Unabashedly Bookish

[#1]

The recent release of Barnes & Noble’s nook – a revolutionary advancement in eBook readers – has got me thinking once again about the future of publishing. Dylan said it best: “the times they are a-changin'.”

Just go back a few decades to the Dark Ages... In the 1980’s, before most people had access to cable television and/or the Internet, the populace received a substantial amount of their information (and entertainment) via newspapers and magazines. Trouble was, by the time a newspaper hit your doorstep or a magazine arrived in the mail, much of the content was already old. And the cost of it all! Employing all of those writers, editors, production people, printers, etc. let alone the shipping or delivery fees! And as a bookstore manager for eight years back during those Dark Days, it always amazed me the unbelievable wastefulness in the way brick-and-mortar bookstores operated – new books get shipped in by the truckload, books that don’t sell get shipped back out by the truckload. Virtual mountains of paperbacks and magazines that don’t sell get stripped and thrown into the dumpster. (Somewhere the Lorax is going postal.) There had to be a more economical way….

The Internet changed all of that though – now we can literally watch news as it unfolds, be it war footage in Iraq or a video of Britney Spears getting out of a limo sans panties. It’s more time efficient and more cost efficient. There’s really no excuse to wait for anything now – we can access tens of thousands of book titles in just seconds with the nook! – and that’s just the beginning of this unfolding technological revolution.

A perfect example of this is the increasing amount of online publishing sites that are featuring original works of speculative fiction. Some are free (powered by advertising) while others are subscription based. And more and more of these sites are churning out truly exceptional work. Many science fiction fans remember Sci Fiction – which ran from 2000 to 2005 – an online magazine that published an impressive amount of critically acclaimed stories (Linda Nagata’s novella Goddesses won the Nebula Award in 2000, Jeffrey Ford’s novelette “The Empire of Ice Cream” won the Nebula Award in 2003, etc.). But the site, which was owned by the Sci Fi Channel, sadly shut down in 2005 because it wasn’t generating enough revenue. The business model for a viable online publishing site, however, has been slowly evolving and today there are dozens of sites publishing original and high quality work – Clarkesworld Magazine (www.clarkesworldmagazine.com), Baen’s Universe (www.baen’s-universe.com), and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show (www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com), to name just a few. Why wait months or years for a print anthology to be published when you can access hundreds of short stories online?

This truly is an exciting time to be alive, especially if you’re a hardcore genre fiction reader like me. Technology is changing the way we live – and read – so quickly that I can barely keep up with it all. Just imagine the world a few decades from now: will there be dramatically fewer brick-and-mortar bookstores? Will Barnes & Noble’s nook be as commonplace as iPods? Will our future be one largely without books? Will online publishing eventually replace print publishing? Will eBook readers and the Internet be all we need for our news and entertainment?

Just ask the Lorax – I’ll bet you he has already has a nook. You can text him on his iPhone3GS if you don’t believe me…

[#2]

I am sure I will be getting one of these one day. I am not ready yet.

I definitely like a real book to read, collect, store, read again.

I will always buy real books.

I hope the price comes down. They are pricey. There are free downloads, but a lot of the books I would want cost to download. The best feature is the number of books you can store on one. Having a large selection at your finger tips is a selling feature to me. Someone told me last night you could search for a phrase or character, that is a nice feature. Lastly, I am always running out of room to put books. Constantly sorting books to give away. I hate to say maybe I don't need all those books at my house (but I do need most of them).

Maybe the Lorax should help me on this decision.

[#3]

Paul,

I think that when I can afford one I might get one but right now I can either get them on Audible or get the book to read.  I have found that some books I enjoy better hearing someone read it to me and others I like to read on my own.  I guess that the thing is that right now it is too expense for my budget.

Toni

[#4]

I don't have an ereader yet due to cost--but what I did find was that reading online is vastly easier when you download one of the free e-readers.  I prefer mobipocket--the text is nice and dark and without changing fonts, very readable.  I like the layout.  B&N has a reader which isn't bad, stanza for the PC is probably my least favorite; Adobe also has one (Adobe pulls down the covers of the books, which is a nice feature, but other than that, I found it a bit harder to use just from a "WHERE did they put that function...")

