Multiple choice

Books are:
a) wallpaper
b) objets d'art
c) windows on the world
d) mirrors for the self
e) digitized texts arranged in a meaningful pattern by an author or authors

Publishing is:
a) a business
b) a social good
c) an antiquated act of amour-propre
d) a conspiracy among the educated classes
e) making a written work known and available to its intended audience

Writing about publishing is:
a) navel-gazing
b) a hobby for cynics
c) a cri de coeur
d) a sign of mental illness
e) an honest effort at understanding the incomprehensible

Booksellers are:
a) hopeless idealists
b) happy contrarians
c) always looking for free food and drink
d) running community learning centers
e) struggling to make both ends meet

Book bloggers are:
a) in it for the free books
b) wannabe authors
c) the wave of the future
d) in need of a good style manual
e) real people who promote the books they like without charging publishers

Media moguls are:
a) fat cats who no longer see publishing as a cash cow
b) boors whose products truly reflect their taste
c) confused
d) ready to retire
e) believers in free markets and free speech, as long as they're profitable