Like paper books and e-books they are different but belong to the same genera.
Knapweed and thistle are both flowers.
Throw your Kindles
and Kobos to the wind –
and start building some more bookshelves.
For the age of the ebook
is nearing its end.
That is according to the
founder of Waterstones, Tim Waterstone, who said last month
that he had read and heard
‘more garbage about the strength of the ebook revolution
than anything else I’ve
known’.
He told an audience at the
Oxford Literary Festival that the printed book
is ‘one of the most
wonderful, really successful consumer products of all time’.
He said: ‘The product is so
strong, the interest in reading is so deeply rooted in the culture
and human soul of this
country that it is immovable. The traditional, physical book is hanging on.
I’m absolutely sure we will
be here in 40 years’ time.’
Waterstone added: ‘The ebooks
have developed a share of the market, of course they have,
but every indication –
certainly from America – shows the share is already in decline.
The indications are that it
will do exactly the same in the UK.’
He was referring to
statistics released by the Association of American Publishers
which revealed that adult
ebook sales were up by just 4.8 per cent in 12 months,
compared with an 11.5 per
cent increase for hardcover reads.
Julie Burchill, author of
Sugar Rush, has written more than a dozen books over the years.
But for her new title,
Unchosen, she chose to shun the traditional publishers
in favour of crowdfunding
website Unbound and said that, for a lot of writers,
any kind of publication is
met with gratitude and relief.
Paraphrasing playwright Alan
Bennett’s response to questions about his sexuality,
she told Metro: ‘I’m a bit
out of the loop these days. Asking me to comment on what format I’d like to be
published in is akin to asking a parched man in the desert if he’d prefer Evian
or Perrier.’
Video was supposed to have
killed the radio star. It didn’t.
So why do we assume the
printed book will have to be obliterated by a newer technology?
Simon Mellins, who works on ebook production for a major publisher
Simon Mellins, who works on ebook production for a major publisher
and is the author of the OneZeroOne Books blog,
isn’t surprised by Waterstone’s declaration, pointing out that Amazon and co
‘damaged the man’s life’s work‘.
He said: ‘The initial
meteoric rise in sales was clearly a result of people buying their first
e-reader
or tablet and “stocking up”.
We don’t judge other goods by this absurd standard,
where steady sales volumes
equals imminent decline.
‘Meanwhile, the industry is
transitioning to a new standard, which allows for rich content
inside ebooks, including
audio and video, animation, games and more,
as well as vast improvements
to accessibility. Many sight-impaired readers are massively empowered by
ebooks, with variable font sizes and automated read-along features.’
Mellins continued: ‘Most
ebook fans still buy physical books too. Just as vinyl sales are climbing
in this age of MP3 and
streaming, ebook buyers still “fetishise” the printed form,
perhaps more than ever now
that our books are more ephemeral,
and we buy our favourite
books as treasured objects.
But I really don’t need some
potentially pulpy novel I want to read on the Tube to be in print.
‘Many people don’t even want
some books on paper. They read books they’d otherwise
be too ashamed or embarrassed
to read in public – just look at the rise in sales of erotica and, amusingly,
religious texts in ebook form.’
Literary agent Jonny Geller, whose authors include John le Carré,
Howard Jacobson and Monica Ali, said new approaches are being tried all the
time, ranging from publishers
trying out subscription
models in the form of online book clubs to ‘bundling’
(selling printed and
electronic books together).
‘Ebooks have, in some ways,
saved the book business by introducing a whole new generation
of readers to new authors and
have provided a huge profit margin for publishers,’ he said.
‘At the same time, the share
the author receives has dwindled. On the whole, authors do not
seem to be either optimistic
or pessimistic about ebooks – as long as people still want to read.
The rest is maths.’
Simon Maylott, chief
executive of ‘collaborative’ ebook publisher Autharium, said:
‘To suggest that the ebook is
merely a format fad is to ignore the impact the internet
and digital media consumption
habits have had on nearly every other industry.’
And his message for the
doom-mongers? ‘Everybody keep calm, the ebook is here to stay.
Overall, the trend is up year
on year and has been consistently so for the past five years.
‘So unless book buyers decide
that the benefit of the smell and feel of paper is more important
to them than the convenience
of: being able to carry a library around in their pocket;
being able to easily discover
or reference a section of a book; adjusting font sizes;
being able to link easily to
and discover more related information; being able to find a book
that never goes out of print;
having the benefit of purchasing and reading rather than popping
into town to find your latest
read… then things are not going to go back to the old days.’
http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/07/the-reported-decline-of-the-ebook-has-been-greatly-exaggerated-4688830/
The reported decline of the ebook has been greatly exaggerated
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
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just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
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