General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"BOOKS ARE DEAD!" (I say BAH...The Internet Cacophany of Sound..will DIE Before)
An end of booksBooks, those bound paper documents, are part of an ecosystem, one that was perfect, and one that is dying, quickly.
Ideas arent going away soon, and neither are words. But, as the ecosystem dies, not only will the prevailing corporate systems around the paper book wither, but many of the treasured elements of its consumption will disappear as well.
THE BOOKSTORE as we know it is doomed, because many of these establishments are going to go from making a little bit of money every day to losing a little bit. And its hard to sustain daily losses for long, particularly when youre poorly capitalized, cant use the store as a loss leader and see no hope down the road.
The death of the bookstore is being caused by the migration to ebooks (it won't take all books to become e, just enough to tip the scale) as well as the superior alternative of purchase and selection of books online. If the function of a bookstore is to stock every book and sell it to you quickly and cheaply, the store has failed.
THE LIBRARY is limping, partly because many of them have succumbed to being a free alternative to Netflix or the boarded-up Blockbuster. As fewer people dive into a sea of printed books, libraries will have no choice but to stop stocking that sea with expensive items that few use.
THE TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER is culturally connected to the bookseller. That's their customer, not you, the reader (ever tried to call customer service at a book publisher?). As the bookseller disappears, and as the open nature of the ebook platform rewards individuals and quick-moving smaller entities, many in traditional book publishing will find their particular skills no longer valued the way they used to be.
SINGLE TASKING is an anachronism. As soon as ebooks moved from the Kindle to the iPad, the magic of reading was threatened by the opportunity (for just a second) to check on email, Words with Friends or an incoming text message.
READING FOR PLEASURE was largely extinguished by four generations of not-very-good teaching philosophies. By treating a book as homework and a punishment, weve raised people to not look forward to reading. More than once, friends have said, you should be really pleased, I even finished your new book. My guess is that no one says that to Laurence Fishburne about his new movie. Theres no real ebook piracy problem because most people dont think books are worth stealing.
THE BELOVED SHELF (or wall) of books is less well-thumbed and less respected than it was. Were less likely to judge someone on their ownership and knowledge of books than at any time in the last five hundred years. And that shelf created juxtapositions and possibilities and prompted you when you needed prompting. Ten generations ago, only the rich and the learned owned books. Today, they're free at the local recycling table.
THE PAVLOVIAN RESPONSE will fade. You go to a bookstore, a quiet, civilized, respected greenhouse of ideas. A person you connect with hands you a book, wraps it, charges you a surprisingly small amount of money and you go home, ready to curl up for five or six or thirty hours, to immerse yourself in a new world or a new set of ideas. And then you will take that volume, one thats designed to last for a century with no technology necessary, and either share it with a friend or place it in just the right place on your wall. Your brain was wired to be taught to be open to these ideas, to be respectful of the volume itself, because all of the elements of the ecosystem, from the author who took a year to the editor who curated the book to the jacket designer and the printer and the store they all aligned perfectly to create this method of consumption.
None of these changes, by themselves, are enough to kill a venerable information delivery and cultural touchstone like the book. But all of them together? Im writing this on a train filled with educated, upper income suburban commuters of all genders and ethnicities (book buyers, until recently). I can see 40 people at a glance, and 34 are using electronic devices, two are asleep and exactly one person is reading a traditional book.
Yes, we're entering a new golden age for books, one with more books and ebooks being written and read today than ever before. No, books wont be completely eliminated, just as vinyl records are still around (a new vinyl store is opening in my little town). But please dont hold your breath for any element of the treasured ecosystem to return in force.
Is it traitorous to my tribe to write these words? I'm not arguing that we should push the ecosystem out the door, but I am encouraging us to not spend too much time trying to save it. First, it's a losing battle, but more important, we have bigger opportunities right in front of us.
