The Future of Books

Whoops almost missed mentioning Google Books, and the orphaned works situation.

The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.

I'm actually frustrated with the situation. I LOVE books in thier true form. I love being able to flip ahead to see how much I have left, and I love the way they look on book shelves. Also in college, it was very helpful to be able to make notes with a pencil in the columns. I understand it may save on trees but there are many other ways to save trees. I also understand the argument that if we didn't switch to books, we'd still be using scrolls. But, It would still take the total demise of physical print for me to actually purchase an electronic reading device.

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill." -Buddha

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I don't think books are going anywhere for a long time yet. I know I would much rather read something in book-format anyday; I've read fanfiction for many years and I still get frustarted at having to scroll down every few seconds. Plus it's more flexible to curl up with a good book. Any screen small enough to do that to is, well, too small. Reading from a book is much more preferable, and I'm sure most people feel the same way.

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Story Title (For now...): Stalking Dog Walkers.
Avril was perfectly confident her life would turn out perfectly.
Until that eventuality, at least she had Murphy..

I happen to love books, I have bookshelves in my room with several hundred, perhaps a thousand. But I also see a threat to reading from other more convenient media, so I welcome the idea of an e-reader, though I haven't seen one so far I would buy. I would love to be able to carry my entire library with me anywhere, buy a "book" anywhere, etc., just like I have my music on my iPhone. I want a unified device myself though, not a single purpose reader. I don't mind reading on LCD's, so a tablet or booklet solution is probably what I'm waiting for. I also love the idea of cross-device access, so say I have my reader or tablet at home, and just my phone with me, I can just open up on the phone and refer to notes, or get in a quick bit of reading. Another plus for readers is the educational and technical markets - it would rock to carry all your textbooks or technical references in one slim, light device. However, I say again that I haven't seen a device I would want to buy yet - not unified, slow screen refresh e-ink, not color, not touchscreen for easy highlighting, handwritten notes, etc.

But for those of you who love the printed word and don't want an e-reader for the foreseeable future, what do you think about the print on demand solutions (via mail, or more interestingly directly in a local store)? I could conceive of a vending machine in the near future, say at airports and other high-priced locations where books are in demand, where you order your book on a big touchscreen, and it rapid-prints and binds it, and thunk, there you go. Thoughts?

The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.

I am absolutly sure, that the e-book - in what ever form, mobile, computer, laptop etc. - is the future. Not only is it quicker to obtain, easier to carry around a great deal of books, convenient to read - because you can switch between the size of the letters and the young people, like kids, already are used to read a lot on a screen.
Saying this, for me the greatest joy is opening a new book - smell the paper and print, flip through the pages. And I am sure, real books will be there for a very long time, but they will most certainly become something special - again, and probably expensive as well.
Anyway - as long as people read, it doesn't matter what form a book has.

So etwas wie moralische oder unmoralische Bücher gibt es nicht. Bücher sind gut oder schlecht geschrieben. Weiter nichts.
Oscar Wilde

Perhaps I just don't read as much as I should, because if I read as much as I listened to music, then yes, a digi-book would appeal to me. But I'd expect to pay next to nothing for an e-book, lol. And I'd still PREFER to read books.

I've never heard of them. I take it you mean you order a PRE-EXISTING book and it'll print and bind it for you? That would be interesting, though I certainly hope bookstores don't go out of business.

Obviously though, whatever happens, the value of the written word won't be lost. That's what mattered most. No new media can replace what writers and readers alike cherish.

First-Time NaNo. :D
Arcane Author, a.k.a Chels. Property of her Rottweiler, Tyler.

Story Title (For now...): Stalking Dog Walkers.
Avril was perfectly confident her life would turn out perfectly.
Until that eventuality, at least she had Murphy..

Both e-readers and traditional books have their place. I've heard (and didn't bother to look it up, so take this with a grain of salt) that people are reading more and more, and buying more books than they ever have. So I don't think real books are going anywhere. A majority of people would prefer a real book, I think. For one, they don't need batteries or electricity!

But e-readers are pretty cool, and as they evolve I think there will definitely be a market for them. Will that market kill the market for paper books? I seriously doubt it. E-readers offer another option for book lovers, and I'm sure they'll prove to be great research tools.

I'm hesitant to make predictions on the future of e-readers, but I think they'll find a niche in the book market. I think they compliment the printed word, but I don't think they'll replace it.

