tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92154156843172589052024-02-19T04:52:29.520-05:00Book LandingCommentary and conversation on the shores of digital publishing.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-56810342044329638312012-07-17T09:14:00.000-04:002012-07-17T09:14:18.203-04:00A little humor for your TuesdayFrom Cracked.com: "<a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-unexpected-downsides-switch-to-e-books_p2/" target="_blank">8 Unexpected Downsides of the Switch to E-book</a>s"<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
#3: How will people open secret passageways? <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Seriously, if you can't pull a cleverly titled book out of a bookcase to get it to swing open, what else are you going to do? You have to put an artifact in a slot or push a really obvious wooden carving every time? Boy, that is going to get old fast.</span></blockquote>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-55921937644864728952012-07-12T09:00:00.000-04:002012-07-12T09:00:09.669-04:0050 Million Shades of GreyI'm not even going to describe what <i>50 Shades of Grey</i> is-- if you don't know already by all the controversy, hype, and love surrounding it, you can read about it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Shades-Grey-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007J4T2G8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1341929255&sr=1-1&keywords=50+shades+of+gray" target="_blank">here on Amazon</a>-- but this is to repeat what a lot of people have already heard, which is that E.L. James, the author, is estimated to have made somewhere in the area of <a href="http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70270924.html" target="_blank">$50 million from sales</a> and rights.<br />
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Besides the actual e-book content, there is quite a bit to interest in these figures. First, her sales are split almost evenly between paperbacks and ebooks-- 9.8 million and 9.6 million, respectively. Some people have commented that, due to the nature of the subject matter, a lot of people prefer reading her books on their ereaders because no one can tell what they're reading just by looking at them, which may account for some elevated sales of ebooks. Another factor is the fact that her paperbacks and ebooks came out at the same time in the US, allowing people to freely choose which format they wanted to read in. One look at Amazon will tell you that a Kindle edition of 50 Shades is selling for $9.99 and paperback is selling for $9.57. As we have seen in the ebook pricing struggle being waged with the Department of Justice, for a while now publishers have frequently staggered the publishing so that hardcovers were available for weeks or months before ebooks, and once the ebook was published (for example at $12.99 or $14.99) the paperback would be available at a much lower price (maybe $7.99).<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most astonishing fact in the E.L. James figures, however, is the speed at which her sales have exploded. All of these sales occurred <i>over the past six months</i>. To put it in perspective, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series (consisting of four books) <i>didn't reach those figures for three years</i>.<br />
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It will be very interesting to see whether or not her sales have plateaued in the coming months, as well as if publishers begin to revise their schedules perhaps to mimic her simultaneous ebook/paperback editions. Also, I guess, if there is suddenly a dearth of erotica in mainstream publishing. That would be pretty interesting, too.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-59033590084475191442012-07-11T09:00:00.000-04:002012-07-11T09:14:19.578-04:00Get in line with Dante, Keats, and Shakespeare.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbq0Aft6vkDbnDfP2D-fXygpDL1fO783S6zeuYEL8oWorciYiE5MXkxiU-2jmZ9Jh8ErwmEu2aFzYczifoJZ_HTJXXWQnhzp6K0Q_2Cn4wYeSzYZC6k2pIsstCOITI6FcfVXNmc0eqfws/s1600/gutenberg_press.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbq0Aft6vkDbnDfP2D-fXygpDL1fO783S6zeuYEL8oWorciYiE5MXkxiU-2jmZ9Jh8ErwmEu2aFzYczifoJZ_HTJXXWQnhzp6K0Q_2Cn4wYeSzYZC6k2pIsstCOITI6FcfVXNmc0eqfws/s1600/gutenberg_press.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Guys, remember when all the monastic copyists got mad because the Gutenberg press became more popular than them?</span></div>
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<a href="http://self.gutenberg.org/default.aspx" target="_blank">Project Gutenberg</a>, one of my best friends and also the website that existed even before the Amazon Kindle for giving away free post-copyright books, has now added a digital self-publishing portal. They're calling it the "Author's Community Cloud Library," and it seems that as long as you are willing to post your content for free, you get to upload whatever you want. From what I can tell it requires that the uploader have also already formatted the book for digital download, as opposed to the Kindle site which will provide some rudimentary formatting for you.<br />
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While I don't think it will take off like the Amazon self-publishing portal (you can't get paid by Gutenberg, after all), I can see it becoming useful for some niche groups. Academic writers looking for publication and exposure, I think, will find the writer's community interesting, and also authors who are still in some discovery/early writing stages. It's definitely limited in what it offers, but I think people looking for someone to download (probably more erudite/academic texts, too, as opposed to the commercial popularity of Kindle publishing) and give any feedback or commentary will find it worth a second look.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-53966282775756845492012-07-10T08:00:00.000-04:002012-07-10T08:00:21.308-04:00Where are the stats on how often people use their tablets in the bathroom?According to an illuminating list put out by The Economist (<a href="http://www.economistgroup.com/leanback/new-business-models/12-stats-that-mat=ter-to-digital-publishing/" target="_blank">12 stats that matter to digital publishing</a>):<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>More than a third of US adults are expected to own a tablet by 2014.</li>
<li>iPad users look at 40 pages of content (unspecified whether web or book) on average per use.</li>
<li>The Financial Times has approximately 305,000 print subscribers <i><b>and 285,000 digital subscribers</b></i>.</li>
</ul>
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Guess people still aren't reading, though, huh? Maybe we need to revise that line of thinking.</div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-7842923626066041602012-07-09T12:10:00.000-04:002012-07-09T19:12:46.335-04:00Which side are you on?I really enjoyed writer and publisher Bob Mayer's article over at Digital Book World: <a href="http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/the-great-publishing-wars-of-2012/" target="_blank">The Great Publishing Wars of 2012</a>. While negativity over the future of publishing and literature has been ongoing for decades now, it seems to have increased since the Department of Justice brought suit against five of the top six publishers for price fixing and colluding. Mayer's opinion piece is refreshingly positive and confident about the future of publishing. His article is very concise and well-written, so rather than quoting and commenting here, I suggest clicking on my link above and going over to DBW to read and enjoy.<br />
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In just a few paragraphs, he raises some of the most important questions facing publishing today:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Must either traditional or digital publishing "triumph" over the other? What does it mean for publishing when people are taking "sides" against each other?</li>
<li>Will either of these "sides" ultimately triumph? Or is this a futile struggle that is ultimately damaging to publishing?</li>
<li>What can people in the publishing field do now to succeed in a very tenuous industry?</li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
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You can listen to the terrific song "Which Side Are You On?" by the Dropkick Murphys while reading...</div>
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<br /></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-69319836602385899352012-07-06T08:00:00.000-04:002012-07-06T08:00:00.185-04:00My eReader is judging me for not finishing "The Mill on the Floss".If you have a Kindle, you may already have been aware of what the Guardian<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/04/big-ereader-is-watching-you" target="_blank"> reported this week</a>: ereader companies are collecting information on your reading habits.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Knowing which passages prompt a book to be thrown aside, which books are read at high speed and which are dipped in and out of is likely to be even more useful, and Humphrey believes this knowledge could eventually affect what's published.</span></blockquote>
