BOOKS CROOKS
The e-books are coming!
The e-books are coming!
The e-books are coming!
The e-books are coming!
As I sit here scanning the 38th (and hopefully final) revision of a novel I’ve been working on for the last seven years [See HIGH TIDE synopsis; “Literary Agents” tab on the homepage of this blogsite], my mind is spinning at the latest publishing trend revelation that my musician/composer son Christopher just emailed me. . .
First, for those with little knowledge of publishing, I must note here that you should know the industry is a giant sloth (or slug, depending on whether you perceive it as asleep or, unlikely though it may be, in some measure of motion). The point is that “latest publishing trend” is paradoxical to say the least, yet —– well —–
Well, e-books are on the way, and –like it or not– will be here to stay!
For the moment (like the opening round of consumer pricing for initial sales of TV’s, computers, cellphones, and i-pods), costs for the average Joe are still prohibitive at a few hundred dollars per unit. Want more details? Try this link for a video that I found rather astonishing, not to mention the cause for concern it gave me over the incipient obsolescence of my new library shelves! Go here:
And here, says my son, is “the Sony version”: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PRS-505-LC-Digital-Reader/dp/B000WP2RC2 (Hey, at least the link is shorter!)
Finally, he sent me “a nice Forbes article about the whole thing”: http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/03/ebooks-kindle-digital-tech-personaltech-cx_ag_1203ebooks.html
Oh, and there’s more, like Christopher tells me, a new fiber that lets you make actual pages –kind of plastic, like a thick magazine– he says, that are actually an LCD monitor so you can make a “book” with ten pages, soft or hard back, and get the feeling like you are reading a book but it’s all digital as well . . . still apparently in R&D, but coming soon! See: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?IA=US1996012000&DISPLAY=DESC
And, even more impressive: electronic RE-USABLE paper like, Christopher says, a modern day “etch-and-sketch” that can be printed on electronically, like a digital download, or be used like a “white board” with an electronic pencil:
http://www.prism.washington.edu/lc/CLWEBCLB/electpaper.html
http://www2.parc.com/hsl/projects/gyricon/
My love of books and worry about crooks stealing my books and replacing them with yet another cyberspace device (that even though it looks like a book and feels like a book and quacks like a book is not really a “book”!) and concerns about my sanity require me to stop here and try to get some sleep, so I can wake up in the morning and find the page I was on before checking all these mind-boggling links! See you round the corner! halalpiar
Hey pops! I am glad you enjoyed the articles. I found it fascinating reading about all of these developments. One thing that I keep asking myself is how will the business change with the downloaded book becoming the prevalent format? I know with music, it has been declared that a “download” is not a “performance” and so there is no way to have royalty collected on my behalf for performances when downloads are the medium. The problem is that you *know* they will indeed listen to it (hence a performance) but just not necessarily at the time of download. So how do we get paid in the digital world?
OK I know that writers dont get paid the same way that composers do, but I wonder how having the world buy a 2 or 3 dollar download from Amazon for a book instead of 8 or 10 or 20 dollar book published by a publisher and then through Amazon will affect how you get paid. Anyhow just some random thoughts. Congrats on the continued success of your blog, its really a great site!
Chris
Thanks, kiddo, for the provocative prompts, timely input, and bloggery flattery! You’ll be the first to know the answers to your questions as soon as I can figure them out. You always did have better questions than I have had answers! halalpiar