It's a busy day today so I thought I would throw out a single point to consider...
When publishers shifted to paperbacks did those hardback books disappear? No. In fact, they are still here and being used.
The same is true for e-books. E-books WILL NOT eliminate print books. This is just another format.
Now, with that said, I do have to give you another analogy to consider.
CD's did replace Tapes. Tapes did replace 8-Tracks. But that was only because the technology finally became affordable and accessible to everyone. Technology also demonstrated that one was indeed BETTER than the other one.
We are simply not there with the e-book vs. print market.
What is the point of all this? Stop worrying.
Scott
It will be interesting to see how the publishing industry changes with the ebook format. Apple just released iBook Author, a free download, which allows just about anyone to publish anything on the iBook store for free. Without a barrier to entry, be it editorial or monetary, who knows what vibe ebooks will project in the future.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interesting post,
Rashad.
I have another analogy that came to me recently. Remember how we were all going to switch to "paperless" offices? Yeah. I am still waiting for that. So I agree that print books are not going away any time soon. (Although we might be buying them mostly online!)
ReplyDeleteRashad,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it will be interesting to see the changes. I have to say, I am a bit scared though about the quality of the writing. Without that external editing that takes place, I believe writers will put up work that really might not be as good as they think.
In other words, just because you CAN publish it doesn't mean you SHOULD publish it.
Well said!
ReplyDelete