What’s Happening to Printed Books?

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

The answer to the question might depend upon who you ask. But it is a real problem which some people don’t see. What some don’t realize is how much it costs to get books into print, especially with a wide distribution. The distribution is something I don’t understand. But perhaps printed books are based on outdated methods which won’t make sense in the day and age of the Internet.

My concern is making the books available to the readers and in the formats the want. But what if the readers can’t get the books they want? Then we have a problem. Ebook distribution isn’t typically better than print. Just go to different libraries and you will see what I mean. They can’t get everything in print or as ebooks. Or they can’t offer different formats easily and in ways which make sense to the readers.

With many newspapers, magazine, and books going out of print, it is a concern. Ebooks are certainly taking over due to the ease of distribution and the cost per book can be much lower than print. Also, ebooks aren’t as labor intensive. But they aren’t always as popular.

The pictures in this blog post are ones I took in Venice, Italy. They are excellent examples of good printing. They are worth too much. I’m afraid this sort of printing will remain without much trouble. But what about those who enjoy reading paper books and can’t afford them? Print on demand is a good option, if it’s available to libraries and bookstores.

My books aren’t in print anymore. I can live with that for now. However, something still needs to be done so we don’t lose books and culture. I don’t own any printing equipment anymore. I would have no idea what to do with the distribution except to make sure that more libraries and bookstores can get the formats their readers want.