Right, that's exactly what I was trying to get at! I should ETA the post again to point to these comments but I am lazy...
I think the issue of legitimacy comes from the lack of accessibility of the 'legitimate' format. Because it's so hard to access, it is therefore more legitimate and privileged and et cetera. It's a further part of the whole industry model, really, desperately trying to keep hold of an ageing* industrial complex. I worked on a printing press in the summer of '03, and even then they were massively cutting back on work. In retrospect, I'm really glad I didn't get into the publishing business after my undergrad degree.
It's a similar issue to media, in terms of the old boys club clinging to a sinking ship of a model, though media is adapting a little bit better to technology and some acceptance of very independently published work.
Romance is interesting, I think partially because it was already considered of 'dubious legitimacy' for multiple reasons (gender likely highly relevant therein), and also possibly because of content concerns with printing erotica?
Admittedly, outside of the 'legitimacy' issue, I have issues with ebooks overall, in the sense that my neurodiverse brain finds them hard to read properly on a screen, and I don't have a reader. (I also have a complex ethical code, so I personally pirate very very little.)
* Augh, British English, why do you have to throw these curveballs at me?
no subject
I think the issue of legitimacy comes from the lack of accessibility of the 'legitimate' format. Because it's so hard to access, it is therefore more legitimate and privileged and et cetera. It's a further part of the whole industry model, really, desperately trying to keep hold of an ageing* industrial complex. I worked on a printing press in the summer of '03, and even then they were massively cutting back on work. In retrospect, I'm really glad I didn't get into the publishing business after my undergrad degree.
It's a similar issue to media, in terms of the old boys club clinging to a sinking ship of a model, though media is adapting a little bit better to technology and some acceptance of very independently published work.
Romance is interesting, I think partially because it was already considered of 'dubious legitimacy' for multiple reasons (gender likely highly relevant therein), and also possibly because of content concerns with printing erotica?
Admittedly, outside of the 'legitimacy' issue, I have issues with ebooks overall, in the sense that my neurodiverse brain finds them hard to read properly on a screen, and I don't have a reader. (I also have a complex ethical code, so I personally pirate very very little.)
* Augh, British English, why do you have to throw these curveballs at me?