And They Will All Live Like Cartoonists: The US Economy And Comics, Post #11

* in declining newspaper fortunes, the Seattle P-I staffers are being asked to help visualize a possible on-line iteration of the publication. This would have to be the most fascinating reading ever, as on the one hand a staffer would have insights an outside consultant wouldn't and on the other hand there's such a huge chasm between what used to allow a newspaper to work and what allows an on-line publication to work that I can't imagine most newspaper employees fathom this deep down -- I can't imagine anyone constructing a future for a place of their employment without themselves in it somewhere. Also, I missed this blog posting that indicates that it may take longer for the P-I to shut the paper if as expected there's no buyer -- the paperwork isn't being filed.

* this is what I mean by the wide difference between the two models: the Star Tribune is a top 20 paper that's been cutting like mad and its value to buyers has still been cut in half over the last ten years with more to come. It also employs 1400 people. I found this story alarming, like reading that your super-healthy friend is experiencing cardiac failure when 95 percent of your social circle is 450 pounds and smokes too much.

* in declining book industry fortunes, Barnes & Noble laid off a bunch of people from corporate last week, while the rolling reorganization at Random House looks to have ended or at least reached a point of relative stability. The duties of former publisher Janice Goldklang at Pantheon looks like they will be split between Pat Johnson and Dan Frank. Upon Goldklang's dismissal, Frank was the person at the company cartoonists to whom I spoke cited as a recognizable, up-the-chain person with whom they could claim some sort of relationship. One admitted to having to go look to see who Goldklang even was.

* if I didn't link to this before, I should have, but retailer Chris Butcher offers his perspective on Deb Aoki's trends/questions article from a while back. It paints a fairly stark picture of the new manga market realities.
 
posted 7:05 am PST | Permalink
 

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