The International Labor Communications Association, the professional organization of labor communicators in North America whose members produce publications with a total circulation in the tens of millions, says that the "National Labor Media Is within Reach," financially speaking: <http://www.ilcaonline.org/images/reachlg.gif>.
Instead of spending money on the Democratic Party, organized labor could be spending it on writers.
>Jon Johanning wrote:
>
>>I wonder, in fact, how the economic situation of the average
>>non-fiction writer (especially on political subjects, and especially
>>on political subjects from a left standpoint) has changed between
>>before the internet and after it. Were they living like kings and
>>queens before?
>
>Hardly - but now we've got scabs on the net giving it away!
>
>Doug
Do people who read blogs buy fewer books than those who don't? Or do people who begin to read blogs buy fewer books than they used to? I doubt either is the case. Most likely, bloggers (except bloggers who get their blogs optioned into books and/or movies, like Salam Pax, Belle de Jour, Washingtonienne) are not professional writers' competitors but rather their volunteer advertising agents. The more your book gets talked about by people who are not paid by you to advertise it, the more copies of it are likely to move. Imagine Kos falling in love with your next book and featuring it on the front page of DailyKos for a month. That won't be as good as getting interviewed on broadcast TV, but it sure can't hurt the book sales.
Have you taken a look at Rob Walker's December 5, 2004 article about "BuzzAgents" in the New York Times Magazine: "The Hidden (In Plain Sight) Persuaders"? If you haven't, read it, and so should John Mage and other editors of left-wing publications reading this.
>Well, at least the quality of most of the free political commentary
>on offer on the net doesn't match the printed stuff -- at least so
>far!
>
>Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
That's where the question of social labor comes in. Writers minus good editors are very rarely readable, much less marketable.
The majority of blogs (probably more than 90% of them) are very personal journals chronicling writers' thoughts and feelings about their families, friends, acquaintances, bosses, co-workers, and (inevitably) bad dates. It's like talking to strangers at bars and bus stops about your life. Many people find it easier to confide in total strangers than those who are closer to them and might be tempted to use their secrets against them. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