As mentioned in the article, ebooksellers have yet to use or sell the information. Also, while it's not discussed in the article, the data that they can collect only pertains to the sellers' proprietary books-- if you have PDF files on your Kindle or Nook, for example, they are not tracking which items you have and where you leave off in those documents.<br />
<br />
It's not the first time that reading habits have been studied without readers' knowing it. In recent memory,<a href="http://boulderlibrary.org/about/patriot.html" target="_blank"> the Patriot Act</a> was passed to allow federal agents to track public library users. The Guardian article goes so far as to cite the ever-popular Big Brother of Orwell's 1984 when describing insidious data tracking. Some people-- including some booksellers-- are coming out strongly against collecting reader data as an invasion of privacy. Others-- perhaps very interestingly the publishers-- see the data for its possibilities in improving the market <i>for</i> the reader. If people are buying one book and stopping a quarter of the way through, in the future a publishing house might reconsider purchasing another book from that same author. From another side, authors might fear this kind of data tracking-- if a threshold number of people aren't reading the book all the wall through, their publishing deals might be in jeopardy-- or welcome it, if the data can better direct their editing to better please their audience.<br />
<br />
How do you feel knowing that Amazon and other ebooksellers are aggregating data about your reading habits? How do you see this kind of information being used in the future?Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-43077906097236832202012-04-12T08:00:00.000-04:002012-04-12T23:15:11.876-04:00The Department of Justice Sues Publishers Over E-Book Pricing<span style="font-family: inherit;">It has been speculated for several weeks now that the DoJ was going to sue five major publishers for alleged ebook price fixing and general collusion, and as the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337573054615152.html" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal broke today</a>, they have done just that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Publishing does not often hit the forefront of business news, so it presents a very interesting and unique case to analyze. Today I am going to present some basic facts and milestones that led to the official lawsuit:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2007, Amazon debuted the Kindle and, it is fairly safe to say, single-handedly made ebooks successful for the first time in history. Other electronic book devices and formats had existed before, but never before was it commonplace to see people reading from them, or finding that they sometimes preferred ebooks to print books.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To promote Kindle device sales, Amazon began selling ebooks at low prices. Amazon arguably has the best selection of content among the top tablet makers (including powerhouses like Apple, Samsung, or Sony) and that is also arguably the biggest draw to purchase those devices. Making a wide range of content suddenly very affordable is a huge draw.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Publishers were alarmed at this practice because, although they were used to selling their books wholesale to Amazon, they saw low ebook prices as threats to their hardcover and even paperback sales, through which they still make a majority of their revenue. Why would someone buy a new John Grisham novel for $27 in hardcover when they could get it on their Kindle for $9.99? Some publishers began to see Amazon's new practice of discounting bestsellers and new books in the electronic format as predatory pricing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Predatory pricing is one of the more difficult anti-competitive cases to prove because true proof can only be shown after the practice has already done its damage; competitors must already have been driven out of the market. A company will price something so low, at a loss to themselves, that they drive other companies out of the market. That company has to expect that they will be able to succeed even after taking hits on extreme prices. Even if the company is sued at that point, simply ceasing predatory pricing will not bring back the competition-- they may even already be a monopoly. There must also be high costs to entering the market for the strategy to have any hope of success, <i>and </i>a lawsuit would also have to prove that the pricing was in fact staggeringly low, rather than the product of common price competition. In short, even if Amazon was ever investigated for predatory pricing, it would be almost impossible for the charge to hold water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The publishers thought they had such a case on their hands. And if the DoJ's lawsuit finds what it's looking for, then they will find evidence that the next step was to collude and create their own anti-competitive strategy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not terribly hard to find, though. In fact, I found it a few months ago when I read Walter Isaacson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-ebook/dp/B004W2UBYW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334203531&sr=8-2" target="_blank">popular biography</a> of Steve Jobs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a discussion that the author had with the computer tycoon, Jobs revealed that, prior to unveiling the iPad, he had a meeting with the largest publishing houses in the United States, known as the "Big Six": Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, and Random House. Jobs wanted to let them use a retail model known as "agency pricing" for the iBooks store and corresponding app that would open with the iPad. Unlike the wholesale model that had originally allowed Amazon to set its own prices once it purchased books from the publishers, the agency model would force a retailer to allow the publisher to set its own prices and retain a larger portion of the sale. Publishers, as they have been doing on the Kindle book store, could set their ebooks at $14.99 or higher, in theory to match whatever the print book price is. In order to get Amazon to change to such a drastically different model, however, they would have to force their hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One publisher couldn't withhold their books; they would just get blacklisted by Amazon in all likelihood. A collusion of publishers, however, could threaten to withhold the most sought-after book titles, essentially forcing Amazon to allow the new pricing model in order to sell the best content. It had nothing to do with perceived "value" of ebooks versus print books-- multiple authors have already sold millions of dollars worth of ebooks on Amazon, often by self-publishing and selling at $1.99 or even lower. And it led to higher prices in ebooks, so it wasn't about getting better prices for the customers. It was all about getting a larger cut of the sale for these massive publishing houses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">In Walter Isaacson's book, Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, "We'll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30%, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that's what you want anyway."</span>
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">And so the E-Book Price Fixing Scandal was born. Of the Big Six, only Random House stayed out of the alleged collusion, at the time willing to continue with the traditional retail model, and they alone remained free of the Department of Justice investigation. Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster settled with the DoJ and agreed to break their price fixing contracts with their retailers-- Penguin, Macmillan, and Apple (the supposed competing retailer looking to get an edge on their Amazon rival) are willing to fight it out.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">I will continue to follow this case as more details of the settlement-- and potentially the visible changes to Amazon ebooks sales-- begin to come to the surface.</span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-75159429930023215602012-04-03T08:00:00.000-04:002012-04-03T08:00:05.065-04:00Are ebooks easier to read than print books?<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">I missed <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/05/franzen-dickens-hockney-ebooks" target="_blank">this Guardian op-ed response</a> to Jonathan Franzen’s
assertion that <a href="http://book-landing.blogspot.com/2012/02/jonathan-franzen-does-not-want-you-to.html" target="_blank">ebooks are making us dumber</a> and less attentive to reading, but I
am glad I found it now. Check out Henry Porter’s piece for a polite,
thoughtful, and factually-supported refutation of Franzen’s claims against
ebooks. Of particular interest: “…the information passing through our minds has
risen threefold in the past 30 years and increases by about 6% every year,”
which is to say that people are consuming more and more information, rather
than less and less.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">I would wish to add to this as well the idea that ebooks also make
reading more potable and accessible, which could cause an increase in reading.
