Total Book Control

[Jules Siegel]

At 12:56 PM 04/30/97 -0400, <traveler at afn.org> wrote:

>I strongly suspect any number of academic presses have put something out by
now along the lines of what you're describing (a printed compendium of posts
to an on-line forum).

"Strongly suspect" is not the same as citing cases, which a couple of
messages have actually done and which I have gratefully acknowledged.

>Ah, here's the name I was looking for yesterday:  William Blake.

Good catch. Did he self-publish or was he paid to do so by a publisher who
paid to print the book and promote it?

>Mind you, I'm not saying you are of Blake's stature...but the point is,
"total book control" is not new.  I imagine it is more common with some
smaller, specialty publishing companies.

"Imagine" isn't good enough. If you know of any cases, I'd like to hear of
them. As I said in an earlier message today, it's better to be part of a
trend than initiate it. Total control might not be new, but it is very rare
and very noteworthy when it occurs.

>I'm puzzled.  A collection of e-mail messages by various people isn't a
pastiche?  You can at best claim to be "editor and contributor" of this book.

80% of he book consists of my words or Chrissie's words, which I edited
carefully and showed her. It's not a pastiche because I have organized it
all into a very effectively integrated whole that has a beginning, a middle
and an end. The most significant aspect of the book is not what was said on
pynchon-l but what I did with it.

>So I'll grant you've scored a (small) publishing coup, getting someone to
pay you to publish transcripts of list e-mail. A literary breakthrough? I
don't think so.

As I also said earlier, history will judge, not me. I am putting forth my
claim in order to bring attention to what I've done and to find out what
other people think it means.

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