Investigation #3: eReaders & Digital Books

The newest way to read books, eReaders, such as the Kindle and the iPad among others, has been taking the nation by storm.  Nobody thought that the new technology would take off at such a high rate with consumers.  I do not own one myself, but I can definitely see why people own them or want to own them, there are many pros to this new technology, but there are also cons. 

For most the pros are obvious.  The eReaders allow book lovers to have all of their favorite books present digitally in a tablet.  Instead of lugging your books around everywhere, you only need this tablet, which is small and ideal for traveling.  The introduction of this new technology has caused book prices to drop, and as a result people are reading more now than ever, and it’s hard to argue that reading more is anything else other than a good thing.  Also, having books available digitally is good for the environment because we don’t need to cut down as many trees in order to produce books.  For authors this new technology can be a good thing because people can access their work for lower prices and it makes self-publishing easier which allows for them to be more creative with their writings and take more chances.  It is good for smaller independent publishing companies because they can adapt to this new technology much faster than larger publishing companies. 

There are also cons associated with these eReaders as well.  Authors that rely on visuals in their books are at the mercy of the eReaders technological limitations, many eBook readers have complained that he picture on the eReader tablets are not good and can be confusing.  Also publishing companies have hurries up the production process of these eBooks, leading to more proofreading errors. A major question that these eReaders are raising is whether they will do away with printed books for good.  The number of book stores has decreased from 20,000 twenty years ago to 2,000 as of two years ago.  This phenomenon is in part due to large corporations like Barnes & Noble’s putting smaller book stores out of business, but eReaders have also had an effect.  But how will it affect libraries if printed books go out of style and everyone turns to eReaders to read their favorite books?  Publishers have already set limits on the number of digital books that can be loaned by libraries; many of them have set the limit at 26. 

Perhaps the biggest issue I see with this new technology is how it will effect education.  Education, which in the most part is done through reading books, is all about the access to knowledge and is considered a public good, so everyone should have an equal right in accessing books.  The problem is that if eReaders lead to the decline of printed books, then libraries decline and with it the equal right of everyone to accessing books and thus knowledge.  Only the people who can afford eReaders will have access to most of the books being published, and the poor will be stuck to find another access to knowledge, or else another way to access the knowledge will need to be provided to them.         

 

Related Articles:
How eReaders and Ipads Changed the Publishing Industry
Surprise! Technology Has Made Us More Bookish
The Effect of E-Books and E-Readers on Authors
The Effect of E-Books and E-Readers on Publishers
Will E-Books Destroy the Democratizing Effects of Reading?




 

Investigation: Digital Books and eReaders

    As we talked about in class last week, digitization is revolutionizing the media industry.  Now, with the availability of digital books, almost anyone can call themselves an "author", just as youtube stars can call themselves "actors."  There are numerous types of these digital books and eReaders, but just to name a few, there are Kindles, Palms, Nooks, iBooks, and you can even download these texts to iPads.  We now know that these are available, but what is it that makes them revolutionary?  PublishGreen gives a perfect analogy about the differences between Ebooks and print books.  In their post, they compare printed books to a rock.  A rock cannot be physically altered unless you physically damage it yourself.  The same goes for books, you cannot change any physical aspect of the book without damaging it.  On the other hand, they compare Ebooks to clay.  Clay is very malleable and can be changed into many different things without being physically damaged.  Readers can make many different adjustments to these Ebooks.  They can change font size, line spacing, and can even change the page margin.  The comparison of printed books being like that of a rock and Ebooks like clay give us a perfect example as to why these Ebooks have revolutionized the publishing industry.
 
    When these digital books first came out of production, it was somewhat alarming to see someone reading a book from an electronic device instead of a printed copy.  However, it seems as if the tide has turned.  It is now becoming more common to see a person reading from a digital book.  One example of this shift is present in most colleges now.  In order to save paper, a lot of professors will have a copy of the textbook available to buy and download to a digital book.  According to an article in the Huffington Post, eBooks are more popular than ever before.  "In November 2010, 6% of Americans reported owning an e-reader; the figure is now 19%, with females aged 30-49 years old the most represented group."

    With the creation of these new digital books, the publishing industry is now facing some major changes.  The billion-dollar question companies within this industry are facing is whether or not they should commit more money towards e-book publishing while cutting back on printed publishing, or just keep it the way they have been doing it.  According to a Forbes article on the growth of e-books, "A whole ecosystem of companies have cropped up around the $2 billion in revenues that e-books generated in 2011."  Two examples of large companies who converted to e-book publishing are Aptara and Innodata.  A new e-book seller called OnlyIndie starts every book that it sells at $0 just so that book can build up an audience.  They raise money to be able to fund this approach.  It is obvious that major publishing companies are starting to make  a change in which they commit more effort toward e-book publishing.  It is almost impossible for print-only publishing companies to be able to compete with companies who are now able to do both.