I read several more ebooks per year than I used to even though it's all on the PC.  I found that PDF is the least useful format, especially with a reader.  And if the ebook is cheaper, I'll buy it over the papercopy, especially if the savings are significant.  I really do like the instant gratification of finding a book and having it delivered in seconds.  Even if I want the paperback for later, for some reason (travel?) getting that book when I want it, is pretty cool.

As I said in an earlier post, I read almost all short stories online now (from some of the above mentioned magazines.)  Another online favorite of mine is www.towndrunkmag.com  (Full disclosure, they published one of my stories a couple years back).   I like it because the theme of the magazine is light/humor, which happens to be my favorite sub-genre whether the genre is speculatuve fiction or mystery.   There are far more speculative magazines online than mystery, which is a shame, as I like a good, mundane puzzler now and then.  Not that spec fiction doesn't employ mysteries!

Maria

[#5]

It's been very interesting working in the bookstore while all of this book technology has evolved. As I've mentioned before, I'm a self-proclaimed Luddite, so I am extremely surprised at my reaction to nook: I love it. Nothing will ever replace having a printed book in my hand. But, nothing could really compare to being able to have Barnes & Noble in my pocket wherever I go. (Yes, working there isn't enough!) Oddly enough, about half of the staff in my store is thinking of/planning to pre-book their nook, and this includes many retirees who would normally not be the demographic for such a gadget. I guess the lesson learned here is that the love for reading knows no bounds!

[#6]

Hi Paul!

My goodness when that Nook came out, I could almost feel the noose getting a little tighter in regards to how long real books will be around! The kind you hold in your hand, place bookmarks in, love that new smell and the shiny new bookcovers.  An electronic device can't replace that!  I truly hope it doesn't come down to where there are no more hand held books.  I'm not ready at all!  Even though I've downloaded samples of e-books, it's only been because I've been so curious about a book or some books that I wanted by favorite authors and couldn't wait for them to come out. 

More than once, there's been a little niggle in the back of my mind that has nudged me on to buy the e-book, but I've resisted everytime.  I don't want to constantly look at a computer screen.  If I want to read for several hours, I don't like the idea of turning the pages with just the flick of a button.  It just seemed so impersonal when I was reading my e-sample.  I couldn't feel the texture of the paper in my hand,  There was no smudged pages if I was eating my favorite cookie while reading.  No creased page to mark my spot, if I couldn't find the right bookmark that I wanted to put in the book.  No favorite passages highlighted to remember when I'd read the book again. Yes, I'm that picky!  Of course, I know they've thought of how to mark those passages too!  It just wouldn't be the same! 

I only recently got a computer.  It wasn't because I didn't want one, but because the old budget and I couldn't afford it.  I'm afraid the new e-reader will have to take a back seat just as the computer did for awhile.  Technology is running faster than I can keep up!   At least I knew how to work the computer, learning how to do that at work.  I'm still learning all of the things it can do.  Admittedly, it is an amazing tool and lots of fun.  However, as long as I can get my hands on those glorious, beautiful bound tomes ... literally, I'm happy indeed!  Very, very happy!!! 

[#7]

Even thou I like reading a book or even taking one with me when I have to go someplace. I have downloaded e-books to my computer. The Nook is a bit pricey for me. If was to get damaged it would be to expensive to replace. At lest if a book gets damage for the most part you can replace it. But I do like the idea of a pageless books. After all aren't we going "green"?

Donna A.

[#8]

Paul, first of all great article once again.

Now to the nitty gritty. Can you just imagine a world without physical books, I know I can't and I don't really think the world is ready for that either.

I review ebooks for a romance review sight and I HATE reading the novels on my monitor so what do I do, I print them (I know the trees, the trees) but until I can get an ereader that's the way it is. They are expensive and I'm a poor working slob who needs to spend her $200 or more hard earned dollars somewhere else.

