A Modest Proposal

I would have liked to write about the many unsung beauties of Slumdog Millionaire tonight, but something grabbed my attention on the Bookseller's website and the world will have to wait for that. This is the article in question:

Drop the rep, says Dutch

bookseller

I have posted a short comment, which I reproduce below. I think this world is really going bonkers, and will add no more for tonight, but go straight to bed.

"I can only applaud this inspired recommendation by Jesse Kroger, who I am sure must have just finished reading Swift’s A Modest Proposal. But I would take her suggestion a few steps further: abolishing the reps is all very well, but why don’t we do away with bookselling altogether, and customers, and writers, and books? I can imagine a world where infinite blog writers (or maybe novel-generating computers) distribute their work free of charge on the internet or via mobile phones directly to themselves – liberated once and for all from this annoying thing, the supply chain, and that most annoying thing, people. And perhaps Google or Amazon will find a way to make money out of writers downloading or pinging their own work?

The world of books does need real people."

AG