We read tens of thousands of emails every year because it is so quick and easy
to use email as a primary source of communication; we send them because we can.
Why not expect reading to increase if a book becomes easier and faster (and someday cheaper)
to acquire, and to carry around? Neil Gaiman, eminent author and blogger, last year
wrote about <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2011/01/neil-gaiman-on-ebooks/" target="_blank">his newfound ease of completing The Count of Monte Cristo</a>, now that
he could carry such a lengthy tome on his lightweight ereader or smart phone, which he could
pick up and read at any spare moment.</span></span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-4621857439961454822012-03-28T09:34:00.000-04:002012-03-28T09:34:15.284-04:00Harry Potter has come to eReaders<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxf8e-i8P9VN47sIItj566osGSNa8M3G1Vuh-682HYVhwOZGWGDtRFLTeS5x9hyphenhyphen0D1i7nY4sZByE3OvjaCIcnoQJRZKHomKyQJo6ii_qYybrBpyD-X2cX3JuMnApzLJp_t0XVZcomXLs/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxf8e-i8P9VN47sIItj566osGSNa8M3G1Vuh-682HYVhwOZGWGDtRFLTeS5x9hyphenhyphen0D1i7nY4sZByE3OvjaCIcnoQJRZKHomKyQJo6ii_qYybrBpyD-X2cX3JuMnApzLJp_t0XVZcomXLs/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">I definitely missed the midnight premier party this time around.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Yesterday was the debut of the Harry Potter ebooks, and in truly
grand style Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and other major ebook retailers
displayed screenshots of the books on ereader devices on their home pages. Author JK Rowling teamed with
<a href="http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/02/industry-news/overdrive-to-distribute-harry-potter-ebooks/" target="_blank">OverDrive</a> to sell the ebooks exclusively on her personal <a href="http://shop.pottermore.com/en_US" target="_blank">Pottermore site</a>, which
means that even when you find the books displayed on Amazon, you must buy them
through the external Pottermore link. While setting up a new account was a
little inconvenient when compared to the Amazon “One Click” buying experience,
the book file is sent instantaneously to your Amazon account (or Barnes &
Noble account, or wherever you store your elibrary) for your downloading
pleasure. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">What does this mean for ebooks? Sales figures will be interesting
to see—<i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</i> is famously the fastest-selling
book of all time, with 11 million copies distributed within 24 hours back in
2007—but it will be particularly interesting to see how many copies are sold
and how quickly considering the vast amount of print copies sold in relative
memory. If millions of people already have their print copies of Harry Potter,
are they willing to re-buy them for their ereaders? Or will these ebooks signal
yet another, new generation of Harry Potter readers, for whom the ebook will be
their first Potter experience?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Are you buying your Harry Potter ebooks?</span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-47891901297486397302012-03-09T08:00:00.000-05:002012-03-09T08:00:18.497-05:00eReaders don't want you to read eBooks.You guys, I love the internet!<br />
<br />
I went on the <i>Atlantic</i> website to read an article about Amazon this week and found a link to another article responding to this piece from the <i>New York Times: </i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html?_r=2&src=rechp" target="_blank">"Finding your book interrupted... by the tablet you read it on."</a><br />
<br />
It is such a good article. Citing a single survey of publishers showing that a decreasing number believed that multipurpose tablets were ideal for reading ebooks, and a few quotes from publishers and general readers, the article tells us that it is harder than ever to pay attention to what you're reading because tablets offer too many distractions. Those minxy iPads and Kindle Fires "tempt" us with too many more interesting apps and emails and other alternatives to book reading. While they quote one reader who finds the struggle to pay attention to a book a kind of welcome challenge, and one publisher who thinks multipurpose tablets encourage ebooks for people who might not normally purchase a single-purpose ereader, the general sentiment is that tablets make it too hard to get into the "reading experience."<br />
<br />
While the comments section of the article, as well as the Atlantic piece of hilarity: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/books-on-paper-fight-analog-distractions/254049/" target="_blank">"Books on paper fight analog distractions,"</a> point out that this is not the most scientific of behavioral findings, there are a number of commentators (and the subjects from the NYT article) who are strongly on the side that tablets are too distracting. That reading is not the "same immersive experience" on a digital reader as it is in paper, etc. As I continue to follow publishing news, I find it's the same argument in the comments sections over and over: "I like books on paper that I can touch/I like being able to carry a thousand books in my hand." So, I encourage you to go over and watch the eternal argument play out.<br />
<br />
But my favorite part of this is the guy that they're quoting saying that his tablet is too distracting for reading, saying he gets distracted by all the apps, which are just "beg[ging] you to review them all the time."<br />
<br />
What?!?<br />
<br />
Is that a thing? Do people spend hours and hours reviewing apps? Is that a popular activity of which I have been mercifully ignorant for years? I have a Kindle, and iPhone, a PC, etc., I feel like I am "with it," so to speak. I am unaware of this "app reviewing" black hole that people get sucked into. I mean, what happens when you start reviewing "review" apps? Like when you review the Yelp app? And then someone reviews your review of that review app? Okay, maybe this could be interesting...<br />
<br />
See, I feel like that is not a real thing. I feel like maybe he means "using" his apps, or "reading" emails. And I think that miss-spoken phrase is symptomatic of the problem with this article, which is that some people are going to read books all the way through and some people are going to get distracted. Some people are going to prioritize their tablet so that they're not jumping from app to app, and some people are going to get distracted "reviewing" all of them. And sometimes you're one of those people, and sometimes you're the other; <i>everyone</i> gets distracted when they're reading, whether its on an iPad or a paperback book. Everyone gets distracted when they're working, when they're talking on the phone, and even when they're driving. I got distracted from reading one article by reading another article, which distracted me from writing one blog post to writing an entirely separate blog post. It's the "immersive experience" of life, and perhaps, ultimately, not the most newsworthy of news items.<br />
<br />
