Ebooks and Print Books are Not Mutually Exclusive

Can Will printed book survive alongside e-books?

Mac Slocum at TOC recently wrote:

Many folks love the sensory associations of a printed book, and they’ll defend those feelings vociferously — even when no one is challenging them. The simple suggestion that an ebook could offer functionality beyond the scope of a printed book causes some book lovers to pull up the castle gates and light the moat on fire.

But here’s the odd thing: A small group of bleeding edgers believe print’s demise is imminent, but in many more instances the people taking a pro-ebook stance are also fans of printed books. They’re not looking for printed books to go away, rather, they want to consume content in the best possible format for their particular needs.

…Unnecessary defense of one format of another obscures the opportunity to customize and improve the reading experience on a title by title and consumer by consumer basis.

Mac then quotes Sara Nelson:

… the e-worriers are, I predict, way wrong, just as those who worried that audiobooks would supplant “real” books, and DVDs would demolish cinemas were wrong. Sure, there is some cannibalizing and crossover, but just as there are certain books you would rather listen to than read (and vice versa) and some movies you’ll rush to the theater to see, there is room in the world for another way to enjoy written narrative.

As someone who one day hopes to build a personal library collection of physical books - I hope that the future has a place for both e-books and printed books to exist harmoniously - or at least until I have my library.

About Chung: Chung Nguyen-Le is a resident blogger at icrylab writing posts which help advise and inspire writers. More information on Chung is available on his personal website, http://www.cnlifeasitis.com

Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.