As a professional writer, you could say that I have a vested interest in the future of the book publishing industry. After all, I’ve already co-authored a book that is available both in paper and digital form.
There are different schools of thought when it comes to discussing the future of the physical paper book. Some people say that the printed book will never die and it will always have a place in society. Others say that it’s only a matter of time before books go the way of the VHS tape. So, who’s right?
The Allure of Physical Books
In this day and age, some people wonder why the physical printed book still exists. For my part, as silly as it sounds, a big part of it has to do with feel. There is a definite appeal to having a printed book in your hands as you flip through the pages and “smell” the paper. Having the paper run through your fingers is a unique experience that just isn’t replicated with a “cold” electronic device like a Kindle or Kobo.
The issue of eye strain has been partly addressed by e-ink technology in certain e-readers, but it’s still not quite the same as reading the printed word on actual paper. There’s also something to be said, culturally, about having bookshelves stocked with books. It demonstrates (to yourself and to visitors) that you are educated, knowledgeable, and cultured. Whether or not that is actually true is another matter altogether, but that’s the impression that it gives. Consider the office of a traditional university professor.
The Convenience of E-Books
Of course, given that a good deal of what I do as a freelance writer surrounds the world of technology and cutting-edge gadgetry, I also understand the appeal of the e-book format. It’s just so convenient.
You can quite literally have hundreds of books in the palm of your hand. You also don’t need to go to the physical store or wait for the delivery person to get a new book; you download it and have it immediately available to you. This has also lowered the barrier to entry for authors, allowing more people to publish e-books of their own.
Learning from the Music and Movie Industries
There aren’t too many people out there who still buy CDs, but I think comparing the relationship between CDs and MP3s with the relationship between physical books and e-books is a little unfair. A compact disc still contains digital music, which you also receive in an MP3. By and large, there is no different in quality and experience.
Books and e-books are different. Certainly, more and more people who read a lot of books are turning to the side of e-books, but I see the printed book surviving for some time. Can the book publishing learn a lesson or two from the world of music and movies? Perhaps. Kindle has become the de facto format for e-books, just as iTunes has become go-to place for music, but both industries see a great deal of fragmentation too.
What do you think? Do physical printed books still have a place in the digital age? Why or why not?
I think the answer can be found at Blog World Expo in New York. It was hosted along side Book Expo America. In term of show floor size, BEA was 10 X bigger than BWE.
Blogs and books are entirely different things though… and I also imagine that the Book Expo also included e-books and not just printed books.
I don’t think that paper books will ever go away. As you mention the feel is something that people like. I find it hard to read a book of any type on a computer or eReader. It’s different for articles or some light reading on online news where your attention and eyestrain is not as problematic.
I don’t think paperback/hardcover books will ever go away, at least I hope not. I’m traditional and am used to highlighting text in school books to help memorize excerpts and formulas. Just not the same on kindle.
Personally, I love stocking books on my bookshelves and reading one of them by randomly selecting one from the shelves. Also, fingering the page pages is not an experience keyboards or buttons or screens can match. There must be lots of people everywhere like me.
Just imagine you put all of your books in an e-reader, or PC hard disk, or compact disks, your studio will be too clean and clutter-free.
Just imagine there is a power outage or the batteries are low.
Just imagine you accidentally drop your e-reader or any disk containing thousands of copyright protect books in water or fire or break them and there is no way of recovering them.
To be fair, paper books and electronic books are not mutually exclusive. E-books are for efficiency. But humans don’t always want high efficiency.
Physical printed books and e-books have their own strengths and weaknesses.
e-books are big on convenience and its immediacy (downloadable) has a big advantage over printed books.
On the other hand, one do not require an e-reader to read a printed books. Also, one do not need to worry about battery power when reading from a physical book.
Printed books may diminish in usage but they will never go away.
I also think (and hope) that printed books don’t go away. The conveniences are numerous. Reading before bed is far more convenient with a printed book than with with a laptop or even one of those digital readers I bet. I do appreciate the convenience of reading a lot of magazines digitally as you save on shipping costs, so digital media definitely has its conveniences too.
-Jean
save trees , use e reader. recently amazon has cone up with Kindle fire which is priced less than ipad
We can always plant more trees. E-readers are not conducive to reading long documents and if you ask people will tell you that it hurts their eys after a while. I work with computers all day every day as a tech support and if I don’t take a break away from the screen my eyes are shot by 1pm.
Kindle fire doesn’t do anything near what the iPad does overall. First it only has an 8Gig model that won’t hold any meaningful amount of video or books. The video player that comes with the tablet is ONLY for Amazon purchased or Streamed content. NO image gallery to view pictures.
Now, lets move on to the OS, which is a modified Honeycomb that won’t run all apps from the Android store, some 200,000; but will run all 10,000 in the Amazon App Store. Because their OS is modified Honeycomb, Amazon doesn’t know whether the in development “Ice Cream Sandwich” will be compatible or they will have to make changes to their OS.
The reading experience is okay at best even though they okay resolution for the screen at 1024×600 because they didn’t do anything to offset the screen glare. That makes reading a chore because you have to maneuver the tablet to see the screen depending on where the light source is in the room.
So, while $199 is great for a price, it doesn’t make me hot to go buy it or use it over a hardcover book.