Throwing the Book

Here's Seth Grodin, on why he's leaving the traditional book publishing world for his much-hyped foray into self-publishing:

I like the people, but I can't abide the long wait, the filters, the big push at launch, the nudging to get people to go to a store they don't usually visit to buy something they don't usually buy, to get them to pay for an idea in a form that's hard to spread... I really don't think the process is worth the effort that it now takes to make it work.

And:

In terms of responding to changes in the world, I'm at a loss to think of one thing the book industry does well in 2010 that it wasn't already doing in 1990. Not one new thing done well.

I understand that this is a big move (although hardly a "defining moment in the already shaken book publishing industry"), but I have to disagree with the logic.  It seems like his premise is frustration and "nots", as in, "No one buys hardcovers so I'm not going to sell hardcovers" instead of "I bet I can make something better than a hardcover."  I don't even think I agree with how he characterizes books.  Since when is going to a bookstore unpleasant, buying a book an ordeal?  Aren't bound books one of the best ways to spread information, in fact easier to "lend" than a Kindle ebook?  If books are faulty technology, why have we been using them for thousands of years?

What's worse, he touts his new strategy of print-on-demand and user-directed content as though it were his own invention.  Funny, because that's what's been paying my rent for four years.  Just because he "can't think of it" doesn't mean it's not being done and developed.

Anyways.  This interview is probably the best mechanism Grodin has to generate discussion and publicity, so he's just sold a few extra copies right there.  I just think it's silly to exaggerate your contribution to a process that's closer to evolution than extinction.