borders self-publishing and the idea of vanity

borders self-publishing and the idea of vanity

One of the most brilliant blogs currently available on books, their future, their impact and their changing methods is the if:book blogTypically I would just share an article like this but Ben Vershbow makes a really good Benjamian point I would like to draw your attention to. After providing a concise and clear cut synopsis of self-publishing using Border's and Lulu as example, Verbshow remarks that self-publication should not convince the reader that the author is more credible than something simply published on the web. Here's the quote :"In fact we must develop better and more sensitive instruments of
bulls*** detection than ever before to navigate a landscape that lacks
the comfortingly comprehensive systems of filtering and quality control
that the publishing industry traditionally provided."
Why is this a good quote?
Because Verbshow, unknowingly or not, is dealing with the problem of proper criticism, Walter Benjamin style. How does one develop a more sensitive instrument of poor quality? One reads, immerses, marinates in good quality so that knowledge is then available to critique based on other's works, not on ones own likes or dislikes. Our previous dependence on "knowing individuals" has been removed. Since the implied process of quality control in the life of the publishing of a book has been removed it is up to the reader to start that process after the book has been published to hopefully 1) encourage people to read if it is a good work or 2) encourage people to not read it if it is not a good work. This encouragement should not be based on the likes or dislikes of the reviewer/critic but based on the critic's knowledge of literature so that the work at question can be evaluated as a work and not as a matter of taste as we decide what jam to put on our toast.
How does one determine what is good quality? That's another discussion but I think that a good work is one that is authentic to the human experience. A quality work is written like poetry, Wendell Berry's Remembering, and resonates with the reader like the Psalms.