Happy Friday, guys!Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-13006922416552957272012-03-08T08:00:00.000-05:002012-03-08T08:00:14.256-05:00State of the Book UnionThe Atlantic posted a brief, informative article on the current state of affairs in publishing called <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/the-amazon-paradox-coming-to-terms-with-publishings-colossus/254042/" target="_blank">"The Amazon Paradox: Coming to Terms with Publishing's Colossus."</a> It is extremely brief, actually, just posting the general book sales results from last year, showing that <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/50805-aap-estimates-e-book-sales-rose-117-in-2011-as-print-fell.html" target="_blank">ebook sales rose 117%</a> and that mass market paperbacks were down almost 36% when compared to 2010 sales. It is interesting because it introduces the idea that, now that ebooks are close to dominating total book sales and Borders has gone out of business, publishers are "coming to deal with" Amazon, describing it almost like a gauntlet. Ebook sales are on the rise, but Amazon grows more powerful as a result, which causes some traditional publishing houses to look at them with skepticism. At this point in the evolution of publishing, they don't have much of a choice but to deal with the biggest book retailer out there.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-14227426142334921312012-03-05T21:12:00.000-05:002012-03-05T21:12:04.646-05:00Follow me @Book_Landing!<a href="http://twitter.com/Book_Landing" target="_blank">Book Landing is now on Twitter!</a><br />
<br />
Check out the Twitter feed on the right-hand side of this blog for my latest tweets and to see which great digital publishing voices I'm following.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-59309299837690995432012-02-24T08:00:00.000-05:002012-02-24T08:00:04.902-05:00The Forest for the Trees<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Mark O’Connell, contributor to <a href="http://www.themillions.com/" target="_blank">The Millions</a> and <a href="http://book-landing.blogspot.com/2012/02/accumulating-books.html" target="_blank">fellow Borges enthusiast</a>, published an article last August titled “<a href="http://www.themillions.com/2011/08/the-e-reader-of-sand-the-kindle-and-the-inner-conflict-between-consumer-and-booklover.html" target="_blank">The eReader of Sand</a>,” an article I have only now had the good fortune to
read. To summarize for all of my Teal Deers out there: he does not believe it
is possible to become attached to an ereader the way one can become attached to
print books, and he comes to the conclusion that ebooks will never measure up
to the quality of print books. To summarize my reaction: I disagree with about
half of his points. Point by point, however, his article makes a great conversation
piece for the “book object” arguments. In that vein I would like to break down
my rebuttal in the style of a DVD commentary:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">To begin with, O’Connell is a self-professed bibliophile with “</span>shelves…
all two rows deep, stuffed with a Tetris-like emphasis on space-optimization ,
and pretty much every horizontal surface holds some or other type of reading
material.” First, HA about the Tetris description, and second, I have
experienced the same phenomenon myself, so I totally get where he’s coming
from.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">He has also loved books “</span>almost as much for their physical
properties as for their intellectual ones.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-size: small;">"I like the way a well-made paperback flops open in the hand, the briskly
authoritative slap of its pages as it closes. I enjoy the feel of a hardback,
its solidity and self-enclosure, its sober weight, the whispering creak of its
stretching spine. I like the way they smell, too: the slightly chemical tang of
new books and the soft, woody scent of old ones. (If you’re picturing me
crouched in a corner of your local bookstore like some sort of mental case, a
Library of America edition of [italicize]Pale Fire pressed to my face, you can
stop right there: it’s an incidental pleasure, not something I pursue with any
kind of monomaniacal intensity)."</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">My whole point here is the point I have been making all week: the book
object has no intrinsic value (assuming it’s not made of gold). What if the
only books that existed were Calculus books? I don’t think people would have
the affection for this fragrant paper object that they do. Therefore, the
object holds extremely little value—it is the book content that means so much.
For reading and publishing to survive and thrive, the print technology will give way largely to the digital technology. It was Bill Gates who once said,
“Content is king,” and that was never more applicable than in the publishing
industry of today.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">O’Connell then recaps for us the Jorge Luis Borges story “The Book of
Sand” (El libro de arena), which you can read in English in its entirety <a href="http://anagrammatically.com/2010/03/08/the-book-of-sand-el-libro-de-arena-by-borges-translated/" target="_blank">for free here</a>. He says that the Kindle (or Nook or other ereader) is
like a real life “book of sand”; a (for all intents and purposes) neverending
collection of literature can be contained inside a single volume. He also,
paraphrasing the Borges description, calls the book of sand “monstrous” and
“obscene.” The (e)Book of Sand corrupts “the natural, Godly order.” For one
thing, I am thinking at this point, “<i>Yes</i>, this is like when they say the title
of the movie<i> in</i> the movie,” and for another, I am non-plussed by the
dramatic style. O’Connell is quick to point out that he is certainly not
“frightened” of the ereader, but he is sad because he knows it “can’t even hope
to compete” with the historically enormous invention of the book.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The problem with statements like these is that they are not properly
defining what a “book” is. Is a book the content or the paper? Does a book only
exist if it is content printed on paper? If the latter, then yes, I guess books
are going away. Funny, I could have <i>sworn</i> I just really enjoyed
reading <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Plot-Novel-Jeffrey-Eugenides/dp/0374203059" target="_blank">The Marriage Plot</a></i> by Jeffrey Eugenides on my Kindle, but I
guess I must be mistaken—<i>real books</i> are only on paper, after all.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Next, O’Connell concedes to a number of benefits from ereaders, such as
size and ability to download something instantly. On the second part, he does delve
into the “we don’t know how to wait for things anymore” criticism that places
ebooks on the “instant gratification cult” shelf, but he does note it as a
convenience. And, to circle back around to the beginning of his article, he
does note the convenient simplicity of containing many books on one small
device. He ends the article reluctantly conceding that ebooks are the way of
the future, saying, “</span>Ultimately, you’re never going to win an argument
against convenience, no matter how much you love the anachronistic, heavy,
unwieldy, and beautiful thing you want to save.” Ultimately, I agree with his
concession that the ebook technology has proved to be a success.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The
argument that O’Connell has overcome, but one that is extremely common (and especially
on the Internet) is that “ebooks are ruining publishing, and everything else,
and I don’t want them.” There are many people who not only do not ever want to
read ebooks, but who also hold out hope that the print book technology will
eventually win out. Unfortunately for many people, the print publishing model
