TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Actually, I was under the impression the "subsidy publishing" meant the
same thing and was free of the connotation associated with "vanity
publishing." Or does "subsidy publishing" actually mean something
different?
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 4:05 PM
To: Downing, David
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Self publishing
Downing, David wrote:
> I think the disagreement over whether a POD outfit is actually a
> "vanity" publisher has to do with a nasty connotation of the term
> "vanity publishing." Your definition is correct, but for a lot of
> people, the term implies that the reason the author must pay to have
> the book published is because the book is awful -- awful enough that
> only a very vain person would want to see it I print, and this fool
> themselves into thinking it was worth publishing
David,
You're not the first person in this thread to ascribe that connotation
to "vanity publisher." And, in truth, that's undoubtedly the origin of
the term. But it's also the common term applied to that type of
business; it's just the value-neutral term that distinguishes it from a
"trade publisher" (which a sensitive literary type might think connotes
crass commercialism rather than dedication to art, I suppose).
If we want to come up with a different term than that used within the
industry for the last century or more, then we're going to find
ourselves in the same quandary as people trying to replace "male" and
"female" {plugs | pipe fittings | whatever} or "master" and "slave"
{drives | computers | whatever}. We'll come to some artificial
consensus, but we won't be able to dictate it to other users of the
language. We'll end up with ambiguity, miscommunication, and unnecessary
divisiveness. Better to just accept the terms as they are and see them
as value-neutral in their modern use.
Dick
Dick
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Attention:
The information contained in this message and or attachments is intended
only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and
delete the material from any system and destroy any copies.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
This email message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared
by NetIQ MailMarshal
_____________________________________________________________________________________
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
