven publishing should not be confused with elitism.
To enable a democratic process, masses have to be informed. There has to be a free press, where all voices can be heard. (Al Gore 2007).
Using his special expertise the author might be part of an educated elite. As long as the author adds his voice as an equal to other voices, he is not supporting elitism. Adding the voice he is actually empowering the people.
Elitism is the process of restricting voices from being created or herd.
Rooted in populism, the dark side of ePublishing does not enable individual voices to be heard.
· Instead, it creates one single voice that speaks for the economically empowered masses.
· Ultimately, economic populism defines a voice that suites the economic elite.
· Hereby market-driven ePublishing merges problematic aspects of populism and elitism.
As it merges elitism and populism market-driven ePublishing merges new and traditional forms of censorship.
Populism:
The new censorship is a self-censorship demanded by populism: only information demanded by a market will be published.
Elitism:
Following the market, the dark side of publishing follows the needs and interests of the economic elite.
Traditional elitism can lead to restricting critical voices. This is known as censorship. Censorship is not a problem restricted to regimes known to be totalitarian.
“The U.S. press was recently found in a comprehensive international study to be only the fifty-third-freest press in the world” (Al Gore 2007, p.17)
Al Gore 2007. The Assault on Reason. New York: The Penguin Press.
Welcome to the conservative US elite: What happens if we led 15 US conservative scholars and public policy leaders compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Ezine or Enewspaper “Human Events”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=7591
Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider2/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University, Université Paris X, or Dr. Schneider. @Copyright 2007 Dr. Andreas Schneider