has already been shown to have many flaws. Ebooks will become more
common than print books. So why is there still an outcry against them, if we
know there is no stopping them? Why the rejection of what has been shown to be
a more convenient technology? Why the demand that the publishing industry keep
printing books that are losing them millions of dollars?<span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">While the transformation of the publishing industry requires a complex
analysis that I hope to break into as my blog progresses, from the “book as
object” standpoint of this week, I think it’s the all-too-human, all-too-simple
resistance to change. Print books are easy to use, and hey, they served us just
fine when we were in school, didn’t they? The rejection of ebooks is part and
parcel of the cult of nostalgia that has become very popular of late. In
photography there are people who miss lomo cameras and will do everything to
avoid using a DSLR. Many music fans still collect vinyl records, attesting to
better sound and quality than cassette tapes, CDs, and MP3s (check out that
dedication!).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In the end, who is to say what is <i>truly</i> the" better" technology? Does not the survival of the written word, whatever package it comes in, ultimately prevail over
all?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">I hope you've enjoyed these last couple of entries on the "book" as an object. I will absolutely revisit this in the future, although I plan to begin next week by delving into another of the wide range of topics in publishing.</span></span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-6771461668098869412012-02-22T08:00:00.000-05:002012-02-22T08:00:20.404-05:00Accumulating Books <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">The infatuation
that many people share for the book object is deceptively complex. It would
seem fair to assume that people who are into book buying must also be voracious
readers, but mere accumulation does not mean the object is being used for its
intended purpose. Everyone has bought some item at the grocery store in a
moment of impulse only to throw it out weeks later, unused and beginning to
rot; so do people buy books, thinking at the moment of reading them only to
discover them months or years later still stuck in the “to-be-read” pile.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">In fact, to be a
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliophilia" target="_blank">“bibliophile”</a> technically means to have an affinity for <i>collecting</i> books, and has nothing to do with reading them. There is
an English word for people who have a passion for the book object, but not one
for people who have a passion for reading. People who work the “look, feel,
smell” facets of reading into the overall concept of what a “book” is can thus
be said to be bibliophiles. This does not exclude a potential that these same
bibliophiles may also be voracious readers, but the two are not mutually
inclusive.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bibliophilia can lead
to some problems… <a href="http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/67215-1/Nicholas+Basbanes.aspx" target="_blank">Sometimes the object supersedes the content and you become a book collector rather than a book reader</a>. <a href="http://commonsense2.com/2008/11/essays/lost-the-girl-got-the-book/" target="_blank">Sometimes no one else seems to understand your spending habits and it can ruin relationships.</a> <a href="http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/2012/02/16/the-wonderful-and-terrible-habit-of-buying-too-many-books/" target="_blank">Sometimes you find yourself tripping over stacks in your home</a> and realize you need to make a
change in your book buying habits. I myself moved into a small apartment a year
ago and found myself having to give away approximately a quarter of my existing
book collection. I had to make decisions on books I loved and would not part
with, books I had bought and never read, and books I had read but hadn’t loved
but might need someday in the future… you get the picture. Once I had filled a
few boxes that were to be taken to the local library, I couldn’t bear to look
at them anymore for fear of reconsidering.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Getting rid of a
significant portion of the collection, however, drove home for me the
importance of the book <i>content</i> over the book <i>object</i>. If
all of those books had been on my Kindle, there would have been no
heart-wrenching few days of parting with cherished (and expensive) books. There
is no way I could ever hope to own a physical copy of every book I will ever
read—why not make digital books a significant portion of my reading purchases
and be able to contain my vast library in a manageable and attractive way?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
certain charm for bibliophiles in a vision of a vast physical library, full of
dusty old books stacked floor to ceiling. I, too, have lingered for hours in
used bookstores amid the moldering tomes in a state of pure happiness. Jorge
Luis Borges, the famous Argentine writer, is frequently quoted on book blogs
and in book stores saying, “I have always imagined Heaven to be a kind of
library.” But for most people, it seems that reality eventually hits: sometimes
you just have too many books. The modern home is rarely just a repository for
reading material, after all—sooner or later, every bibliophile comes to the sad
prospect of culling their collection for propriety’s sake. If you have reached that sad stage, take heart: here are <a href="http://www.theorganizinggenie.com/home-organization/five-strategies-to-reduce-book-clutter/" target="_blank">5 Strategies for Reducing Book Clutter</a>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">If physical books
are something that we know we must eventually give away, why not pre-empt that
by “culling your collection” from the start? Why not purchase some books on a
digital reader and purchase physical copies only of books that you cherish,
have a vested interest in, and know might survive a house move or two? Why
can’t the heavenly library be the never-ending Labyrinth that can be held in
the palm of your hand?</span></div>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is it really
worth it to buy only paperbacks, knowing you will likely get rid of them at
some point, instead of buying ebooks that you can keep forever?</span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-28812601661662940582012-02-21T08:00:00.000-05:002012-02-21T08:00:01.554-05:00The Revolution Will Be Digitized<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yEsXsoptj60/T0MCEJJcIxI/AAAAAAAAAH8/N2M6nNmyuw8/s1600/photo+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yEsXsoptj60/T0MCEJJcIxI/AAAAAAAAAH8/N2M6nNmyuw8/s1600/photo+%25282%2529.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Evening bliss-- a mug of tea and the latest Jeffrey Eugenides novel on my Kindle.</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Printed books
have a dedicated, passionate following that often seems to rival that of
digitized books. For the reading public, this passion is derived largely from
emotional memories associated with books. <a href="http://book-landing.blogspot.com/2012/02/surviving-451.html" target="_blank">As I previewed on Friday</a> with the
link to the articulate essay at the New York Review of Books, this week I will
be writing from the other side of the aesthetics argument: in praise of ebooks.
