Must be a group member before inviting friends
Physical books may not be an endangered species.
I had the great pleasure of attending the South Dakota Festival of Books in Deadwood last week. What beautiful country and great people. The S.D. festival alternates each year between Deadwood and Sioux Falls, both great venues. The festival is huge and brilliantly organized and run. I don't know of any hitches or glitches, certainly not in any of the sessions I attended or in the exhibitor's area where I spent a lot of quality time with my publisher, Write Life Publishing, its managing director, Cindy Grady, and its in-house agent and editor, Erin Reel. Two terrific ladies and the best roommates I've had since I started living alone.
I'm still sorting through everything I heard and saw, but a post I came across on the internet today reminded me of a panel discussion at the festival about the future of publishing. The post was from John Biggs at Tech Crunch, and noted that since about 2005, the number of independent book stores has actually increased. Prior to 2005, indie bookstores were closing at an alarming rate. Now, the number of bookstores is showing positive growth. The data cited in the blog came from the American Booksellers Association.
In the panel discussion I attended, author Marilyn Johnson referred to a "seamless" reading experience of moving between reading online over breakfast, then listening to an audiobook in the car on the way to work, and settling down to the paper version in the evening. It occurred to me as I heard this that a person would have to buy three versions of the same book. As a writer, I thought OMG, but as a reader and purchaser of used books, I thought WTF. Who can afford three versions of one book?
Michael Dirda was also a member of the panel. Disclosure: he is one of my personal heroes, having following his criticism for at least fifteen years, now. Mr. Dirda noted the personal connection the reader has with a physical book. The reader can make personal notes in the book, it sits in her home and becomes part of her life, it can be shared by other readers, and it can be read in natural light without the need for electricity or batteries.
The physical book is not dead, and is actually in pretty good health from what I can see. I have several friends who have purchased and then abandoned e-readers for various reasons, myself included. I don't say I'll never read another book in digital format, but nothing beats exploring the nooks and crannies of an physical book store, new or used, and finding just the perfect book that you never heard of, by an author you did not know existed, and would probably never have found in a digital word search online.
To misquote Mark Twain, the news of the demise of the physical book has been greatly exaggerated.
I'm still sorting through everything I heard and saw, but a post I came across on the internet today reminded me of a panel discussion at the festival about the future of publishing. The post was from John Biggs at Tech Crunch, and noted that since about 2005, the number of independent book stores has actually increased. Prior to 2005, indie bookstores were closing at an alarming rate. Now, the number of bookstores is showing positive growth. The data cited in the blog came from the American Booksellers Association.
In the panel discussion I attended, author Marilyn Johnson referred to a "seamless" reading experience of moving between reading online over breakfast, then listening to an audiobook in the car on the way to work, and settling down to the paper version in the evening. It occurred to me as I heard this that a person would have to buy three versions of the same book. As a writer, I thought OMG, but as a reader and purchaser of used books, I thought WTF. Who can afford three versions of one book?
Michael Dirda was also a member of the panel. Disclosure: he is one of my personal heroes, having following his criticism for at least fifteen years, now. Mr. Dirda noted the personal connection the reader has with a physical book. The reader can make personal notes in the book, it sits in her home and becomes part of her life, it can be shared by other readers, and it can be read in natural light without the need for electricity or batteries.
The physical book is not dead, and is actually in pretty good health from what I can see. I have several friends who have purchased and then abandoned e-readers for various reasons, myself included. I don't say I'll never read another book in digital format, but nothing beats exploring the nooks and crannies of an physical book store, new or used, and finding just the perfect book that you never heard of, by an author you did not know existed, and would probably never have found in a digital word search online.
To misquote Mark Twain, the news of the demise of the physical book has been greatly exaggerated.
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