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EBooks changing the face of publishing

EBooks, manuscripts that you can buy or download online and read via an electronic device such a Kindle or iPad are making their mark on the world. Younger generations consider them the new way to read; those with a more traditionalist mindset find them inadequate when compared to a good-smelling, page-flipping printed book. Some claim they are the way of the future. Opponents say that eBooks will kill the paper manuscript, just as iTunes ‘killed’ the CD. Whether or not they will cause the downfall of literature as we know it, eBooks are clearly on the rise. Ken Auletta from thenewyorker.com writes that “while [eBooks] account for only an estimated three to five per cent of the market, their sales increased a 170% in 2009, and it was projected that they would eventually account for between 25-50% of all books sold.”

Moreover, author Pamela Seiple asserts, “Amazon, whose eBook sales account for approximately two-thirds of America’s total eBook sales . . . has sold 105 eBooks for every 100 printed books.” This rate of growth is incredible, akin to the explosion of interest when the Guttenberg Press was invented in 1440. And while every new phenomenon experiences an eventual plateau in regards to demand, I think we can expect the popularity of eBooks to increase at a fairly steady rate. Following in the footsteps of the cellular phone and the laptop, the forms in which eBooks are read will evolve, becoming thinner, smaller, more aesthetic, more technologically advanced in terms of life and durability and storage space. Libraries are already scheduling eBooks to be available on loan in their collections, colleges are incorporating them into their curriculum, and some publishers who have seen the wave of change created a double portion of their services to include ePublishing. Clearly the eBook is growing rapidly in popularity, and as it does so, what will happen to traditional printers and publishing houses? Will they be outsourced like the vinyl and the CD before them? Or will they be forced to adapt with everyone else?

Written by Caitlyn Mitchell for APC blog