E-book readers suddenly became all the rage during 2009. The launch of Amazon's Kindle 2.0 and Kindle DX readers created a good deal of publicity for these devices. Other manufacturers responded with their own readers - Sony with its Daily Edition and Barnes and Noble with the Nook reader. Other companies - such as Microsoft and Apple - made it known that they had devices of their own in development and scheduled for release in the near future.
It is very easy, and perfectly understandable, when dealing with what are essentially consumer electronics devices, to focus on the technical aspects of the hardware involved. The Amazon Kindle has wireless connectivity, the Nook has a color screen, Sony's Daily Edition lets you lend books to your friends - and so on.
However, without diminishing the technical achievements of the various companies involved in any way, it may be worth taking a moment to consider that e-book readers may very well be the biggest single change in both publishing and reading since the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440. The introduction of the printing press quite literally put books in the hands of the common man as it hugely reduced the publishing costs involved.
There really haven't been any significant changes in the way that books are read since that time. There have certainly been efficiency improvements in printing technology. Word processors and computers have reduced costs further. Even so, the end product has remained remarkably similar to what Gutenberg produced - printed text on paper.
And the consequence of the unchanging end product also restricts publishers. A physical product is produced - at some expense - which also needs to be delivered, either to the point of sale or by direct mail to the customer's home.
The difference with e-book readers is that they do not simply offer a way of carrying out the existing process more efficiently. They totally rewrite the rules - both for the publishers and the readers. There is no physical product which means that fewer materials are consumed. No ink, paper, chemicals, bindings etc. are required. There are also serious savings in the cost of delivery.
This means that e-books are not only cheaper to publish and deliver, but that they are - even considering the materials used in the e-book readers themselves - more environmentally friendly.
It also means that publishers have more options available to them in order to market both books and authors. For example, if a publisher wants to highlight a particular author, then they can offer a selection of their titles at very low prices - or completely free - for a short period of time. Another increasingly common tactic is to offer the first title in a series free in the hope that the reader will buy subsequent titles or possibly other books by the same author. Whilst not completely impossible, this would be a much riskier and more costly undertaking using a traditional print run.
On the Amazon website there are a large number of free Kindle books on offer. Other Kindle books on the site generally have the first chapter available as a free download. Prospective readers can try before they buy. This may well encourage readers to experiment a little and try new authors that they might otherwise have overlooked.
So, whilst the current focus on the high tech hardware is easy to understand, it will be the increased marketing opportunities and the increased ease of access for readers that will change the way that we read books in the long term.
It is very easy, and perfectly understandable, when dealing with what are essentially consumer electronics devices, to focus on the technical aspects of the hardware involved. The Amazon Kindle has wireless connectivity, the Nook has a color screen, Sony's Daily Edition lets you lend books to your friends - and so on.
However, without diminishing the technical achievements of the various companies involved in any way, it may be worth taking a moment to consider that e-book readers may very well be the biggest single change in both publishing and reading since the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440. The introduction of the printing press quite literally put books in the hands of the common man as it hugely reduced the publishing costs involved.
There really haven't been any significant changes in the way that books are read since that time. There have certainly been efficiency improvements in printing technology. Word processors and computers have reduced costs further. Even so, the end product has remained remarkably similar to what Gutenberg produced - printed text on paper.
And the consequence of the unchanging end product also restricts publishers. A physical product is produced - at some expense - which also needs to be delivered, either to the point of sale or by direct mail to the customer's home.
The difference with e-book readers is that they do not simply offer a way of carrying out the existing process more efficiently. They totally rewrite the rules - both for the publishers and the readers. There is no physical product which means that fewer materials are consumed. No ink, paper, chemicals, bindings etc. are required. There are also serious savings in the cost of delivery.
This means that e-books are not only cheaper to publish and deliver, but that they are - even considering the materials used in the e-book readers themselves - more environmentally friendly.
It also means that publishers have more options available to them in order to market both books and authors. For example, if a publisher wants to highlight a particular author, then they can offer a selection of their titles at very low prices - or completely free - for a short period of time. Another increasingly common tactic is to offer the first title in a series free in the hope that the reader will buy subsequent titles or possibly other books by the same author. Whilst not completely impossible, this would be a much riskier and more costly undertaking using a traditional print run.
On the Amazon website there are a large number of free Kindle books on offer. Other Kindle books on the site generally have the first chapter available as a free download. Prospective readers can try before they buy. This may well encourage readers to experiment a little and try new authors that they might otherwise have overlooked.
So, whilst the current focus on the high tech hardware is easy to understand, it will be the increased marketing opportunities and the increased ease of access for readers that will change the way that we read books in the long term.
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