Twenty years ago, I saw the web and wrote it off. I said it was a cheap imitation of Prodigy, but slower and with no business model. Partly, I just didn't see. But a big part of me wanted Prodigy (my client) to succeed, along with a business model I understood. As a result of my arrogance, I missed the opportunity to take advantage of a brand new medium.
MUCH MORE...and a GOOD READ...at
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/08/an-end-of-books.html
Logical
(22,457 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)Have you ever wandered into a used Bookstore...and just wandered...waiting to see what title would catch your imagination?
Do you search through Amazon looking for titles to load into your Kindle. How do YOU READ...is what I'm asking.
I think the writer of this piece is Mourning for the old way of buying books...but yet seeing a New Experience.
But...I loved wandering into a Book Store to browse...and read titles and pick up a Book ( a tactile experience) as I looked at Chapter Titles...and thumbed through the first 5 pages to see if it caught my interest.
I love the smell, touch and feel of books. I love the the Front and Back Cover that leads me into the Experience.
It's just not the same for me on AMAZON... I love reading the reviews there that are "supposedly" from unbiased sources... BUT....I just love the DISCOVERY. I don't get that on Amazon. I have to search the book I'm looking for...and it isn't Serendipity like when I'm wandering through the shelves in a traditional Bookstore.
But..you are saying you know what you want before you buy...and that's efficient. BUT...HOW do you KNOW ahead of time...what you want to read for just Leisure Reading? That's what I'm wondering. Are we "Brain Wired" differently?
Logical
(22,457 posts)I like the way amazon recommends books based on what other books I have bought because they know other who liked the book I have liked other books.
I love reading other opinions or who read the book.
I spend lots of time on amazon reading about books, not even buying them. And most books let you read the first pages or chapter.
I miss bookstores also. But I am getting used to electronic books. Like them now.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/ (book search page)
My Android phone supports a free app ebook reader.
I like books too, but having a book in your phone is very convenient.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I was always more random down the aisles...where a binding or jacket would catch my attention with the Title.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)You must be wandering into a specific section/category before the jacket catches your eye.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)I love to read them, I love the way they feel, I love a good, hardbound, quality product but I'm picky about what I put on my library shelves....I also read ebooks sometimes but it will never replace my enjoyment of a good honest to gawd book! However much of what is written here is probably true....*sigh*
KoKo
(84,711 posts)and how it's different for them when they buy online. I hope they will reply to my post above.
I look on my bookshelves and see wonderful memories of when I bought the book...how old I was...where I was when I bought it...and it makes me feel very good about myself with the memories.
I guess I'm supposed to be "Not of the Modern World" these days and should just throw my books and memories of wonderful times and memories onto the "Recycle Pile" which is what the writer of the article that I linked felt he sadly was suggesting.
I live with my books and happily my son feels the same...I have sent boxes of books to the book sellers wishing them well in their new life. We have boxes of books in two attics...and still our shelves are over full...lol. However, the other day my son told me he doesn't buy books anymore just reads them on his IPad....so I plan to give him a copy of Mo' Meta Blues: The World According To Questlove...I think he'll find room.
I hope there are avid readers coming up behind us...
shenmue
(38,503 posts)Hasn't happened yet.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I'm getting worried.
MerryBlooms
(11,728 posts)I love reading my paper backs in the bubble bath and love my Kindle when I can't sleep- I have 5 books going now and two are on my Kindle and the other three in paper. I still love the paper feel and smell when I read- our shelves are filled with our favorite books, but we also really enjoy our Kindle.
We'll never give up our books and will gift each other as always with real books for birthday and holiday.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)pack a book I was in the middle of reading. I figured I'd pay the B&N fee to get it online so I could finish it online. It was nice. It was flat. I could read it where I was. I had to plug it in every so often to charge it. It had big type...so I could get by without my reading glasses...and I could even adjust the lamp where I was staying to read sideways in bed.
