E-Books v.s.  Independent Bookstores

On a long drive home yesterday, I happened upon an interesting radio debate on Q: Do we need bookstores now that we have e-books?

There were good arguments on both sides. Danny Bahoy from Slate said very fussily "NO," while independent bookstore owner Kathleen Edwards sniffed "ABSOLUTELY. "

Kathleen brought up several interesting points:

• She has a highly skilled staff of authors and editors (shows how much the writing game pays,eh? That these talented people moonlight at a bookstore?)
• Her staff really cares about ordering what people  who visit her two stores like; each store has different clientele so carries very different books.
• Bookstores are social gathering places.

Hmmm. Obviously, I have not been going to the right bookstores. The now defunct Borders (which I loved though I realize was not an independent store)  had none of these qualities.  Also, I'm a solitary person -- as I'd guess most people who love to read a lot tend to be -- so the social gatherings at bookstores really has no appeal to me. And I would loathe the kind of hovering attention Kathleen seems to think is so important to bookstore visitors.

However, I LOVE bookstores. I love the smell of new books in bookstores. I love to touch the new books, open them, and buy the ones that grab me. And I don't  experience anything even close to that on Amazon.  So I was surprised Kathleen missed mentioning the immersive  books,books, books tactile experience independent bookstores offer.

Danny Bahoy brought up the convenience of buying an e-book late at night when you need something to read. OK. I've done that.  And it is nice. But there's not an even remotely attractive immersive experience in that for me. I spend way too much time on my computer as it is  (yep, I read e-books from my computer -- there ARE apps for that), so  spending more time with it isn't really appealing to me.

And Danny didn't mention the issue cheapskates like me run into: it's hard to find a good book for 99 cents late at night when you are foggy-brained. So I've bought some books that fall VERY short of the "good" standard. And I hate spending even 99 cents for nothing.

Whether we need independent bookstores in an age of e-books is an interesting issue that will likely be debated for some time. However, as long as power outages from hurricanes, tropical storms, ice storms, heat waves, and earthquakes  continue to plague us,  I'm more than OK with having lots of "dead tree" outlets to visit.

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The Birth of the E-Book Era

It's no news that the Gutenberg era of "dead tree" books is coming to an end, and the birth of the e-book era is beginning. But as with any birth, there are a lot of questions.

As a writer/read-a-holic, what I wonder is how this will it all fall out. How does a writer  (who perhaps only wants to work with words) deal with cover art, layout, various e-book formats, and marketing which must all go into publishing an e-book? And with millions of e-books to choose from, how does a reader find a good book to read?

Let's look at this last part first.

A good book to read needs to be easily found, it needs to be easy on the eyes, and it needs to be engaging. In dead-tree times, publishers helped readers find books by publicizing them like mad. And they made sure only books that met certain standards (as defined by each publisher) were printed.  At minimum, this meant spelling and grammar were close to perfect,  characters were well defined and engaging, and plots were well formed/resolved.

This screening didn't mean no terrible books got published. It just meant few terrible books got published. Of course a few good ones managed to not get published as well.

Now, as publishers stop being the gatekeepers, how do readers find good e-books?

Today millions of monkeys can easily be swamping Amazon every day with uploads. But how do we readers find that one Shakespeare when every book that used to end up in the publisher's slush pile is now available. Should what is selling the most on any given day really determine where we'll spend our $2.99?

Then there is the easy on the eyes part.  Dead-tree people really honed down what fonts worked best, what was the best spacing between the lines,  etc.  Now will all of that need to be rediscovered? What if I finally find the Shakespeare, but it is written in ALL CAPS? Or in comic sans? Oh my!

These are just some of the things I am curious about in this birth of the e-book era. I'll use this blog to reveal what I find out.  This journey will likely take awhile -- and meander -- however hopefully it will be interesting.

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