The Weighty Matter

Is it possible to separate the act of reading from the book object?

This question, with relevant substitutions for the act and the object, has confronted several industries in recent years in the wake of rapid, all-consuming technological innovations. Many publishing analysts look to music as the most recent relevant example of an industry overhaul due to tech objects. In the early 2000s, music fans and industry professionals asked: is it possible to separate the musical experience from the object of the recorded album, bound in vinyl or plastic, sold in a record shop? The music industry evolution is frequently described as the perfect precursor to their own “crisis.” This question format, however, is notably limited to industries like publishing, music, and art. You do not see sales professionals lamenting the loss of dial phones in favor of Blackberrys, or surgeons wanting to forego anesthesia in favor of some good old fashioned ether. How can new technology be a gift to one industry and a curse to another?

The printed book is a five and a half centuries-old technology, but reading is an act that is thousands of years old—why does it suddenly seem that the act and the object are inextricably tied to one another?

If the book object goes into decline, does the act of reading go into decline?

It would be nice to say that these are the central questions on publishers’, educators’, and readers’ minds. It would be great to come to the heart of the matter of technology, publishing, and reading within a couple of paragraphs… but it is not that simple. Publishing, after all, does not have a single “heart of the matter.” The act of reading and the book object are only two aspects of a unique industry that is mired in such weighty issues and responsibilities as: taste and social mores, access to and dissemination of knowledge, and the little matter of the recording of human history… not to mention the creation of profit for writers (or more precisely termed “content creators”) and publishing professionals.

The ebook and digital publishing movement has officially taken off. When I first became interested in the publishing industry during my undergraduate studies and attended a book publishing conference, ebook questions posed to industry professionals were met with some avoidance—in 2008, it seemed, some were playing the “wait and see” game. Few, if any, conference attendees owned an ereader device, and many had never seen one in use. Now I live in Washington, DC, and when I get on the Metro every morning I see plenty of Kindles, Nooks, and other ereader devices in use. Ebooks are actively used, and are frequently praised, by the general reading populace. Like any other form of “evolution,” it is difficult (and potentially troubling) to effect any sort of “devolution”—ebooks are here to stay, so the time for avoiding the issue is over. I do not pretend to think that this statement is at all unique or even trendy; any publishing news is currently topped by headlines probing the future of print and digital books.

What makes the discussion of reading, books, and digital publishing so unique today, when compared to discussions going on in many other industries, is that business, political, and emotional issues are complicated together in the discussion. Book talk is interesting because an individual can talk about emotional appeals of paper aesthetics or literary value with the equivalent force that a technical power player individual speaks of revolutionizing free speech through open publishing… both offer important insight into the unique practice of reading and the technology we use to do it. Both can be an important commentary on the greater issue of how we receive knowledge in the form of the written word.

Book Landing is where I will talk about ebooks past, present, and future. I want to use a broad perspective that pulls both from reader and publisher issues because they necessarily, and more efficiently, build off of one another on the shores of this new world of digital publishing. I welcome comments and suggestions and I hope you enjoy reading this blog.