Forgoing the economic or business arguments in favor of epublishing, it is time
to focus on the benefits that the general reader can get out of ebooks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Considering
that ebooks have only risen to popular use in the last decade, I, like everyone
else, grew up reading printed books. I enjoyed reading as a hobby and was (and
remain) a frequent visitor to the local public library. Memories of my
formative years are interspersed with plots from my favorite novels, some of
which I read over and over until they became a part of my own past. Having
moved away from my hometown and favorite book-reading spots, I look back fondly
at those times and places, and I associate that happiness with everything
involved in the memories. I remember perusing the library aisles for hours at a
time, waiting for just the right book to capture my attention. I think back on
the many nights I stayed up far later than I should, turning page after page
under a burning-hot reading lamp. And when I visit a used bookstore, or a
library, or return to my own bookshelves, it is fun to riffle the yellowed
pages of an old paperback, to gaze at a beautiful or funny book cover, and
even to smell the mustiness of decaying paper, comforting in its familiarity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Nevertheless,
those memories mean nothing if not for the books—the stories and histories and
freely-given knowledge—associated with them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FX7qvGnkIBo/T0MCBsqT0mI/AAAAAAAAAH0/ROj3xgbrM-E/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FX7qvGnkIBo/T0MCBsqT0mI/AAAAAAAAAH0/ROj3xgbrM-E/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My battered copy of <i>Malafrena</i>, which I laid out for maximum shame viewing. Note the enormous tear on the back cover, now held together by clear duct tape. Also believe me when I say I bought this book in pretty bad shape as-is because it is long out of print-- <i>I would never treat my books like this.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Libraries can
be rather unpleasant, after all, if they’re too crowded or noisy or cold. I
often turned down plenty of books that I might have enjoyed because the cover
was so horrendous I couldn’t believe the actual book would be any good (witness
the impetus for this hilarious website<a href="http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/" target="_blank"> "Good Show, Sir: Only the Worst in Sci-Fi Book Covers"</a>). And that musty, dusty
smell and those yellowed pages are actually signs of the damage we have done to these
beloved books, now full of bacteria and old water stains. When I pull the sense
away from the memory, I strip it down to what I really remember fondly—the book
itself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">I didn’t really
like my fluorescent-lit college cafeteria all that much, but I find I
occasionally dig up pleasant memories of the cafeteria when I think of
lingering over <i>The Secret History</i> with a cup of tea after lunch. My
copy of Ursula Le Guin’s <i>Malafrena</i> is rather malodorous and hanging
on for dear life due to some emergency duct-taping, but I keep it around due to
my appreciation of the beautiful story that plays out within its pages. It is
the content that makes these places and pages special, not the pulp and glue (and
tape) that contain them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Now that ebooks
and ereaders have become so popular, I predict that future generations,
including the one growing up now, will have similar sense memories, just of the
digital age. They might not think back fondly to the bright bulb of their
reading lamp, but instead the warm glow of their ereader screen, perhaps
projecting the text of the well-received novel <i>The Hunger Games</i>. They
can collect beautiful covers and skins for their ereaders that they carry with
them everywhere. Perhaps someday, they will stay up late refreshing their
readers over and over again, waiting for their pre-ordered J.K. Rowling book to
“magically” appear on their library screen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">The longing for
the “feel, touch, and smell” of books is not really about the book content, but
about the book object. Not many arguments that “books are going away” have
gained much traction thus far in the digital publishing conversation—<a href="http://www.bowkerinfo.com/bowker/IndustryStats2010.pdf" target="_blank">more and more books are published every year</a>, after all. It is the book
object that we will see less and less of, and that is the argument that I see
every day in publishing news. So how do we link the appeal of the “book object
aesthetics” to the rising popularity of ebooks?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">I predict that
it will become easier to print on demand. Most best-selling books today are
publishing both digitally and in print-format, and perhaps in the future they
will be published primarily in digital format with an option to have a copy
printed. The technology for print-on-demand is constantly improving, as popular
publishing sites such as <a href="http://www.lulu.com/" target="_blank">Lulu</a> and <a href="http://www.blurb.com/" target="_blank">Blurb</a> will show you, and the option has
become vastly more cost-effective. In that way, I don’t think that printed
books will go away entirely, at least not for the next few generations—if you want
a hard copy, you will be able to get one.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">On another
note, there are plenty of printed books in existence already. As I commented on
NYRB, the printed books that you own will remain your own. Your cherished books
won’t disappear or be taken from you <i>Fahrenheit 451</i>-style, and as such I think
that used bookstores will have a market for some time to come, likely beyond
the lifespan of regular bookstores. These books aren’t all going to get sent to
the recycling center—you (and I) will have years and years to snap up those
funny little 50-cent sci-fi paperbacks that liven up a rainy weekend.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Furthermore, the
book-as-cherished-object argument falls flat when you consider the fact that
most people do not personally own every book they have ever read. I know I
don’t—I have given away far more books than I currently own, for hoarder risk
reduction reasons in some cases (yes, I have bordered on bibliomania—it’s a
constant struggle) and sometimes because I bought a book, read it, and didn’t
like it enough to ever want to read it again. What is the point of requiring
all books to be printed if you cannot ever hope to contain all of them? At the
same time, I wonder which of those books I might have kept if they had only taken
up the space of a scant few kilobytes on my harddrive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">I don’t share a
vision of a future where the only books I have are on my (now, admittedly,
beloved) Kindle. I see a value in printed books as <i>art objects</i> of a
sort; visible dedications to my favorite authors, or souvenirs of memories, or
even just as beautiful objects (hardcovers like art prints, and famous editions
as prized possessions).</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CNjQ2g9dMr8/T0MCGJiig1I/AAAAAAAAAIE/5esP6mP87Xg/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CNjQ2g9dMr8/T0MCGJiig1I/AAAAAAAAAIE/5esP6mP87Xg/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small;">Like my beautiful hardcover of <i>Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution</i> by Caroline Weber. Also fully illustrated with color photographs and with a personalized signature from the author. Deeeeefinitely not giving this one up any time soon.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">But as I have
loved printed books, so can I love digitized books. To be able to carry a vast
library inside my purse, wherever I go, is, to put a literary spin on it, like
having a power akin to something out of <i>Harry Potter</i>. When I
received my Kindle two years ago, I forgot I was reading text on a screen mere
minutes after I began doing so—the technology is sufficiently advanced to have
now removed the “glare” of a screen that is the most common complaint for
digital text. Now that bookstores are shutting down all around the country, I
frequently rely on my Kindle to get the latest books without having to wait for
a package or pay a hefty shipping fee. I have even found it easier to read some
books on the Kindle than it was to read them in print format—I find myself
picking up books like George R. R. Martin’s <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i>
series much more easily when they’re on my slim Kindle rather than in a hefty
paperback or hardcover tome.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Will I get rid
of my beloved old, illustrated copy of <i>Misty of Chincoteague</i>? Not
any time soon. But as my personal library grows throughout my life, do I hope I
can curate it on my digital readers, that can expand like Mary Poppins’ bag to
reveal contents so great it’s difficult to believe they can fit inside
something so small and unassuming? Absolutely.</span></div>
Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-24596511455149341052012-02-17T15:39:00.000-05:002012-02-17T15:39:08.572-05:00Surviving 451<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a lot of articles out now lamenting the demise of
paperback and printed books. A very vocal sector of those in publishing, as
well as general readers, do not want to let go of the aesthetics of printed
books, nor the sense-memories associated with them, and as such there are
plenty of passionate essays in praise of print.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, there is one in praise of ebook aesthetics. Or rather,
the lack thereof. Eloquent and without reproach for print-purists, I highly
recommend reading this brief article-- <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/feb/15/ebooks-cant-burn/" target="_blank">"Ebooks Can't Burn"</a>-- over at the New York Review of Books. I
don’t think I’ve seen any other piece that lauds the simplicity of ebooks quite
like Tim Parks does here—if any of you readers out there have recommendations
for articles in this vein, please comment with links as I would love to read
more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">I will be expanding on ebook and print book aesthetics and the
unending “preference” battle on Monday. Until then, have a nice weekend!</span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-46882886164463106622012-02-17T10:36:00.001-05:002012-02-17T10:37:32.949-05:00Jonathan Franzen does not want you to read his books.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">At least, not
on your ereader, anyway. I <i>think</i> he wants you to read his
critically-acclaimed novel <i>Freedom</i>, but only if you buy
the hardcover version currently list priced at $28 USD on Amazon. I <i>think</i> that’s what he was trying to say in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9047981/Jonathan-Franzen-e-books-are-damaging-society.html" target="_blank">his talk at the Hay Festival</a>, covered by The Telegraph two weeks ago.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Jonathan
Franzen is all about the glue in the binding and the touch of finger oils on
paper. In his recent interview, he says that eBooks are detrimental to society
because they have been “conned” into existence by “the capitalists.” Paperback
books—apparently published by non-capitalist, non-mega publisher <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/FSG.aspx" target="_blank">Farrar, Straus& Giroux</a>—are better because, “Someone worked really hard to make
the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it
that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could
delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person
like me, it’s just not permanent enough.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Unless, as a
helpful commenter pointed out at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/30/jonathan-franzen-ebooks-values?INTCMP=SRCH" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, you have too many
errors in your traditionally published, professionally edited novel that
printed an 80,000 first run—<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/03/jonathan-franzen-pulped-fiction" target="_blank">then it is entirely necessary to destroy 80,000 books and reprint them</a>. An ebook, which would have necessitated a
simple re-download for a corrected version, delivered straight to your Kindle
or Nook, just doesn’t have that sense of the language being “just right.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">The Guardian
article on Franzen’s comments has curated a rather hilarious lot of
commentators who point out a lot of the inconsistencies in his argument, and I
recommend checking it out. How does he “take the game card out of his computer”
anyway? If you have ever identified the “game card” in your computer, please
drop a line in the comments below so I can take it out of mine, too.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">This is not the
first time Franzen has failed to understand common technology, nor criticize
his readership and meal ticket.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Jonathan
Franzen also does not want Oprah Winfrey to read his books… Correction, he <i>did </i>not want Oprah Winfrey to read his books, until his
first inclusion in Oprah’s Book Club resulted in millions of sales. After that
it was okay to appear on her show and have millions of people praise him. But
when his National Book Award-winning novel <i>The
Corrections</i> was first selected to be in the club, Franzen famously
denounced the program and the readers he believed he would get from the inclusion.
