Published 7 March 2009 · Main Posts new Harper Collins imprint Jeff Sparrow From the New York Times: Just a month after announcing a restructuring that led to layoffs and the shuttering of an entire division, HarperCollins Publishers hopes to jazz up its book lists by opening a new imprint. This fall the company will publish 21 new hardcover and paperback original titles under the It Books imprint, focusing on pop culture, sports, style and content derived from the Internet, like a planned collection of Twitter posts called “Twitter Wit.” One will resist the temptation to suggest that it will be a very thin volume. More seriously, this seems an odd response to the problems faced by the industry. Sure, publishers need to take into account the online environment. But surely that means publishing that emphasise the strengths of books, not their weaknesses. A collection of funny Twitter posts might make an amusing website, I guess, but would you really want it on your bookshelf? Print is about permanency; it’s about reflection; it’s about a more in-depth engagement with ideas than the transitory experience offered by the web. If you wanted a ‘replication of culture derived from the internet’, wouldn’t you, like, go to the internet? Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a writer, editor, broadcaster and Walkley award-winning journalist. He is a former columnist for Guardian Australia, a former Breakfaster at radio station 3RRR, and a past editor of Overland. His most recent book is a collaboration with Sam Wallman called Twelve Rules for Strife (Scribe). He works at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 4 October 202418 October 2024 · Main Posts Announcing the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers 2024 longlist Editorial Team Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia. 16 August 202416 August 2024 · Poetry pork lullaby Panda Wong but an alive pig / roots in the soil /turning it over / with its snout / softening the ground / is this a hymn
