Some say that the future of the publishing industry lies in eBooks
and electronic reading devices. I’ve heard this mantra constantly
in the twelve or so years that I’ve been involved with writers and
publishers but it seemed to be a misty vision of the world of tomorrow.
Suddenly the movement appears to be picking up steam.
As I see it, the problem was that none of the e-readers were able
to take the lead and capture a big enough following. The formats
were all proprietary, severely limiting the available books and
authors.
And then Amazon stepped forward. With its huge customer base and
its reputation as the leading internet bookseller it was only natural
that they could develop a format and then provide easy conversion
to the Kindle,
Amazon’s e-reader. With the huge inventory of titles available through
Amazon, success quickly followed. The Kindle became the best selling
e-reader and the market for eBooks grew proportionately.
And then Apple joined the fray. The iPad
is compatible with the Kindle format and brings a huge Apple-addicted
following along with it. In the short time that the iPad has been
on the market, significant growth has been noted in eBook sales.
It’s difficult to nail down accurate statistics on just how quickly
the industry is changing. Amazon claims unprecedented gains but
their numbers are disputed by the print media. Still, nobody denies
that the market is changing.
I’m sure that there will always be a market for books that you
can hold in your hand and turn the pages. And nothing can compare
with the author’s signature in the flyleaf. But the balance has
begun to swing, the reading public is now a generation of people
who find reading on a screen perfectly natural.
I’m an old timer and I never thought that I’d see an electronic
reader in my future but as a book reviewer, it looks like I’d better
join the crowd. In the meantime I think I’ll buy some stock in Eveready.
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