Is Print Dead

Michael Hyatt, the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, a "book" publishing house, told us last year that the traditional book is dying.  Many of us would react to that like a gun owner and say "I'll give up my books when they pry my cold, dead fingers from around them."  But it says something when the President and CEO of a major book publishing house says traditional books are dying, and he's ok with it.  He has followed up on comments to that post with a post called "Is it Really Books that We Love?"

With those words rattling around my brain I followed his link to the amazon page for the book, Print is Dead, by Jeff Gomez.  Of course I immediately added this to my wishlist, and one of the reasons I did was because of the provocative comments of an Amazon reviewer named Joe Wikert.  Mr. Wikert listed the following as his favorite excerpts:

** Many of those in publishing see themselves as guardians of a grand and noble tradition, so much so that they sometimes suffer delusions of grandeur.

** ...pretty much anyone under the age of thirty qualifies for being accustomed to a 'constant stream of digital stimulation.' And so to expect future generations to be satisfied with printed books is like expecting the Blackberry users of today to start communicating by writing letters, stuffing envelopes and licking stamps.

** Today's kids are not going to want to pick up a big book and spend hours in a corner silently, passively reading. Why in the world would they do that? It's not interactive. They can't share the experience with their friends. There's no way to change the book to suit their own tastes.

** The publishing industry needs to realize this, and it needs to also find a way to get to these kids by making content available in a way that will first reach them (i.e., digitally) and then will give them the tools to interact with it and share it (post excerpts on their MySpace pages, email chapters to friends, IM paragraphs across class, etc.) If not, there are dozens of ways this generation will choose to spend their time, and none of them will involve books.

** Of course there are many who contend that books are works of art and shouldn't be reworked or touched at all. The latter is of course a silly view since readers 'rework' these books all of the time by skipping whole sections as they read, the same way that people rarely ever listen to the entirety of "The White Album."

** The ability to alter, and then share, text to this degree would mean that you could edit a book to your own liking and then send an amazing chapter or even a couple of sentences to someone, via email or a webpage, along with a message that says, 'Take a look at this; I think it's amazing.' Imagine all of the sharing of literary material that would occur if the reigns were loosened just a little.

** Most of the early ebook formats and devices tried to faithfully mimic the ink-on-paper experience, and they failed not because they didn't look like real books, but because they looked too much like traditional books.

** In the same way that Jimmy Buffett has created a multimillion dollar business around the success of his 1977 song 'Margaritaville,' so too will future authors create online communities and brands built around their works that have the potential to be even more popular than the works the communities were built to support.

** Writers who are unskilled in the ways of the Internet, or just don't want to play any part in the online discussion and want to write their books and be left alone, will be like movie actors at the end of the silent era who were forced to have elocution lessons when talking pictures were suddenly the brand new thing.

** If publishing can't find a way to tap into this need for discussion, then it's going to find itself and its product increasingly left out of the conversation.

** ...one day (perhaps soon) a printed book in a digital world will seem as quaint and as antiquated as a watch or a fountain pen feels today.

**   It's simply not possible that the Internet is going to have an effect on every area of our lives except reading books.

By the way - Jeff Gomez has a blog called, appropriately "Print is Dead."

I'm still reading books and buying them like they are going out of style, but this is something to think about.  As I consider my next cell phone one of the key things I am going to be looking for is the ability to read books in either acrobat or microsoft e-reader format.  With Olive Tree Bible software I have been able to get a few books onto my Motorola Q, including the bible and some of John Piper's works.  I can't stand to be waiting somewhere without something to read and this has come in handy lately when I have forgotten to take a book with me and I've found myself waiting in a Dr.'s office or somewhere like that.  But I am looking for much more as soon as I can.

Which brings up the Amazon Kindle.  I can't see forking over the big bucks for a  device like this, at least at the current time.  But I do agree with many who say that it is a significant technological breakthrough.  I agree with Stephen Shields assessment - I am not ready nor do I recommend that anyone except wealthy early-adopter type geeks run out and buy one now - but this is the Thing Before the Next Big Thing and it's worth paying attention to as it develops.

I'm curious - what do you think? How do you feel about this whole thing of the death of print?  Has anyone bought a Kindle?  Has anyone had good/bad/indifferent experiences reading on a smaller device like a Smartphone or a PDA?

Comments

[Gregory Pittman]

David, I've been using a PDA for years. And I've read several books on it (leisure, professional, etc.) and I use Laridian's Bible software frequently. I've spent more money on ebooks from Laridian than I care to admit. It's a small seminary library's worth of material.

I still enjoy the smell and feel of real books--and real Bibles--but for mobility purposes, my PDA is indispensable.

[Josh]

I am intrigued with the idea of carrying any number of books in a portable device for reading wherever but I am horrified that this idea might be killing books.

Can you imagine never hearing the crackling pages or smelling the leather cover of a good bible? God help us.

[Glenn Kelley]

Print Dead: No

I have a PDA phone - pretty smart little thing - has a GPS, has the ability to play MP3 over my FM Radio - and... even read me a book while I drive (via mp3) but...
I still prefer written text -

A book simply put does not have its batteries die, does not need to be backed up, does not require a password, and is much of the time easy to use (I almost thought I was lying ... if I could only leave out the concordances and such I am using when preparing a sermon...)

