
The gas-powered truck killed magazines, not the Web - blasdel
http://www.markbernstein.org/Jan10/Supply.html
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blasdel
The article he's commenting on: [http://motherjones.com/media/2010/01/death-
of-literary-ficti...](http://motherjones.com/media/2010/01/death-of-literary-
fiction-magazines-journals)

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barrkel
I read this link expecting the "gas-powered truck" to be powered by natural
gas, and for it to be a modern phenomenon, not a petroleum-powered truck
killing magazines through bookstores.

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wglb
Very interesting argument. As it turns out, it isn't only the quarterlies that
are getting whacked, it is also magazines like saturday evening post, or life
or look as well.

The Mother Jones article sounds a little eliteist in this light. However, we
are consuming, by OP's measure, more stories now than in the heyday of the
quarterlies.

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mynameishere
The first "gas-powered truck" was born one year after Ernest Hemmingway, so
I'm going to say that it was something else. Likewise, the book-of-the-month
club started in 1926 and their business model was basically the same as
Amazon's, except they did the ordering. So, I wouldn't blame distribution
systems of any sort.

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eastgate
Actually, the negative-option book club is an entirely different business
model from Amazon. Book of the Month, moreover, contracted for special
printings; they were an aggregator/publisher, not a reseller.

The Hemingway point is really unconvincing; by "truck", of course, I mean the
changing economies of direct interstate shipment of bulk items. When Hemingway
was born, moving mass economically meant either water or rail transit; when he
died, trucks were careening down interstate highways to deliver parcels for a
fraction of what they cost in the 19th century.

