Blog

NOTE: I decided to put this newsletter together a day early to coincide with the end of 2025, hoping for as clean a start as possible in 2026.

_ONE

Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks | Jim Milliot, Sophia Stewart

And with its much lower price points, mass market paperback unit sales easily dwarfed those of the other two formats, at 387 million in 1979, compared to 82 million for hardcover and about 59 million for trade paperback. Applebaum says mass market drew millions of new readers who were not interested in paying hardcover prices for books.

Most of my formative reading obsessions were made possible by three things: comic books, mass market paperbacks, and the Mt. Vernon Public Library.

MMPBs were cheap and you could find them everywhere (often right next to an overflowing comics spinner rack or two), feeding my teenaged interests in Stephen King, Robert McCammon, and Ian Fleming, among others. (It’s also how I surreptitiously read the Gen X touchstone: Flowers in the Attic and its sequels.) The library made it possible to go deeper with my favorite authors (including expensive hardcovers!), and the year I worked as a Page found me serendipitously exploring a wide range of topics, expanding my interests even further.

Milliot and Stewart offer multiple hints but fail to connect the dots that reveal the biggest reason for the decline of mass market paperbacks wasn’t consumer interest; it was the usual suspect: capitalism. Consolidation (of publishers, distributors, and retailers) and the more profitable trade paperback format were two primary factors, while the flawed approach to ebook pricing was arguably the killing stroke.

“Applebaum says mass market drew millions of new readers who were not interested in paying hardcover prices for books.”

You know what else has drawn millions of new readers who aren’t interested in paying hardcover prices for books? Libraries.

Unfortunately, instead of embracing libraries as the robust channel for discovery and engagement they’ve always been, corporate publishers have treated them like pirates for 15+ years. Instead of pricing ebooks to optimize discovery for and engagement with a broader range of books and authors, publishers have inadvertently created an ecosystem that forces libraries to prioritize the bestsellers — and then convinced themselves that libraries are the ones cannibalizing their sales.

__TWO

2025 was the year Xbox died | Devindra Hardawar

Want to see a dead body? I present to you the Xbox.

I’ve been a console gamer most of my life, from the Atari 2600 through every generation of the Xbox. I’ve never cared much about platform exclusives, was one of the few people who loved the Kinect (RIP Xbox Fitness), and for a couple of years, Game Pass was an amazing service through which I discovered some great games I wouldn’t have played otherwise. As a result, I mostly ignored the writing that was clearly on the wall in recent years: Microsoft had no idea where the Xbox fit for them, especially once they decided to go all in on AI investments and hype.

In the meantime, my interests in gaming notably shifted this year, and by the Summer, it had become clear that my days with the Xbox were coming to an end. At the time, I didn’t see a Steam Deck in my future, more intrigued by the Xbox handhelds, but once I realized most of my Xbox library wouldn’t actually be playable on them (not to mention they were prohibitively expensive), I went all in with Steam and haven’t looked back since.

I hope Microsoft does a soft pivot to focus on cross-platform publishing instead of hardware, if for no other reason than their studio acquisition spree over the past few years will end in even more self-destructive layoffs if they don’t.

___THREE

Days Gone By | Audrey Watters

“The big story” in education and “AI” isn’t necessarily students using the technology to cheat themselves of learning or teachers using the technology to automate their profession away; but rather the usage of “AI” by ICE — with the assistance of every major technology company, not just Palantir — to identify, mis-identify, harass, arrest, imprison, and deport people. Hundreds of thousands of people. People in our communities. People in and around our schools. Our neighbors. Our co-workers. Our students. Our teachers. Families. Parents. Children.

I’m sick of hearing about, talking about, and navigating around all things AI — especially with so many people still unwilling to even acknowledge its underlying issues — and Watters’ provocative good riddance to 2025 is a great way to put a bow on it.

The hype will continue until morale is fully eroded or the bubble bursts. The boosters remain convinced of its inevitability and will continue to find ways to avoid grappling with the reality that there are no ethical use cases for it. The opportunists will continue to take advantage of the situation, selling snake oil in a variety of formats. And the skeptics will continue to be dismissed as Luddites by people who don’t actually understand who the Luddites were.

As I’ve said before, resistance is never futile. More importantly, it can be contagious.

____FOUR

Watch for These 2026 Social Media Trends | Lacy Phillips

Audiences reward creators who go deeper than surface level. Prioritize depth over frequency. The days of posting just anything 10 times a day to gain traction are in the past. Get with the “only speak when you have something to say” program.

Phillips has some interesting insights here, but “only speak when you have something to say” is an evergreen favorite. I also agree with her takes on YouTube and LinkedIn, am intrigued by the potential of “Search on social,” and applauded the death of the ill-conceived (but allegedly inevitable) Metaverse.

I hope 2026 will continue the individual #SocialReboot trend that was sparked by Twitter’s slow motion implosion, but I’d love to see more “influencers” lead the way in helping rebuild a healthier approach to social media rather than continuing to chase scale, following arbitrary and capricious rules to optimize reach beyond their ability to actually grasp anything of substance.

As for me, my own blog, Mastodon, and LinkedIn will continue to be my primary online platforms, and I’ll continue to be moderately active on them as time and interest permits. I’ve unexpectedly gotten more engaged on Reddit this year, too, primarily via a few gaming communities and a couple of other interests, albeit mostly as a lurker.

_____FIVE

Why swearing makes you stronger | American Psychological Association

“In many situations, people hold themselves back—consciously or unconsciously—from using their full strength,” said study author Richard Stephens, PhD, of Keele University in the U.K. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and ‘go for it’ a little more.”

As someone who has to consciously avoid cursing, I was delighted to see this research making the rounds, confirming what I’ve always known to be true for me. A well-timed curse is like a shot of spinach for Popeye, for physical and mental activities.

There’s often an adrenaline rush that comes with it, which can lead to even more cursing. That’s a potentially virtuous cycle when you’re trying to push through a challenging physical activity, but it can become problematic in other settings, like a company meeting. O_o

As 2020 6: The Empire Rots Again comes to a cliffhanger ending, let’s resolve to “go for it” and bring some LFG! energy to the new year, and finally kill the rancid 2020 franchise once and for all.

______BONUS