What I think is important for anyone to remember is this

The medium used is pointless - Print / PDA / Radio / TV / WEB

I have heard it said that print is where words go to die... While there may be some truth in this - I often read historical documents - (Greek, Hebrew, etc)

I think there is a place for both - print and electronic media.

There is something to be said for a highlighter and a bookmark ---> great way to study - great way to remember something... I guess we can do this on a PDA - but not as easy ... imho

until the airlines dont force me to turn off my PDA while we taxi for 45 minutes in the Philadelphia Airport - gimme a book any day :-)

[Dan Poynter]

HAVE I BEEN READING eBOOKS TOO LONG?
--Dan Poynter

Not only are most of my books available as eBooks, I read a lot of eBooks. I am a publisher and a reader. That places me on both sides of publishing: as producer and consumer.

My speaking travels average some 6,000 miles each week. Yes, 6,000; I made five around-the-world speaking itineraries this year. (I have a home in Santa Barbara but live on United Airlines.) Traveling as light as possible, I do not carry printed books. Think about it, even for a short trip, you would have to carry two books—in case you finished one. For the past several years, I have read eBooks on my Pocket PC.

A Pocket PC is a multifunction device. Now I do not have to carry an address book, calendar, reference materials, paper books, etc.

Then something happened. In December I was home for a couple of weeks. I had a couple of mass-market paperback that I wanted to read. They were not available as eBook editions so I decided to read myself to sleep with one of them.

How awkward! With the printed book, you have to turn on the (bright) light. If you wake up in the middle of the night and decide to tire you eyes with reading, that light is dazzling! The eBook reader is back-lighted and very gentle.

As a world traveler, I have become used to reading my eBooks in a taxi at five in the morning. Light? No thanks, my (back-lighted) book comes with a light.

Holding a printed book (pBook) is awkward. It take two hands. Even a smaller mass market paperback is difficult. Have I been reading my Pocket PC with one hand too long?

Bookmark? How Twentieth century! I don’t need a book mark. Nor do I have to deface the book by dog-earing it. The eBook remembers where I stopped reading and opens to that page when I turn it back on.

Cost. The only reason I paid more for these pBooks is that they were not available as eBooks. I love these authors and have purchased everything they have written. How I wish all of their books were available electronically.

Type.. Why can’t I adjust the size to the glasses I am wearing? It is easy with an eBook reader.

Spelling. When not sure of a word in a pBook, I have to go find a dictionary. With my eBook, the dictionary is built-in.

Convenience. I can download eBooks from anywhere in the world. I do not have to visit a bookstore or have Amazon deliver it.

Disposal. I read a lot of books. What should I do with pBooks when I finish reading? My shelves are full.

Electronic books are a far superior platform to dead-tree books for numerous reasons. But let’s be practical. After trying both—extensively, I prefer to annoy electrons than cut down trees. This is not just an environmental concern, it is a practical reading decision.

I love eBooks.
--Dan Poynter, http://ParaPublishing.com

[Jason Hart]

We probably all mark up our books a lot when we read through them. That has been the biggest hurdle for me to make the switch to eBooks, they haven't really perfected being able to scribble in the margins.

I've been eyeing this though. It weighs 1.5 lbs, runs Windows, and has a touch screen so you probably could scribble-at-will with it.

[Matthew]

I hope not, one of the best joys in life is a good book.

www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org

[pgepps]

I see the number of e-books growing and competing with books--and with the dominance of large chain bookstores, as their marketing model is most easily replaced (as Amazon is showing) by other mass-market applications. And this debate is far from over.

But, no, I do not yet see an actual, sustainable, preferable alternative to the codex. However, the use of codices for "pulp" forms and for voluminous references seems likely to fade a bit.

Annotation remains the key problem. When they can create something with the flexibility and re-usability of paper, the convenience and finger-like-ness of a pen, and the easy-to-handle spiny bulk of a book, that still connects to my home network so I can keep everything synched?

Then they'll be threatening my library. As it is, I have many things in books, and many things in ebooks & etexts. They just don't serve the same roles.

Cheers,
PGE

[Warren Kelly]

I have Mobipocket Reader on my PDA, and I've downloaded a few books. I'd still rather read them in actual print. I use the eBook resources as reference material -- I'd love to have a good commentary set or two on my PDA, the way I do on my computer at home. Electronic format is great for researching -- easy to track down a specific reference, for example. But reading fiction on the computer or PDA is not my idea of relaxation. I read on the beach, in bed, in the car (not while I'm driving), sometimes even in the bath tub -- places where a PDA or laptop just won't do the job. I don't think digital will replace analog in this case for quite a while.

[Julie Anne Fidler]

Nothing beats kicking back and relaxing with a good book on the beach. That's one thing that will never change. Trying to see your screen with the glare of the sun beating down on it... not so relaxing!

[Chad Winters]

I'm about 70/30 in my preference of ebooks to print. I have no more room on my shelves for books and end up losing or giving them away.

I agree with Dan Poynter on many of the advantages of ebooks, I can carry hundreds with me and read in bed while my wife sleeps. And the search function can be very handy

The downside is still the DRM issue. Its hard to pay the premium price for a keeper type book if your not sure your going to be able to access it it within 5-10 years.

What if mobipocket goes out of business? What if I switch reading devices? When these problems are fixed I will probably go 100% digital

[Richard]

I've got the Kindle. Love it for essentially all the reasons articulated by Dan Poynter above. As for cost, it will pay for itself shortly due to the savings in cost between a download and printed book.