I think there are aspects of reading that are pleasurable and can't be successfully mimicked by e-books. Page turning for instance.. I have a friend who says she likes her kindle but wishes she could turn pages. Another thing is the smell-- so many people love the smell of books (I know I do) and you just don't get that from an e-book. Finally there's a question of battery power. Even with an exceptionally long battery life, you're still limited by that on an e-book.. a hard book in your hands has no such limitation.

As much as I love hand copy books, I don't really mind the change to computer. As long as they are still read, it works for me. That said, I don't think the paper versions will go out of style. I know tons of people who just can't stare at a screen for very long without getting really bad strain, and would hate to have to read with a Kindle. And let's be honest, who doesn't love the smell of a real book?

I think an e-reader would be convenient, its easy to carry around in your purse and have multiple books on hand at once. It would be nice when I'm out of the house, or at school. But, nothing can compare to curling up with a good paper back. I think that e-readers will compliment paper books, not replace them.

I hate reading things off a screen. After a while my eyes start to hurt. I am a paper book person all the way.
Unfortunately I think that these digital readers are probably going to become pretty popular. Do I think that the will replace books...? Yes and no. Depends on the way you look at it. If you're of the opinion that it is just books improved, then it probably will, just like the walkman was replaced by the personal cd player which was replaced by the mp3 player. But there will still be books, just like there are still vinyl records produced though one click on iTunes can get you the song you want. Though there are less of these. Somebody will want them, so somebody will produce them.

Won! 2008: The Cruel Mother
2009: Pickled Peppers and Pipers

If books haven't gone the way of the cassette tape by now, they never will.

I draw the comparison with the music industry because I used to work at a record store. Reason I don't work at a record store anymore is because it went out of business. Music is a passive experience for most people, and resulting from that is the indifference to its format. Unless you're a sound snob like me, most of one's music can be burned and downloaded to any level of quality degradation, and most people don't care. Music just goes into the background.

Books, on the other hand, are an incredibly involved experience. In order to read a book, you need to have the time to do it, the commitment to continue it, and the necessary attention span. If people download music just because it's more convenient, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll download books simply for the same reason. An example would be laptops. How long have laptops been around and prevalent in mass consumption? For a while now. E-books aren't exactly a new concept. Yet has there been an enormous movement from paper to digital? Not really, and for many reasons. Some people don't feel comfortable when reading something on a screen. I don't. And even though I know people who are, none of them prefer digital reading to paper.

Another thing to keep in mind when projecting into the future is that unlike music media, books are tradition that dates back a thousand years. If you think about the way things were produced before our technology allowed for the methods of today, books were hand-copied until the 1400s or so. And just as plays still exist (and are popular, to a degree), and musical acts still perform before live audiences (even electronic acts). Certain traditions never die, even when there are new venues for it.

Books, I believe, will continue to thrive to some extent.

That's just the way it makes sense to me, leastways.

I keep wondering if ebooks will take off. It seems more and more people are buying them now and there are so many titles avaliable.

But these are my few issues with them. First off you looking at 150-200GPB and then once you have that the books themselves are the same price to buy as normal books. So why go out and spend that much. Second: like most people i have a mobile phone, mp3 player, digital camera, camcorder, DS and all thoes these need charging. I really dislike adding having to remember to charge my ebook too. Also if your on a long flight/journey the battery might go...which doesn't happen to books.

The upsides: I can carry so many books with me in one go. Once i've bought a load i can hop onto a long flight happy knowing if i don't like the first book i start reading i just try another. Save me cramming as many books into the small carry on bag i'm allowed.

I think they are a good idea, but i think it's going to take a few years before they become an every day item.
And also...is it just me...or does everyone just love the feel of books!

The idea that books will be replaced by electronic reading devices upsets me. I love books, the way they feel in my hands and the way you make your way from start to finish in a way that is not as visible on an e-reader. I love the way old books might have a bit of a story behind them, previous owners or such, and I love the way new books smell. There are all these sensory and physical aspects to the act of reading that are just lost with the electronic format.

The way my mom said, real books don't need electricity :) Even if you don't care about the screen or the smell or the interface, it's still irritating when your book dies because it doesn't have any juice. Paper, on the other hand, doesn't need to be recharged and it never needs to have a battery replaced.

I think one thing ebooks would be useful for is reference. Just like having the Internet changed research forever, having a lot of reference books on hand is terribly useful.

Probably, books will become strictly for pleasure, and ebooks will be used for reference and "work" books.

