books in the future

I remember reading sf short stories in the 80s about the end of the printed book. It was something that everyone thought about, but it didn't feel imminent. It was part of science fiction. But guess what? It's not anymore. It's part of what is going on right now, today.

What I think is going to happen? Not that I know any secrets, but I have been reading on my iphone and my daughter has a Kindle and I read about the woes of even the big giant bookstores these days. And I think that there is a segment of the population who will switch over to ebooks completely by the end of ten years. They will be the disposable, best seller kind of books.

Then I think that there will be a printed book demand for special books of some kind, for bibliophiles who still want a printed book for whatever reason. I still like printed books. A few reasons. 1. You can't read an ebook on an airplane when everything electronic has to be turned off. 2. You can't get a signed ebook in any way that is meaningful to me. 3. A printed book has a certain value, perhaps antique, in its physicality. I like the idea that when the world is destroyed, books will remain because they are physical, not electronic. And I like to touch them and feel them around me.

Am I worried about what will happen to my career? Yes. Always. I know very few writers who are not afraid about what will happen to their careers, and it doesn't always have to do with ebooks. On the other hand, I think there may be other opportunities which will come up that may benefit my career. I think the idea of writing in other formats, specifically for cell phones, for example, story-a-day kind of things or chapter-a-day projects where you write and immediately send out work to your audience on the phone--that intrigues me. I think I would do well at it. So there is some excitement about the changes on the way, as well.

And I think that we humans will always want stories. The novel should have died when movies came in. It should have died with video games. It didn't. I don't think it will die now.