Sunday

The E-Publishing Revolution Is Advantageous both for Readers and for Writers

This entry is a copy of my response to a post a on 'Official Blog of Joslyn Corvis,' which is titled, "Is an E-Book Still a Book?”  The author of that post is Joslyn Corvis.  You can find it here: http://gothicgenie.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/is-an-e-book-still-a-book/#comment-40

Speaking as a reader (of books), I prefer electronic literature, including e-books, over their paper based predecessors.  For one thing, a collection of e-novellas don't take up much space and they are quite portable.  It is much easier to transport a 1-2 pound notepad computer library from place to place than it is to move a collection of books around.  Additionally, assuming an individual maintains his/her on-line service or download the necessary computer updates, that person won't have to worry about misplacing books or losing them in a fire, flood, or due to wear and tear.  One caveat, as e-publishing becomes the norm, it will become more difficult for people to save money via buying second-hand books.  This will be problematic for some; however, I think the pros outweigh the cons on this issue.

While the shift to e-publishing will make it easier for people like myself to carry and store volumes, that is not the chief reason that I prefer electronic media.  Rather, by using the computer keypad, I can easily locate specific passages or topics when perusing an e-book, which compares against the vast amounts of time I have to spend flitting from page to page to find specific passages in paper-bound copies.  As such, it is much easier and efficient for me (and for anyone) to research papers, projects, and other things using electronic media.  That being said, you and other authors might also eventually come to prefer e-publishing.

I can posit numerous reasons why an author would prefer an e-publishing platform over a paper-based one; however, for the sake of brevity, I will only mention one reason here.  Namely, an e-book writer has more freedom to create a dynamic, interactive literary piece.  With a book, the author's views/visions are limited by the linear, one-dimensional nature of the medium.  In an e-book, the author can include videos in the novel, or he/she can create multiple endings (letting the reader choose the ending).  Perhaps most importantly, the writer can easily go back and update the volume if new information comes to light.  This is particularly important for science fiction writers, as many of their views/ideas/background which are feasible/logical this year will become outdated/impossible in a few years (given the pace of scientific progress).  

2 comments:

  1. Great thoughts you got there, believe I may possibly try just some of it throughout my daily life.

    E-Publishing

    ReplyDelete