But back to books, to me there is nothing in the world like holding a book in my hands and treasuring the old books I've accumulated over the years or treasuring my author signed copies and that is something you just can't get with ebooks.

Now I work in the graphic design world and have seen our company change over the last decade also, we had to increase our production of web-design while our print design saw a definite downturn. And I agree with you Paul about the cost of producing paper products. For example my company 20 years ago when I started here mainly designed and printed annual reports and being a shareholder in several companies I was amazed at just how much some of these things cost to produce especially when I owned more than one account so I got more than one report and pitched all but one and wondered how many other shareholders did the same thing. And knowing the back end of the cost made me think about it. But books are different animals they aren't trash to me in any form and I have boxes and boxes in my basement of them that aren't treasures to me and still I can't seem to give them away.

In my other career I'm on the board of my library district and see first hand the cost of running a major enterprise like that with tax decreases and other obstacles. We however are in great shape and have a population who loves it's libraries. Can you just imagine a library without books, seeing people sitting in the seats and all reading nooks. I don't think so.

So my prediction about books is that they will not go away, but lovers of literature of any genre will prevail and the print book will not go away.

Deb

[#9]

In regards to demographics, I follow the kindle discussion boards as well.  Someone asked on a thread about the age of kindle users.  (No, this wasn't scientific).  The responders were, by and large, above 50!  Several mentioned that they owned one and had also bought one for their son/daughter.   I was surprised to find that it appeared from that single (large sample--over 75 people responded) sample that the demographic for ebook reading appeared to be older than I would have guessed!

[#10]

Okay Paul,

You are scaring me.  I am starting to get afraid that books are going to disappear with the dinosaurs.  We are going to go to the museum and there is going to be a hardback, paperback, and different sizes there to show our childrens children what we old folks use to use to read.  The tech-lackies is what they are going to call us.

I don't know if I can handle these changes so fast.  I just love having the hard copy in my hands.  Even with work, I still like the hard copy and not just the email or internet stuff.

I like to use my post-it notes and leave notes in the book where I want to remember something.  Maybe, just maybe if these little readers where able to highlight lines or leave footnotes for yourself to look at when you are done or to go back to then I would think about getting one.  But I still like having my bookshelves and looking at all the spines and remembering what happening in these different worlds I have collected.

Ahhhhh, I don't think I am sold just yet.  Still have to have an actual book in hand.  Sorry...

[#11]

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was to check out all the different books in the house. There were cookbooks and romance novels and yoga books with intriguing pictures that belonged to my Mom and a vast array of Sci Fi belonging to my brother. My sister had Judy Blume and rock star autobiographies and my Dad, well, I guess he only read the paper. I leafed through endless amounts of books and learned things I never would have had I not had these books at my disposal. It makes me sad to think that this type of experience could be lost forever - kind of like the joy of leafing through albums and liner notes, it's just not the same when done electronically.

My kids will have physical books to read and touch, pop-up books and books with awesome foldout maps and as they age they can explore our collection and hopefully find inspiration of their own.

I can understand why eBooks exist but I could never give up the real thing!

[#12]

Basically the machine isn't here yet.

They cost too much for casual use. The ebooks are neither a buy it from anyone who has the title,nor is it buy it from who ever is selling it cheapest. And there's little competition from sellers to drop prices because of that. They aren't really mine because I can only let 1 friend borrow it just once. Nor can I sell it don't the road when I get tired of the ebook. Still no freaking full page color. No backlight. Sure I can load mp3s into it, but I can't stream music. Forget about streaming video or true web browsing. It's not internationally usable. What no hard drive switch out, not even a memory stick? What no rubber edges, cause I'm going to drop it? It takes how?! long to charge it?

Just not the machine I want yet. Not the flexibility I require. I've said before baby steps, call me when the format gets into high school. So quit spamming me with the notice that it got into preK, ok?