He waited until after his book had already been featured on Oprah in October
2001, and then afterwards, in an interview with NPR said the following (<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1131456" target="_blank">read the full interview here</a>):</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">"So much
of reading is sustained in this country, I think, by the fact that women read
while men are off golfing or watching football on TV or playing with their
flight simulator...I continue to believe that, and now, I'm actually at the
point with this book that I worry...I had some hope of actually reaching a male
audience….”</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Which is to say
that Jonathan Frazen does not really care if women read his book—men are the
true mark of a reading society, and if you don’t have them, then you don’t have
much of anything. Millions in the bank, yes. But otherwise it sounds like a
typical First World Problem to me.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qKMDF5S1q_M/Tz5zEM_nTdI/AAAAAAAAAHI/RkQorvyU6gY/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qKMDF5S1q_M/Tz5zEM_nTdI/AAAAAAAAAHI/RkQorvyU6gY/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Of course, he
was <i>gracious </i>enough to appear on <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/12/the-corrections-oprah-and-jonathan-franzen-revisit-feud" target="_blank">Oprah</a> when <i>Freedom</i> came around a few years later. <i>Time</i> magazine had
already called him the <a href="http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20100823,00.html" target="_blank">Great American Novelist</a>, and he had
received plenty of criticism for his remarks about <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-12-06/news/27083530_1_oprah-s-book-club-discomfort-zone-jonathan-franzen" target="_blank">the female of the species</a>
and for his treatment of someone trying to honor his work. Check out some good soundbites from the Oprah interview on <a href="http://flavorwire.com/134709/the-best-moments-of-jonathan-franzen-on-oprah" target="_blank">Flavorwire</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">So if Franzen
has an established behavior of saying something inflammatory and later
retracting it, what do you think is going to happen over the next several
years, as ebooks do, in fact, become the dominant form of publishing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 3.0in; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">The icing on
the cake of last month’s very strange talk is that Jonathan Franzen claimed
he would rather be dead than live in a world where ebooks are the dominant form
of publishing. Not to get too dramatic about it or anything.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Do you think statements like these, from a hyper popular author, have any effect on public perception of ebooks? </span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-30160828618824009202012-02-16T08:00:00.000-05:002012-02-16T08:00:02.535-05:00The Internet Can Benefit Publishing<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been thinking about and commenting on Damien Walter's blog entry "Are books and the Internet about to merge?" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/15/book-internet-merge" target="_blank">over at The Guardian</a>. Walter has presented the possibility of a very near future-- perhaps in the next few years-- where all or nearly all books are not only digitized, but internet-based. I am thinking by "internet" he doesn't just mean Wikipedia-style content generation, but also app-style content that comes completed and packaged for consumption without all the constant editing and monitoring that Wikipedia publishing entails. He presents a definite possibility, as technology increases at an exponential rate, but as I say in my comments, advocates of epublishing can't forego the continued need and desire for print publishing <i>entirely</i>, at least not in the near future of the next few years. The internet tends to open doors to new possibilities rather than closing them to old ones.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, Walter briefly touches on the "objectification" of the book, which <a href="http://book-landing.blogspot.com/2012/02/weighty-matter.html" target="_blank">I discussed a couple of entries ag</a>o, and which gets some heated attention in the comment threads-- I definitely recommend checking this article out.</span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-314559322026453852012-02-15T09:09:00.000-05:002012-02-15T09:09:35.401-05:00Don't Fear the eBook<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Ursula K. Le Guin, who most famously wrote modern
classic sci-fi and fantasy novels such as <i>The Dispossessed</i> and <i>A Wizard of Earthsea</i>, is a fairly prolific commentator on literacy and
publishing. Last week, she wrote about her disapproval of the <i>Time</i> feature on
“5 Famous Authors Who Loathe E-books,” which sparked my interest in compiling a
retrospective on some of her extemporaneous writing from the past few years. Le
Guin tends to post her op-ed-style pieces contemporaneously with milestones and
watersheds in digital publishing, making her essays a unique insight on authors
who are adapting and evolving along with the e-publishing process.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In May of 2011, Le Guin wrote <a href="http://www.nwbooklovers.org/2011/05/18/riding-the-avalanche-by-ursula-k-le-guin/#more-7412" target="_blank">a brief opinion piece</a> for Northwest Book Lovers on the prospect of an all-electronic publishing
environment. It is an essay meant to caution against forgoing the possibilities
of paperback and print-on-demand in future publishing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Time</i> appropriated several comments from the essay and used them to
describe Le Guin as an author who “loathes” e-books for their list that was
<a href="http://techland.time.com/2012/01/31/5-famous-writers-who-loathe-e-books/slide/ursula-k-le-guin/#ursula-k-le-guin" target="_blank">published online</a> on January 30, 2012. Le Guin wrote a refutation
to her inclusion in<i> Time</i>’s list on February 6, published at <a href="http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2012/02/06/fear-and-loathing-in-e-land/" target="_blank">Book View Café</a> and <a href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Blog2012.html#43Loathing" target="_blank">on her personal blog</a>.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Time</i> correctly quotes Le Guin’s statement “I read fast,
carelessly, superficially on the screen, and don’t enjoy it. I don’t know why”
and also correctly acknowledges that in the same essay she stated, “E-publication
offers vast availability and accessibility to older texts via our libraries,”
but ultimately <i>Time</i> loses the broad context of Le Guin’s original essay.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Le Guin prefaces her predictions and cautions for e-publishing by
titling them “my personal reactions.” As an author with specific content that
has been digitally formatted, and also as a reader, she has personal
preferences for how she would like her content to appear and how she would like
to read content in the future, but she is not proposing any industry-wide
movement. She is not inciting rebellion against e-books, as the title of <i>Time</i>’s
list suggests. In fact, by the end of the essay, she writes, “I welcome
e-publication, so long as it works like an immense new-and-used bookstore
network including bookstores selling both paper and e-books—and so long as it
is fully and freely hooked up with the public libraries,” as well as going on
to hope she can publish in future with small publishing houses in both paper
and ebook format. Le Guin is advocating for freedom of choice, while <i>Time</i> has
