The end of the run for Books

Changes force newspapers to make hard choices

Terry England | The New Mexican

3/16/2008 - 3/2/08

This is, as it says at the end of every story, The End.

The Santa Fe New Mexican's Books page is closing up shop, clearing the inventory and fading softly into the night, done in by the new media — or at least fears of the new media.

With advertisers flocking to the Internet — where readers are supposedly flocking, too, although the numbers aren't clear on that one — the revenue flow for traditional newsprint media — us — is dropping, necessitating some cutbacks. We're not alone, newspapers all over the country are cutting the book-review pages.

This doesn't mean The New Mexican is going to ignore books completely; books coverage now moves to Pasatiempo magazine, the arts and entertainment section. Articles and whatnot already are part of the magazine's coverage, and this could mean more book-related material will appear. That might not be settled for a few weeks, but for now, the Books page no longer will appear in Sunday magazine (though the magazine will continue to be published) and I will no longer be the editor.

In 2000, Ruth Lopez, the previous Books page editor, explained in a column about her leaving and me taking over that she had urged the creation of the page in 1993 because Santa Fe was a book-reading town. That's still true. We have two fine local general bookstores, Collected Works and Garcia Street Books, that still are going strong. Borders Books thought enough of Santa Fe to open two stores and Hastings Books and Video has yet to forsake the books side of its operation. The Ark, a specialty bookstore, still operates and there are several stores selling used books. And, of course, the public library is still a great place to go find something to read.

So you still can buy or borrow a book in Santa Fe; the demise of this page is no reason for you to stop reading (ha, ha, as if it had that much influence). Indeed, there's no reason at all for you to stop buying and reading despite the prognostications that all information is moving to the World Wide Web and clunky things such as newspapers and printed books are going the way of dinosaurs. A book — printed words on paper — has yet to be completely replaced. It's being tried, though; look at our own Web site (www.santafenewmexican.com) which carries most of the news you'll find in the print edition. This was a Big Thing for a while; newspapers all over the country set up Web sites and added all sorts of bells and whistles to attract those who were leaving print behind. Turns out the Web wasn't as golden as everyone thought. Despite advertisers flocking to the Web, the return on investment was minuscule and still is.

Meanwhile, in the books field, electronic readers are slowly making their way onto the market. For several years, they were poor sellers because they were bulky and had lousy screens. Lately, though, two devices have come far enough to make a dent on the market. Sony has the Reader Digital Book and Amazon.com — where you can order just about any in-print book online, ironically enough — is offering the Kindle. Both devices hold hundreds of books, with the Kindle being able to access Web sites and blogs. And people are buying them — Amazon.com says they've sold out for now.

So this is the future — a book-sized device you hold in your hand that you can carry on a plane yet have it loaded with all sorts of books. On the beach, in the middle of a forest, waiting for the bus — there you are reading your book. Until the battery dies, anyway.

Can you imagine trying to look at Ansel Adams' photographs on that tiny screen? Or a reading book about Edward Hopper and trying to see those amazing paintings? And good luck getting your favorite author to sign your Kindle.

The book industry still is pouring out the print versions. So far. I mean, just go into a local bookstore, it's piled to the ceiling with books. Of course, lots of them are self-help, how-to and get-rich books, most designed to get the authors as rich as possible.

But among the drek you'll find jewels, books that entertain, challenge, lift your spirits or make you angry.

Thanks to all the people who wrote reviews for me the eight years I've been editor. Special thanks to the crew who was with me at the end, including Barbara Harrelson, Phaedra Greenwood, Jim Levy, Marion Loeb, Robert Mayer, Tom Claggett, Talia Felix, Craig L. Smith, Sandy Nelson and Wolf Schneider. Special thanks to Brandon Garcia for delving into the comic book-graphic novel works.

When I took over this page, I said to Miriam Sagan, "I know nothing about poetry. Would you want to do a column?" She jumped right in and brought her knowledge and spirit to the page. Special thanks and a hug to her.

And thanks to all you readers who found something useful on the page. It was gratifying to know I was providing a service.

Now get out there and read.