But...it wasn't the same. But, I can certainly deal with both as long as I know the book I want to read and B&N allows it to come to my Nook. But, I'm a browser of books and while my Nook (or if I had a Kindle) helped me out with my "left behind book" during my vacation to be able to download and finish what I'd started....(and that was good)...I would only use the "Hand Held" ...if I knew what I wanted to download or was in a pinch where I'd forgotten the original book and was out of town and wanted to finish...and Online Download was the only way.
The Used Bookstores in my City are almost all gone. I worry that there won't be any books to search through to find some kind of READ...that you never would have thought of or been looking for that was fascinating and maybe changed your life when you stumbled upon it.
Anyway...it's just not the same with Amazon or B&N ONLINE...to have that Random Experience of Discovery. I'd hate to think we humans would be losing that experience..but the writer of the article I posted says...it's the WAY OF THE FUTURE.
MerryBlooms
(11,728 posts)Powell's in Portland, even though I live in Illinois.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Online...believe it or not. I guess some of the best will stay around and that's good news!
pscot
(21,023 posts)so our relations are somewhat strained at present. My physical library has never just up and disappeared into the ether.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)brooklynite
(93,873 posts)...and which would increase resale value. To a one, they all said "don't install built-in bookshelves". Nobody in the future will want them because their books, movies and music will all be digital.
I enjoy browsing in libraries and bookstores. But I'm wise enough to acknowledge that the Millennials and their successors will have a radically different view of media; just like my generation never appreciated radio dramas and the generation after us never saw the need for an afternoon newspaper.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)The people like a very uncluttered life. I feel uncomfortable in those surroundings. It's too sterile. My own house has built-in Bookhelves that cover a whole wall that has a high ceiling. I have living houseplants all over ...and I think I couldn't live in a place without plants and books. But...I do have my Nook... I'm happy that way...
I wonder if the newer houses will be built without "phone jacks" and that if I sell I will have to have someone come in and sheetrock over my phone jacks. If Real Estate Agents asked me to tear out my Bookshelves...I'd say..."STUFF IT."
But, I do understand your point. I think I'd wait for a buyer who was "unique." There must be some out there.
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)There is a ton of hyperbole in there. Sure, the publishing world has changed, the bookstore scene has changed, but there are new independent bookstores opening in many areas. The economy is iffy overall, but bookstores are doing better than they have in many years, and books are sure as hell not dead.
"Indeed, statistics from the American Booksellers Association, which represents independent bookstores, defy the gloomy prognosis. In 2009, the ABA had 1,401 member businesses. Today it has 1,632. The number has grown every year for the past four, but significantly, jumped the most between 2011 and 2012 the year that Borders vanished.
Our data underscore our belief that this is a very strong period for independent bookstores, says ABA spokesman Dan Cullen. He reports that ABA members saw about an 8 percent increase that same year, which he attributes in part to Borders disappearance, but also to the buy-local movement and new technology. Twitter and Facebook, he says, allow stores to market themselves more cheaply than before."
Link
KoKo
(84,711 posts)in only one Mall Location. Our small used book stores that thrived have one by one gone out of business so that there's just one small one..kind of grubby with little selection left.
We have one Indie Book Store for new books left. It's all happened in the last 6 years.
I'm still holding onto my collection. I see folks buying used books on Amazon...which is I guess where one goes today to find "out of print" or maybe a "re-read" of a fave book or reference that you got rid of but, are sorry.
Zorro
(15,691 posts)There's a used bookstore in the nearby mall, and the range of quality, good condition books available for only a dollar is astounding. They also sell a lot of cheap ($3), excellent DVDs.
It's apparent to me that people are moving to streaming video and ebooks, and uncluttering their domiciles. That's OK with me; I have my Kindle, but I really like the feel of a good hardback book in my hands.
pansypoo53219
(20,906 posts)bah on the new.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)and i don't have to buy a thing to read print. i do like the idea that i can now search and find stuff that i never could find in paper media but i still collect reference and history books from the 1800`s.