Context

Reading Guides

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One of the most recent innovations to impact the publishing and bookselling industry, Print-on Demand technology is now being implemented by some publishers as a way to keep books available without having to print large quantities of a given title. Ideally, this technology would prevent books from ever going out-of-print, thus allowing readers to find titles that otherwise would have vanished from bookshelves everywhere because of their poor sales potential. At the same time, some bookstores view Print-on-Demand technology as a way of selling books to customers without having to invest too much money in stocking these titles.

The following results were complied from the answers our bookstore advisors gave to a number of questions concerning Print-on-Demand technology and the best literature published last year.

Will Print-on-Demandtechnology make all
important works of literature available indefinitely?

Yes 31%
No 38%
The effects are yet to be determined 31%

Although Print-on-Demand provides an opportunity to make certain books available, one of our advisors cited concerns about whether or not certain titles would actually remain in electronic storage indefinitely. "There will always be economic and psychological drivers that will determine for the producers which titles are actually kept in a database. Purging of unasked for works is bound to occur."

Is Print-on-Demand technology a feasible way of keeping books available in bookstores?

Yes 17%
No 25%
Too soon to tell 58%

Responses to this question were mixed, but several booksellers expressed the hope that Print-on Demand would allow them to make obscure titles available. They felt that this technology would allow them to promote works that are not "mainstream" books.

What is the quality of books produced by Print-on-Demand technology compared to that of trade titles produced by traditional printing methods?

Better than regular trade titles 0%
Equal to regular trade titles 18%
Of lesser quality that regular trade titles 82%

As Print-on-Demand technology improves, the quality of the books produced will probably improve as well, but at this time, as one bookseller pointed out, they are "very stiff, very shiny, and very ‘sturdy’ in appearance—utilitarian."

Best works of literature
published in 2000

Reinaldo Arenas, Singing from the Well
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Charles Baxter, Feast of Love
Wendell Berry, Jayber CrowBrian Boyd and Robert Pyle (eds.), Nabokov’s Butterflies
Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Dennis Cooper, Period
Julio Cortázar, Final Exam
Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves
Amanda Davis, Circling the Drain
Nicholas Delbanco, What Remains
Michael Dirda, Readings
E. L. Doctorow, City of God
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Nomi Eve, Family Orchard
Thalia Field, Point and Line
Carlos Fuentes, The Years with Laura Diaz
Seamus Heaney (trans.), Beowulf
Aleksandar Hemon, The Question of Bruno
Sylvia Iparraguirre, Tierra del Fuego
Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans
A. L. Kennedy, On Bullfighting
Laszlo Krasznahorkai, The Melancholy of Resistance
Alan Lightman, The Diagnosis
António Lobo Antunes, The Natural Order of Things
David Means, Assorted Fire Events
David Mitchell, Ghostwritten
Michael Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost
Victor Pelevin, Buddha’s Little Finger
Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark
Steven Pressfield, Tides of War
Philip Roth, The Human Stain
José Saramago, All the Names
George Saunders, Pastoralia
Ingo Schulze, Simple Stories: A Novel
Joanna Scott, Make Believe
W. G. Sebald, Vertigo
David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Susan Sontag, In America
William T. Vollmann, The Royal Family
Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead
Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain


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Context Reading Guides Untitled document One of the most recent innovations to impact the publishing and bookselling industry, Print-on Demand technology is now being implemented by some publishers as a way to keep books available without having to print large quantities of a given title. Ideally, this technology would prevent books from ever going out-of-print, thus allowing readers to find titles that otherwise would have vanished from bookshelves everywhere because of their poor sales potential. At the same time, some bookstores view Print-on-Demand technology as a way of selling books to customers without having to invest too much money in stocking these titles. The following results were complied from the answers our bookstore advisors gave to a number of questions concerning Print-on-Demand technology and the best literature published last year. Will Print-on-Demandtechnology make all important works of literature available indefinitely? Yes 31% No 38% The effects are yet to be determined 31% Although Print-on-Demand provides an opportunity to make certain books available, one of our advisors cited concerns about whether or not certain titles would actually remain in electronic storage indefinitely. "There will always be economic and psychological drivers that will determine for the producers which titles are actually kept in a database. Purging of unasked for works is bound to occur." Is Print-on-Demand technology a feasible way of keeping books available in bookstores? Yes 17% No 25% Too soon to tell 58% Responses to this question were mixed, but several booksellers expressed the hope that Print-on Demand would allow them to make obscure titles available. They felt that this technology would allow them to promote works that are not "mainstream" books. What is the quality of books produced by Print-on-Demand technology compared to that of trade titles produced by traditional printing methods? Better than regular trade titles 0% Equal to regular trade titles 18% Of lesser quality that regular trade titles 82% As Print-on-Demand technology improves, the quality of the books produced will probably improve as well, but at this time, as one bookseller pointed out, they are "very stiff, very shiny, and very ‘sturdy’ in appearance—utilitarian." Best works of literature published in 2000 Reinaldo Arenas, Singing from the Well Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin Charles Baxter, Feast of Love Wendell Berry, Jayber CrowBrian Boyd and Robert Pyle (eds.), Nabokov’s Butterflies Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Dennis Cooper, Period Julio Cortázar, Final Exam Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves Amanda Davis, Circling the Drain Nicholas Delbanco, What Remains Michael Dirda, Readings E. L. Doctorow, City of God Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Nomi Eve, Family Orchard Thalia Field, Point and Line Carlos Fuentes, The Years with Laura Diaz Seamus Heaney (trans.), Beowulf Aleksandar Hemon, The Question of Bruno Sylvia Iparraguirre, Tierra del Fuego Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans A. L. Kennedy, On Bullfighting Laszlo Krasznahorkai, The Melancholy of Resistance Alan Lightman, The Diagnosis António Lobo Antunes, The Natural Order of Things David Means, Assorted Fire Events David Mitchell, Ghostwritten Michael Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost Victor Pelevin, Buddha’s Little Finger Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark Steven Pressfield, Tides of War Philip Roth, The Human Stain José Saramago, All the Names George Saunders, Pastoralia Ingo Schulze, Simple Stories: A Novel Joanna Scott, Make Believe W. G. Sebald, Vertigo David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day Zadie Smith, White Teeth Susan Sontag, In America William T. Vollmann, The Royal Family Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain Current issue: CONTEXT # 21 CONTEXT is a triquarterly publication intended to create an international and historical context in which to read modern and contemporary literature. Its goal is to encourage the development of a literary community. CONTEXT is available at bookstores nationwide.

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