    While the rise of e-books are quite possibly hurting publishing industries, I believe they are helping out the less-known authors.  There are different types of technology such as Red Staple that offer online tools for individuals to upload their e-books by themselves without having to pay a publishing company.  There is an excellent article in USA Today that shows the difference between self-publishing a book and actually going through a company to get your book published and printed.  They give an example of an author by the name of Scott Nicholson who does it all by himself.  "He handles the entire process himself, from downloading stock photos at $4 dollars a pop and making covers on Gimp, to converting the manuscripts into formats compatible for the e-readers."  The article gives an example of a person who used a publishing company to do everything for him.  "He pays $250 dollars to a local service to format the book, $300 to a copy editor, and $400 to an artist to make covers."  For a low-budget author who is just starting up, a DIY method through e-books such as the way Scott Nicholson does it greatly benefits authors and gives them the ability to get their book on the market.

    Are eBook readers the death of bookstores?  Well, if you look at the numbers, it is definitely not helping bookstores.  According to an article in a Missouri news company, this is true.  "In 2011, first quarter adult paperback sales totaled $335 million.  In the same period this year, adult paperback sales totaled $229.8 million, a loss of 10.5%.  Compare that with an increase of 28.1 percent for eBooks in that same stretch of time, with them bringing in $220.4 million in 2011 and $282.3 million in 2012."  Ebooks are starting to catch up fast and hurting local bookstores along the way.

   

eReaders, Education, and the Future of Books

     To be honest, I'm at cross when it comes to eReaders. I would think if I wanted to buy something to read digital books on, I would get a tablet. I'm a fan of Apple, and so I'm not opposed to owning an iPad and Apple has their own version of an eReader that's available on just about all of their mobile devices. Now, after some research, I've noticed that some eReaders like the Kindle Fire behave much like other tablets with internet capabilities and such. Falcone (2012) of CNET breaks down the differences between tablets and several eReaders and how each caters to specific needs depending on who's buying. The internet capabilities of some of these eReaders make them more appealing to me, but I would still prefer an iPad. I don't know the statistics on who else thinks like me, but after some pondering, I thought that a good market for purely eReaders would be schools. For instance, Falcone (2012) discusses how Amazon's entry level Kindle is an e-ink reader that has some online functionality (perhaps to download more texts), but no other internet distractions. However, other eReaders with greater internet functionality are finding their ways into schools, which it turns out, can be beneficial as well as harmful.

Michael Kozlowski (2012) shows the potential for the educational good that can come from eReaders in the classroom. To be clear, he discusses how globalization has allowed eReaders to be used in classrooms in developing countries, but I don't see why the results wouldn't be the same in America. He notes that literacy rates and standardized test scores have risen since some experimental projects where eReaders have been distributed in Ghana. He also describes how there are expected distractions that come from internet access, but I would argue that this may be more so in such countries because of a lack of exposure to such technology. It seems that kids today are almost born with a smart device in-hand when they exit the womb. While American children are not above getting distracted than any other child, I think that American children are more accustomed to such technology and may not get distracted as easily. But that's just my opinion.

     Of course, there is a flip-side to this benefit: Lorien Crow (2012) discusses how eReaders may actually be harmful to memory functions. She describes how various research shows that when reading printed material on paper, there is more success in knowing the material rather than just remembering the material. She also discusses how the brain has an easier job at making "mental bookmarks" when reading off printed material rather than digital material. What she says it basically comes down to is how the reader is able to process the information. That there are many distractions that come with digital media, but there are benefits as well, it's simply up to the reader to take control over what they are reading.

Another issue that I came across when doing my research is what will happen to the relationship between children and books? Ingram (2012) shows that books are going anywhere, and that those who use eReaders are likely to purchase more physical books. He argues this because people are reading more because of eReaders. However, McMartin (2012) of Vancouver Sun argues that eReaders are taking away the intimacy of books. That the ease and efficiency that eReaders and tablets offer causes children today to lose those moments in time when they read a book that they simply got lost in. Therefore, with the way education is heading in terms of digital resources, perhaps this generation of children will not be more likely to but books just because they read more. It will be interesting to see how the brain develops to the use of digital print and how publishers will tailor their resources for education as the technology for digital print advances.