The End of the Print Age?

First, I don't write ebooks and I don't write paperbacks. I write books. I stopped using my typewriter a long time ago. Which is a shame, since it was a state-of-the-art IBM Golfball.
I write books. As it happens all my output comes out in ebook format first, and then some comes out in print. I've been doing it for ten years now, and making my living at it for the last three. True, my publishers are American (I have more than one), but the books are available worldwide.
So yes, there will always be a place for books in the world, but the format is optional. As far as I can see, the digital versions increase a reader's choice.
Signing copies - my publishers give us cover flats to sign, or we have postcards and bookmarks. People collect them.
I'm in the minority because I'm not overkeen on e-ink screens, although reading one of those is pretty much the same as reading a paper book, no backlight, no eyestrain, but I prefer a screen with a backlight so presently I'm reading on my iPaq 4700, my ebookwise and my Vye tablet. I am looking seriously at the Entourage Edge and the other dual screen devices that are due out this year, but not an iPad, as it's too big and has no expansion capacity (I like to keep my books on an SD card and transfer it between devices).

Really interesting that you are making a living through ebook sales Lynne. I'd like to talk to you more about how that works out at the conference.

It's ironic that just as the internet argues itself into making print obsolete that digital printing is beginning to make book production affordable to many more people, and the vanity publishers aren't shy at picking on the novice writer either. If people are still happy to buy books then books will be printed. It's only when they stop buying that publishers will concentrate on digital only. However, I can see the market for small press print publishers growing if the right model is realised. What that model could be I don't yet know. Perhaps a non-printmaking distribution co-operative of small press publishers is the answer to that conundrum.

Oh yes, and Murky Depths has just issued its first paid for PDF, Issue #10, which features Mike Carey's writing competition. Just £2.

I don't think print will go extinct. As Charlie Stross says. People don't want books or ebooks. They want books AND ebooks.

Interesting. I suggest those interested in the transition to digital publishing read Jason Epstein, Publishing: The Revolutionary Future. NYRB. March 11, 2010, now available online.

I agree with most of Epstein's overall perspective on the vast changes that are and will take place both in publishing and our culture. We can only speculate on many of them at this early stage. His limitations are those of a traditional publisher, yet he's one who has been central to developing the Espresso Book Machine which promises to go far beyond traditional publishing.

I'm puzzled by Epstein's comment that "fiction is almost never collaborative." When was it ever? I can't think of a single book of fiction or poetry, of the first order, in any culture, that was "collaborative." What would it be? Maybe some of the old early epics, Gilgamesh, as he alludes to, very rare. Even it, in the end, as known to us now, was the work of one great master. Otherwise, a contradiction in terms...

Despite that caveat, I think it's fair to say Epstein has his finger on the pulse of the Post-Gutenberg revolution more than most publishers, though I think he's vastly undervaluing ebooks, though it's understandable, since he's placed all his chips on the Espresso Book Machine. I admit I'm slightly biased in his favor since I have three books available through the Espresso Book Machine.

In response to Epstein's article, one blogger has interestingly observed, "Physical books are the author’s equivalent of musician’s concerts." I think writers and publishers ought to reflect deeply on that possibility. It may also be paper books prove to be the equivalent of "vinyl."

eBooks will definitely take over much of the market-share of the Espresso Book Machine, POD, and traditional publishing. eBooks solve all the printing and distribution problems of publishing. Most importantly, eBooks solve all the problems confronting the writer and the reader. I'm not interested in solving problems for the mega-corporate publishers; they are the problem. The sooner writers and readers largely get rid of them the better. The Digital Age makes that possible.

I read Epstein's article on my Sony Reader... I'm currently working on putting all my books into ePub and other ebook formats.

My own attempts to understand these transformations, as both a writer and publisher, can be found on my website, if interested:

Publishing in the Post-Gutenberg Age
http://www.fglaysher.com/Post_Gutenberg_Publish...

