You know who sells a lot of soap? Procter & Gamble. Do you think P&G soap is “the best”? or “the best” for the $? What is?
Whoopi Goldberg won an Academy Award. Roberto Benini did, too. FORREST GUMP did. DRIVING MISS DAISY did.
Have you ever said, after the Grammys or People’s Choice Awards or Golden Globes, “So-and-so was robbed!”?
Remember platinum records? Remember gold records? I don’t think you can play them. (Can you?)
Copyright ensures that when you buy a book, you buy a quantity of paper, glue, and ink. A book. You do not buy THE book.
The number of books bought and left unread > The number of books bought and read
Pharmaceuticals are advertised. Soft drinks are advertised. Books are reviewed. (Much more rarely, books are advertised.)
(1/2) Did booksellers adopt the pay-for-placement system from grocers, or the other way around?
(2/2) Why does it matter where a book is in a bookstore?
The New York Times Visual Art Bestsellers List.
(1/2) McDonald’s publishes lists of items that sell well. Know who reads them? Managers, assistant managers, regional managers.
(2/2) McDonald’s doesn’t think its customers care what sells well at McDonald’s. It does make nutritional info available, though.
The Domino’s Pizza Times Bestsellers List.
Probably the reviews of pizza toppings in the Domino’s Pizza Times would be pretty fair, I would think.
Friends posting pictures of lunches. Friends posting pictures of books. (Friends posting pictures of babies?)
A person’s feelings about “the media.” Same person’s feelings about “social media.”
Is review-as-jacket-copy more by way of product description or nutritional information?
“For the price of a cup of coffee, you get twelve great songs.” We still pay for coffee. (It’s too bad about music.)
We read books alone—why does it matter how many other people read them? Safety in numbers?
Is it that books have sell-by dates, but publishers don’t publish them?
The “Cultural Event of the Season.” The “Tour de Force.” The “Masterpiece.” The “Red Carpet Premiere.” The McRib is Back(tm).
The great proponents of copyright law tend to be corporations. The number of great artworks produced by corporations.
Capital is the great leveler: We all stoop to its level.
Doestevsky’s net worth. Melville’s net worth. Poe’s net worth. (Shelley’s net worth. Dickens’s net worth.)