included her in a list with the likes of Maurice Sendak, who had <a href="http://techland.time.com/2012/01/31/5-famous-writers-who-loathe-e-books/#maurice-sendak" target="_blank">one four-letter word</a> for digital publishers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Le Guin’s blog entry rebuttal points out that the <i>Time</i> list turns
her hesitation to embrace an all-digital publishing world into a threat to
ebooks in a way that her words were never intended. Her advocacy for dialogue
rather than vitriol, whether for or against digital publishing, is both
important for the ebook movement as well as consistent with her essays from
recent years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">When Amazon first gained widespread attention for its
game-changing Kindle introduced in 2007, the Question in publishing went from,
“Will ebooks ever work?” to “What is next for ebooks?” Just like when the
similar question was posed in the music industry when their own brand of
digital publishing began, answers were solicited from the biggest names in
technology. Steve Jobs, who in January 2008 was introducing the MacBook Air,
was asked by the <i>New York Times</i> about Amazon’s Kindle as a device
that might compete with his netbook-style laptops (and future iPad), <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-passion-of-steve-jobs/?ex=1358226000&en=dc35254b0fcd5490&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss" target="_blank">and responded</a>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is
that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the
U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top
because people don’t read anymore.”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Now, years after the comment, it would be unusual to count the
Amazon Kindle as a failure. The <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399544,00.asp" target="_blank">known sales history</a> alone is enough to
show that the device is a commercial success. But Jobs’ message was less about
the possibility of Amazon or any ereader company making any money in device
sales (a possibility that remains suspect <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/technology/amazon-shares-drop-as-revenues-fall-short.html" target="_blank">until Amazon releases exact figures</a>
for greater financial transparency) and more about a fundamental flaw that
would ultimately derail ebooks: eventually, we would cease to ever need them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Ursula Le Guin’s response to Jobs’ comments, which she wrote for
<i>Harper’s</i> <i>Magazine</i> in <a href="http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/0081907" target="_blank">February of 2008</a>, was an illuminating
statement on both the future and the past of reading:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">“I think [books are] here to stay. It’s just that not all that
many people ever did read them. Why should we think everybody ought to now?”</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">More than that, Le Guin pointed out several flaws with a statement
such as “people don’t read anymore”:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">1. Who are the “people” we are talking about? The vast majority of society has historically had little access to, and was
often actively prevented from, the opportunity to read until the 19<sup>th</sup>
and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries. If even a small percentage of underrepresented groups are now allowed and have ready access to
reading, is that no longer important?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K2gQpz39b7c/Tzm_Vy_HzwI/AAAAAAAAAG4/0v7Pu2T-rMM/s1600/Advice+to+Young+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K2gQpz39b7c/Tzm_Vy_HzwI/AAAAAAAAAG4/0v7Pu2T-rMM/s320/Advice+to+Young+Men.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">From <i>Advice to Young Men And (Incidentally) Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life</i>, by <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1500214" target="_blank">William Corbet</a>t, 1829.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">2. What kind of “reading” are we talking about? “Novels” as we know
them did not exist until the 18<sup>th</sup> century, and mass market
publications did not exist until the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century. Prior to
those times, the majority of reading available was either religious or
rhetorical in nature, and was available only to wealthy, privileged men. Are certain kinds of reading acceptable (perhaps “cannon” literature or “important”
writers) while other reading “doesn’t count,” and who makes those decisions?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">3. If we are using faulty reasoning to make a statement like
“people don’t read anymore,” what kind of problems might we create for the
future if we act on that statement? Le Guin makes several statements about the
potential for some people to act as gatekeepers to knowledge, and also on their
tendency to view book sales the same way that other retail goods are sold,
rather than as an incomparable product that has a relatively short history of
existence. What would happen if people started scrapping digital publishing
ideas based on a faulty statement like “people don’t read anymore”?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The essay is a holistic view (drawing from all three business,
political, and emotional perspectives, which I talked about in <a href="http://book-landing.blogspot.com/2012/02/weighty-matter.html" target="_blank">my last post</a>) on the current state of
reading that ultimately asked people to let go of some preconceived notions
about publishing. If you have ever wondered if ebooks “even matter,” I think
you will find it a thought-provoking entry into the digital publishing
discussion. Also, she is just a generally awesome lady and a terrific prose stylist, so if nothing else it is an enjoyable read.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Le Guin titled her most recent blog post "Fear and Loathing," </span></span>which is a
tongue-in-cheek way of addressing what has become a sticking point in the
transition to digital publishing. People have come to take political stances on
digital publishing based out of fear: you are either “for” or “against” ebooks.
When you lay it out like that, and as Le Guin does on her blog, it shows how
strange the situation is. Many people are afraid that ebooks will not succeed
as a medium, and others are afraid that ebooks spell the end of book reading as
they know it. As Le Guin points out also, it is time that people stopped
reacting to the publishing transition with fear from either “side,” and instead
approached the transition with open minds. Fear of ebooks can only cause
industry stagnation and exacerbate the problems that already exist in
publishing.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">On Friday I will feature another popular author who has recently
commented on how they would like their own books to be formatted, although this
writer took a very different stance from Le Guin…</span></span></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9215415684317258905.post-83189534070688367202012-02-13T09:39:00.000-05:002012-02-13T09:39:51.435-05:00The Weighty Matter<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5907381530610191" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Is it possible to separate the act of reading from the book object?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If the book object goes into decline, does the act of reading go into decline?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">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.</span>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15641647972834371322noreply@blogger.com0