Frederick Glaysher
http://www.fglaysher.com

"I can't think of a single book of fiction or poetry, of the first order, in any culture, that was "collaborative"

. . . Graphic novels often are

Discussions on this topic tend to focus on the digital provision of the service, rather than the way technology is transforming human behaviour at every level in society. Prices are being driven down, much is required to be free, competition is increasing, and every service has to be delivered in a manner that is to the requirements of the consumer, not the producer. Most importantly, the technology is removing the system of control that has shaped civilization. Authority figures - whether it's politicians, the media, religious leaders or business leaders - increasingly are unable to control developments, however much they try. The shaping is moving downwards.

The only way for business (and the rest) to survive is to recognise the loss of power to shape, to accept it, and to adapt from top to bottom. That's hard for big corporations which are inflexible or slow-moving. Specifically to publishing, this could be a massive opportunity for publishers if they can adapt rapidly, and essentially stop working in the way they always have. They need to recognise that the big challenge of the 21st century is not to get books in shops, but to be heard. As more people buy digitally, finding the right product in the tsunami of information and chatter will be difficult. If publishers shift most of their resources to marketing, they can then offer a unique and powerful service that makes them relevant - a big island in the middle of the ocean where drowning readers can swim for safety.

Mark Chadbourn
http://www.jackofravens.com/

Your comments here inspired me to also look at your website, where I see you emphasize some related themes. Here, what I think is important in terms of the Literature Network and the End of the Print Age is your observation that it is "human behaviour at every level in society" that the new digital technologies are changing. It's true that many commentators get stuck on the hardware or gadget, i.e., here, the Kindle, yet it's the behavior that counts and is evolving all over the world, really, and it's not grandiose to say so, but a fact... The typical traditional publisher hasn't got much of a clue. We're just at the beginning of major change.

I do agree that the change is all about the democratization, decentralization, of who is in control. Not the old gatekeepers of public opinion, self-serving corporate entities, often, in the past, the librarian guilds and all their subservient reviewing journals, for instance. It's a scary new world for those people... but the excitement is out, one can feel on the Net, all over the world people are coming to realize that we have entered a New Age, the Post-Gutenberg Age is the term I prefer, though consensus is still evolving... way past postmodernism now.

For further details, see my Publishing in the Post-Gutenberg Age
http://www.fglaysher.com/Post_Gutenberg_Publish...

Frederick Glaysher
http://www.fglaysher.com

Perhaps post-Gutenberg age isn't such a good term after all:- http://www.gutenberg.org/

You flag up an interesting point with your mention of librarian guilds. If digital books do take off, libraries will have to re-think their modes of operation to maintain funding, particularly in the tight financial climate we'll be experiencing in the coming decade.

I think you are very right, Mark and Frederick. The changes the internet is bringing go far deeper than just distribution systems. Peoples behaviour is changing, and changing very quickly. And it is the old authorities, the big institutions, that are struggling to adjust. I think the question for me now is will we simply for new authorities and institutions in their place, or are we genuinely entering a decentralised era for communication? I'm not sure that is clear yet.

In the US there are libraries that are lending a lot of ebooks already. My local one links to a Michigan consortium for ebooks where I can check out with my library card all kinds of books, major publishers and otherwise, and download to my Sony Reader. The libraries must save significant money with ebooks.

But I think the point that "human behaviour at every level in society" is changing is the really important insight. People's thinking and expectations are changing and will want adjustments socially and politically before long...

Gutenberg.org has been surpassed by Google Books, Archive.org and others increasingly, though I have probably over a thousand books from there on my ereader. It's the overall digital changes brought on by the Internet and new publishing technologies merit the term Post-Gutenberg. When we human beings moved into a new stage of development and evolution, we need a handy new term to help understand what's going on. My vote is for the Post-Gutenberg Age--way past postmodernism now...

I talked about this a little over on the blog, but personally I envision there will always be a place for books in the world, despite all these changes. It may become more of a niche product, but I think it will be something like modern vinyl is for music, smaller scaller, a bit more personal. There is the aspect of book collecting, will an ebook be able to offer the joy I felt when getting my hands on a very fine copy of Gene Wolfe's Castle of the Otter? Also, you can't really get a signed copy of an ebook either.

I'm not an ebook person (reading off the screen for long periods of time gives me a migraine), but I'm not too worried. Even if the mass bulk of published moves on into the electronic age, I think books will survive in one way or another for us old fashioned types.