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Give me a real book any day. I can't read lengthy stuff on a computer and I would hate to have to lug some form of e-boom [no matter what size] around. I like reading in ad breaks and I like to feel the book in my hand and go into a bookstore and order one...I like to search behind books. It's fun! I'd cry if the e-book replaced it. In this technological age we need small pleasures like the real book. Nothing else compares.

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Good point, it really bothers me that e-books are running about the same price as a paperback. With the cut in production and shipping costs, I would expect lower price and/or more to the author. But look at music online, an album on iTunes is about the same as a CD costs. Still there are experiments going on in that market, who's to say what will happen with books?

Yes, the intent as I understand it is to both allow you to print your own book from a PDF or such, and also to print on demand from pre-existing titles.
Here's a video of such a machine in action:
http://www.ondemandbooks.com/video2.htm

So it's possible that this may be a method independent bookstores can use to differentiate from chains (my local one is planning on getting one of these), especially if they can't afford to actually hold in stock as many titles as a B&N, Borders, etc. Unless the chains get there first.

Agreed!

For those talking about screen issues and power/charging - readers using e-ink such as the Kindle and nook are not normal screen devices like an LCD cell phone or monitor. Reading them is much the same as reading a normal page I understand. They don't need backlighting, etc. Contrast is good and text clear. They use little power, and almost none at all when on standby if wireless features are disabled, so battery life varies from a couple of days to a week to a couple weeks between charge.

An article on how successful Amazon has been with e-book sales:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/06/for-books-available-on-kindle-sales...

Thanks everyone for entering the discussion! I don't know what the future holds, I kind of hope it will be more choice, not less, but it's fascinating hearing what everyone thinks.

Edit: pure speculation, but I wonder if e-readers will ultimately swallow paperback sales, while hard covers remain for those who prefer paper (at a price).

The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.

I'm fairly confident that books will be around for quite a while. For some reason (I really can't put my finger on it), I doubt that series like Harry Potter, Eragon, and Twilight would have been/are so popular if they were only available in e-format.

Life is better in a bathrobe.

I really hope books stay in print and on paper.
Although sometimes it might be nice to have something a little smaller to carry around into a boring hospital waiting room, I can't look at a screen the same way I look at paper. My eyes start to hurt, the words blur in front of me, I can't concentrate. Meanwhile, I went six days and read six sizeable books one after another with breaks for only meals. Looking back, it might not have been good for my physical health, but my eyes were fine. I don't think I would read nearly as much with something so small.

I like the feel of turning another page, not scrolling down. I love to see how close I am to the end of book by looking at how pages I've read as opposed to those left. It wouldn't feel the same to look at a screen and see that's how far I have left.

Not being able to go to a book store/library and search through a bunch of random books and just pull a few out because I like the title. That would break me.

If they don't take away books on print, I'm fine with Kindle and such.

Getting an espresso book machine to print things like that would be amazing! I would love the convenience. Find a book I'd been looking for, or my own, and having it in my hands that quickly! It would be great.

However, audio books don't excite me much. They are great for a long car ride, or an air plane trip.But otherwise, I like reading a book on my own.

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I read both from a Kindle AND from paper because as much as I like the Kindle, and believe me I do because it is extremely convenient, I still like to sometimes have the feel of a book in my hands. What I did find when I first got the Kindle - actually I started with the Kindle app on my iPhone first -- was that I was actually reading MORE because I could easily find where I left off on the page, etc.

Will the e-readers kill books? I don't think so although it is a step in the evolution and remember at one time the idea of mass produced books was looked upon with horror because they were replacing the handwritten books which replaced the story tellers and so on and so on.

dot

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"May the words flow like good whiskey at a wake."

The way I think of it, books have been around for a very long time. I don't think that books, in their true form, will be going away within our lifetime or even soon after that. There's a lot of people, like me, who prefer real books, not electronic books.

Sure, the Kindle is pretty and I love electronics, but there's something so perfect about cracking open a book and reading it. I'll probably never get a Kindle unless I travel a lot and don't have room to take lots of books with me. Electronic books are just so cold and unfeeling, I guess. That's just my personal opinion, but I don't have anything against people who really do like electronic readers.

So honestly, there's a bigger market, but there's still a huge difference - E-Books are most often sold ONLY in e-book form and books accessible on the Kindle and such are usually in print and electronic form. So while we've still got the option for paper books, we're good. :)

--Jessica

2008: Brighter Than Sunshine: Win.

