{"id":5149,"date":"2011-06-03T21:18:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-04T03:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=5149"},"modified":"2011-06-03T22:08:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-04T04:08:05","slug":"are-ebooks-there-yet-my-response-to-wired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/are-ebooks-there-yet-my-response-to-wired\/","title":{"rendered":"Are ebooks there yet? My response to Wired"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just read an interesting article on Wired<\/a> putting forth five reasons why ebooks aren’t yet better than print books.\u00a0 I find it mildly interesting that Publisher’s Weekly linked the article on Twitter; the more things change, the more that people in traditional publishing seem to plug their ears and pretend like it isn’t happening.\u00a0 However, I disagree with the article’s reasons, and here’s why:<\/p>\n

1) “<\/strong>An unfinished e-book isn\u2019t a constant reminder to finish reading it.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The solution?\u00a0 Writers need to write better books–and because of the pressure that this problem exerts, I believe they will.\u00a0 If print publishing resists the ebook revolution long enough, well-established indie authors might well develop a reputation for better written, more engaging page turners than traditionally published authors.<\/p>\n

2) “<\/strong>You can\u2019t keep your books all in one place.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m not plugged into the tech world, but I imagine that this problem will be solved rather quickly once readers start complaining.\u00a0 This is a tech problem, and the tech industry is far better at change and innovation than traditional publishing.<\/p>\n

3) “<\/strong>Notes in the margins help you think.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t mean to put down any of my friends who do this, but…seriously?\u00a0 How many of you write in the margins as you read?\u00a0 It’s probably more of an issue with literary fiction, but with science fiction and fantasy, most of us read for story, and the best books are the ones we finish at a breathless sprint at 4:00 am the next morning.\u00a0 When it comes to the genres I write in, I think this is a non-issue.<\/p>\n

4) “<\/strong>E-books are positioned as disposable, but aren\u2019t priced that way.<\/strong>“<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one is my favorite.\u00a0 Sure, traditional publishers are overpricing their ebooks, but that just opens the door for hordes of indie authors (like me) to undercut them and earn more on their own than they would if they took a traditional publishing deal.<\/em> In addition, all the longtime professional authors I know are doing everything they can to jump ship, which is only going to bring about the crash of the traditional publishing model all the sooner.<\/p>\n

In all honesty, I hope that traditional publishers continue to overprice their ebooks as long as they can.\u00a0 The more they tick off readers with bloated prices, the greater an advantage my books will have over theirs.\u00a0 And the more readers buy indie, the more money goes to supporting authors, as opposed to overpaid corporate officers and ridiculously expensive New York rents.<\/p>\n

5) “<\/strong>E-books can\u2019t be used for interior design.<\/strong>“<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two responses: 1) how many people do you see these days with CD racks in their living rooms, and 2) why do you think people still buy vinyl?<\/p>\n

When the iPod came around, people didn’t let this argument stop them from switching their collections to mp3 and boxing up all their CDs.\u00a0 When a new technology arrives that is demonstrably superior to the old, culture adapts to fit around it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I have no doubt that print books will continue to exist.\u00a0 People still ride the California Zephyr<\/a> even though we have airlines, and they still buy vinyl even though we have mp3s.\u00a0 It may well be that the half-dozen collectible leather-bound hardcovers you own in the age of ebooks will say more about you than the hundred or so secondhand paperbacks you have on your shelf now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just read an interesting article on Wired putting forth five reasons why ebooks aren’t yet better than print books.\u00a0 I find it mildly interesting that Publisher’s Weekly linked the article on Twitter; the more things change, the more that people in traditional publishing seem to plug their ears and pretend like it isn’t happening.\u00a0… Continue reading Are ebooks there yet? My response to Wired<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[560,515,529,489,599],"class_list":["post-5149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-ebook-pricing","tag-ebooks","tag-indie-publishing","tag-technology","tag-thoughts-reflections","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-1l3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5149"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5160,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149\/revisions\/5160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}