i think there will always be a market for real print on paper. it's just not the gigantic market publishers lust for. i remember the most successful publisher of poetry bemoaning the sales of his most famous and successful poet (gary snyder) at only 12,000 copies for one volume. and i thought that's more people reading poetry at one shot, even gruesome old gary snyder, than have probably read poetry since the beginning of time. i mean, it's not the sales of -- who is that former advertising guy who writes 10 novels a year with ghost writers, james somebody? -- but even there, you have to be aware that people are reading. real books. jillions of them.

i don't think newspapers will go away. i think politico is the new business model (http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/02/politicos_business_model.asp), and i wish i knew more about it. i think it's doing well, and i'd like to know if more of its advertising comes from the website or the paper version. i think the sites can be made to support the paper versions.