My boyfriend's dad has the Kindle and I tried it out. It's neat, something new, but I still prefer books in their "old" form. There's something special about holding an actual book and being able to peek on the next page when things are getting too stressful. I also like the smell of books, which is something that those newfangled (my dad's favorite word) electronic books haven't come up with yet. I also feel awkward holding the Kindle, since I'm used to holding books. It takes some getting used to. But, when it comes down to it, books in book form will always be my favorite.

I am rather an expert in this field, as I work with electronic books and alternate print format for disabled student populations all over the United States.

I think the "death of printed books" argument is over-indulged. The printed book market is changing, that's for sure, but it will not ever disappear. Overall, the economy has had more impact on how and when people purchase books, than the electronic book readers are.

I have Kindle DX, and I use it sometimes, but generally, I'd rather have a print book in my hands, and I think this is true of the majority of people. I have friends who have a Sony reader, Kindles, and other eBook readers. I have a coworker who reads eBooks on her iPaq organizer, or on her video iPod, or iTouch/iPhone. For every way to read a book, there are multiple options to do so. There is very little difference in eBooks today than there was 10 years ago, to be honest. Up until portable readers were available, people were reading eBooks on their computers, or accessing them on computers at public and college/university libraries.

As a published author, I do not find any of these methods for reading my material as negative. If people are reading my stuff, then the goal has been accomplished. It matters little to me whether they are buying my self-published anthology on Lulu, my print book at Barnes and Noble, my blogs online, my eBook on their Kindle, etc. In fact, the more ways they have access to my writing, the happier I am going to be. Will Kindle kill off printed books? Hardly, no more than eBooks, PDF's, and having access to scanners and Torrent sites have.

What needs to be understood is that the business model is changing, and traditional print sellers need to adjust to those changes and make new opportunities for themselves. Barnes and Noble has done this by linking up with a manufacturer that can provide an eBook reader. They are late in the game to do so, but they have done it.

So think about the last 10 "books" you bought, whether they were electronic or hard copy. Out of my last ten, 2 were on the Kindle, and 8 were hard copy. Three of those hard copies I purchases used at half.com, 2 from the thrift store down the street from my house, and three brand new from Barnes and Noble. Within the last year, I've purchased PDF eBooks online at various sites, as well. My bookshelves are never empty, any more than the hard drive on my computer where I store downloaded eBooks. No matter how I buy a book, an author is getting paid, even by association, and that part is what is most important, in the end.

"The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt it didn't matter." Edward Albee
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I don't think e-book readers will replace books, judging by the strong opinions here! But personally I wouldn't mind if they did. I love reading, but I'm not sentimental about books for themselves. The content is all that matters to me. Actually, I find books a little frustrating: they're bulky, fragile, easily-damaged. If I carry a book around in my bag it ends up battered and dirty. Long books, my favourite kind, are too big to hold comfortably. Reading on trains and buses is awkward because the book is squashed against the seat in front. There's no uniformity to books on shelves, and they look uneven, and get dust on them and behind them. Covers change halfway through a series and stop matching. In short, they're better than scrolls, but I would not mind if they got replaced too.

(Not that they don't have positive sides! There's a reason I'd never consider changing my journal from longhand to digital, and digital information is easily corrupted or wiped, etc.)

I've been reading books on my computer for ages, thanks to Project Gutenberg, so reading from a screen would be nothing new. I'd love being able to carry dozens or hundreds of books around with me in one little gadget. And since digital storage is much cheaper than physical storage, it could mean the end of "out of print", which would be fantastic.

I would, however, wait until they sorted the prices out, so that readers were more affordable and e-books were cheaper. Even paperbacks are getting more and more expensive now, though.

I would never rely on a kindle or any other electronic reading device. Yeah, it's very handy, but that won't last. Technology eventually breaks and stops working, needs replacing.... Then what? Lost all the e-books you paid to have, or you have to do more annoying backing up with no real guarantees...
no thanks.
I'll keep buying books, and i know there are others who agree with me. :]

2008- "To Save Riggs Harlin" - WINNER
2009- "Never Look Back" (book 1) -

~Bree~

Speaking of audio books and audible.com, I've been looking into gettinga couple of audio books for a road trip I'm planning to take. If I downloaded a digital copy to my home computer would it allow me to burn it to a CD(s)? I don not have an i-phone or even a way to plug it in if I did. I can't find anything in the FAQs about that. If I can't then I'll just buy the actual audio book.

