Well, guess I'm never going to read Peter Sacks's books. You know, reading that rant of his, I started trying to count the stupid, but I had to give up when I hit ten to the idioth. Fuck, there was non-Euclidean stupid in there.
I'll persist in the belief, until the day I give up writing altogether, that readers are smart, that Americans want to read, and that they have attention spans of more than 30 seconds.
But why would you say that if you really thought so? Isn't that remark a way of putting down readers while simultaneously distancing yourself from the put-down so you won't get blamed? They call it plausible deniability when politicians do it.
But don't tell that to Amazon. Recently, the online bookseller installed a new feature on its website, presumably to allow its more anti-intellectual customers to keep their book purchases to a 6th grade reading level. Thus, I have learned from Amazon that my new book has 1.7 syllables per word, and that 61 percent of the books in its system have fewer syllables.
How do you know they want fewer syllables? Maybe those customers want books that average 4 syllables and, trouble is, your count is too low, Peter. Maybe, just maybe, you got off on the wrong metrical foot to begin with.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-09-13 04:08 am (UTC)I'll persist in the belief, until the day I give up writing altogether, that readers are smart, that Americans want to read, and that they have attention spans of more than 30 seconds.
But why would you say that if you really thought so? Isn't that remark a way of putting down readers while simultaneously distancing yourself from the put-down so you won't get blamed? They call it plausible deniability when politicians do it.
But don't tell that to Amazon. Recently, the online bookseller installed a new feature on its website, presumably to allow its more anti-intellectual customers to keep their book purchases to a 6th grade reading level. Thus, I have learned from Amazon that my new book has 1.7 syllables per word, and that 61 percent of the books in its system have fewer syllables.
How do you know they want fewer syllables? Maybe those customers want books that average 4 syllables and, trouble is, your count is too low, Peter. Maybe, just maybe, you got off on the wrong metrical foot to begin with.
Peter Sacks| BIO | I'M A FAN OF THIS BLOGGER
No.