Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 04-06-2016 08:48 AM               

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I bought the Kindle version of Buzz Aldrin's new book "Not Dream is Too High" yesterday.

How are we going to collect signed e-books? Sign the back of the device?! Not with new products coming out hourly.

I wonder if a signature page could be programmed into these, so you could have someone "sign" with their finger (or electronic pen on some devices).

I like the convenience of e-books but I love collecting signed paper copies. Could these be combined?

Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000

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From: Birmingham AL
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Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

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From:
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Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-06-2016 11:02 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by fredtrav:
Sadly the day will come when there will be no paper editions.

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I'm going to disagree with this. Paper has more of a permanency than electronic documents — no one knows whether in a hundred years an e-book will be a jumble of free-floating electrons and unreadable, whereas a piece of paper will be legible.

As well, yes, I do have a smartphone, but only because of work. I don't have a tablet or e-reader. I like being able to go into a bookstore and pick a book at random and read it, or buy a newspaper or magazine on a whim during lunch and read.

I don't want to lug a tablet or e-reader around and I don't want to buy something, read it, and then be disappointed as well as miffed that I wasted money I hated reading. Sure there are free previews, but I want to flip though the whole book before deciding to buy it.

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-06-2016 11:16 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo:
I don't want to lug a tablet or e-reader around...

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Given the direction e-paper is going, the digital readers of the future will be paper-thin, light, foldable, inexpensive and disposable.

It will be that development, I believe, that will begin the real migration away from physical paper as the norm. But that is decades away.

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

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From: Houston, TX
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Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 04-06-2016 06:27 PM               

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I worked for a newspaper in the late 80s and even then, people were saying that paper would be a thing of the last in the next 10 years.

So here we are SEVERAL years after that, with no end in sight for the printed word. Book sales are still doing very well, both in retail and used.

People do like digital versions of stuff but there's still a huge segment of the population that either cannot use it due to not wanting to learn a new technology or can't due to their remote location (nowhere near a Wi-Fi or cell signal or charging station in the middle of nowhere).

Posts: 367
From: Bennington, Vermont, USA
Registered: Feb 2011

posted 04-06-2016 06:34 PM               

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A few years ago, I had the privilege being able to contribute (in a small way) towards the rewrite of an astronaut-authored book, and was quite pleased when he thanked me in the acknowledgments. It came out in e-book only format. If it was released in the form of a physical book, there would be 10 copies on my shelf.

I know it is the way of the future, but do authors and those involved in the process of bringing a book "to life" get the same level of satisfaction using the electronic formats?

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-06-2016 07:06 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by p51:
...either cannot use it due to not wanting to learn a new technology or can't due to their remote location

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There's one other factor: The cost of web access. I still believe there is a digital divide, and if you don't perceive internet access as a necessity, that will be one thing you will get rid of (or have a slower speed), much like people dump their TV or lessen their TV package, when they are on a tight budget.

Until homes are wired for internet access as a matter of routine, like putting in electrical wiring or water pipes or TV cable outlets, this will always be the case.

Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 04-06-2016 07:54 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Grounded!:
I know it is the way of the future, but do authors and those involved in the process of bringing a book "to life" get the same level of satisfaction using the electronic formats?

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NOPE. I know a few professional writers whose publishers only released their works as e-books. None were happy with that.

Don't forget that many authors are also readers, too.

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-06-2016 08:02 PM               

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There are authors who are proud of their e-books.

For example, Andy Chaikin was happy with his John Glenn e-book.

And Andy Weir had no expectations of ever publishing "The Martian" as anything but a serialized web journal and then reader-requested e-book. (I know he was glad about a publisher picking it up, but the e-book process worked for him, too.)

Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 04-08-2016 05:54 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
But that is decades away.

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I'm not sure about "decades" away. Considering the advancements of tablets and e-readers over the past decade (basically going from non-existent to the point where they are almost everywhere and very affordable), I can see huge advancements in the technology over the next decade... perhaps even reaching or exceeding the point you describe above.

I think paper books will still exist for quite a while to fill a certain niche, just as vinyl LPs still exist for music lovers. But they may become more of an oddity, marketed as a collectible edition than as a standard edition.

In the meantime, I suspect many books will offer a print-on-demand edition that can be ordered. It won't be cheap as compared to the e-version, but it will offer an alternative for us Luddites who still prefer paper.

Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 04-08-2016 07:18 PM               

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Consider also the refusal to adopt certain technologies among the public at large. Just because you see several people (possibly people in your social circle) doing something, it doesn't represent the majority.

Some technologies are simply considered not worth the effort by many. For example, Blu-ray disc sales are WAY under what the industry predicted and they're collectively scratching their heads at why an obviously superior technology to DVDs isn't selling nearly as much as they thought it would. Heck, I haven't even bought a Blu-ray and have no intention on doing so until my DVD recorder konks out someday.

The history of technology is filled with good ideas that were probably great but that the public simply never embraced in numbers.

Reading devices are here to stay, but there are countless reasons why you won't see an abandonment of paper anytime in the near future, because there are so many situations and places where a tablet simply isn't practical like a well-worn paperback will work much better (and cheaper)...

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-08-2016 08:47 PM               

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When I was in high school, PCs were just becoming mainstream — and even then not everyone had one (way of transmission on internet, e.g., dial up) and cost to do so. Now those in high school can run circles around me with what they can do, and I work in social media.

When the current, older, generation passes, there will have existed a generation familiar and comfortable with technology. Only then will digital and electronic devices become entrenched.

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