Edit: Oops! Forget I said anything, I just stumbled across something that looks promising. Doesn't actually refer to a PC and burning but I do have Nero...

The more I hear and read about Kindles and their ilk, the less I like. I wouldn't want to spend so much money on something I couldn't take in the bath, never mind everything else that is hideous about the kindle.

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I love paperback books. I like to read most at the beach where I can relax in the sun (or the shade of an umbrella) and listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean and feel the warm breeze on my skin and just get lost for a while in a good book.

Inevitably, books at the beach get wet. Whether from rogue waves or rain showers or spilled lemonade, they’re going to get doused at some point. I’m okay with that; it’s part of the experience. You can still read a wet book - albeit with a little more care when turning the pages… Books can also be dried in the sun and continue to live long lives after being totally drenched.

Can the same be said of a Kindle or Nook or any other e-reader? I doubt it.

Now, I do agree that it would be nice if we didn’t have to cut down so many trees to produce paper. Our planet is in trouble and we all need living green things to survive. But let’s face it - there are boatloads of other types of documents that should go digital long before literature.

I’m actually not too worried about the fate of the novel or novelists making a living by writing. I think that as long as people love to read good stories (actually that’s the part that worries me the most!) we will find ways for authors to make a living selling their stories - even in electronic versions. The industry might look very different from the way it does today but it may actually re-evolve into an electronic version of the way books were published and distributed in the 1800’s. In much the same way that I think the collapse of the corporate conglomerate newspaper industry will lead to the rebirth of local newspapers with increased readership, I think the transition from printed to digital books will bring about a revitalization of networks that distribute quality written material to the people who really want to read it.

Such a change will necessitate the proliferation of e-readers and I can definitely get behind that. With their storage capacity and connection capabilities and ease of use and eco-friendliness, e-readers are indeed great devices (their need for power not withstanding…). But I sure will miss the feeling of a good soggy book in my hands.

Happy reading (via whatever medium you choose),
Bill

I'm impressed by the range of opinions on the electronic readers. A couple of people have mentioned vulnerability to water as an issue, and that is a great point. Waterproofing and general durability should be something these device makers consider.

Others are concerned about losing data, and this is not as much an issue as you might think, since your device will only contain a subset of your purchases, which are stored elsewhere (currently your service provider, eg. Amazon, keeps record of your purchases). It will be important for the providers to make sure any annotations, etc. are stored off-device, which is something the nook from Barnes and Noble professes to do. And there is the concern of a service closing down, so it would be nice if you could also sync locally to your PC.

Others have mentioned issues about reading from screens, so I'd like to reiterate that the dedicated readers already use different technology that is much closer to reading a printed page than a computer monitor. This tech will only continue to improve.

The price of these devices has been mentioned, and that's definitely a big issue - $250 is way over what I would consider for a dedicated single-purpose device. Expect the up front cost to come down though, especially if the devices get tied to service contracts for 3G network access, for example. If these devices could get down to a price point of $10 or so (not tied to contracts), I think the durability issues would become unimportant. If you drop it in the bath or sea, just get a new one. At that price you would probably have a spare anyway. This isn't going to happen anytime soon, but some day perhaps.

And as for books never going out of print, that would be wonderful too. For this reason the book-on-demand machines could also be great.

The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.

I love e-books. Love, love, love them. Fiercely. Words cannot express how much I love e-books.

I love to read. I would die without books. I'm also a very quick reader and can finish a novel in just a few hours. We fly internationally at LEAST twice a year and I was going through 3-5 books each way. That many books gets heavy, real quick. It was also a pain running out of something to read and trying to find a book really quickly in the airport.

I found Stanza and was totally blown away. It was kind of a pain at first, but the convenience totally makes up for it. I can download 15 books on my cell phone and it barely takes up any room. And as long as I have my cell phone, I have a book with me.

I also love to read at night in bed, but my husband cannot sleep if the light is on the bedroom. Although the backlit screen is probably not... really healthy for my eyes, I can snuggle in bed and read before I fall asleep. The second I finish a book, I can download another one.

There IS something special about an actual book, and I do miss being able to physically turn the pages and flip ahead, but from what I've seen, the iPhone apps are getting better and better. If I can't get a book in e-book form, I'll buy it... but other than that, I've completed converted to e-books and I'm really happy.