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The Top Ten Future Ways to Read
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alexfield1
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After writing a recent post on the future of publishing at my blog alexanderfield.blogspot.com, I decided to physically list out all the different book formats publishers are exploring for our future reading pleasure, especially for fiction. This is something I've been researching regularly for work anyway, so I thought it would be interesting to explore here, briefly.
So here are the "Top Ten Future Ways to Read"....so far...and yeah, and I may have cheated on a couple of them, oh well (please add to my list if you know of some other burgeoning digital format!):
| # | Name |
| 1. | 1. A Combination of All of the Above Here's is my own personal ideal future reading scenario: I will be at home reading my favorite PRINTED hardcover novel, when about halfway through it, I will put it down. It's time for my daily workout, so I go for a jog. So I get my iPhone or Blackberry and select the read to me feature and continue "reading" the book through my headphones as I run. Then I jump on a plane to take a trip for work and I decide to take the book along with me, but I don't want to lug it through airport security, so of course, I have it on my e-reading device (Kindle, Sony E-Reader, whatever), or on my iPhone as a backup reader. I also bring the rest of my library on the device just in case I finish the book mid-flight and need something new to read! |
| 2. | 2. Old Fashioned Way Most of us still read the old fashioned way, and in the future, I have no doubt that this will continue so long as paper remains affordable. However, I heard a statistic recently that a good portion of the country (40% by some polls) can't read, or simply doesn't read books anymore. Yikes. This doesn't compute for me, life without books = Ahhh? |
| 3. | 3. Amazon's Kindle Reader Amazon has taken the early lead in the e-book category with their sleek new Kindle and Kindle 2 devices. The Kindle 2 looks much better than the Kindle and Amazon has already taken the device up several notches with a ton of new features, including a "read to me" audio option. At the publishing company where I work, we finally loaded all our books up on the Kindle mid-last year and though we're seeing the sales start to come in, they're not huge . . . not yet. Will the Amazon and the Kindle be for books what iTunes and the iPod has been for music? Or will the Kindle lose their early leader position to the iPhone or the massive Google Library? We shall see... |
| 4. | 4. iPhone E-Reading Apps The iPhone app developer and user craze has finally taken ebooks along for the ride. You can now read your favorite NY Times bestselling book as an ebook on your iPhone through the 'eReader app', the 'Stanza ebook app', the 'Amazon Kindle app', or you can even buy some books as individual apps on the Iceberg Reader. And I believe there are at least another half dozen ways to read books on your iPhone as well. This folks, is the genius of the iPhone apps at work. I don't have an iPhone, though I have been asking all my friends with iPhones to test this and try reading an ebook on their phone. Does it really work? What I have seen so far is fantastic, if a little small on that phone-sized screen. Has anyone tried any of these iphone apps yet? |
| 5. | 5. Digital Book Libraries Have you heard that Google is determined to scan every book ever published? What kind of power does a company have to have to make a statement of such bravado? But it's true. Google just settled a lawsuit with the Author's Union which was suing them over the practice of scanning every book they could get their hands on and making them available to the public. Though it's still unclear, the recent settlement appears to give Google the right to continue scanning, while paying minimal fees to authors and publishers. At some future point Google is now able to make their entire library of books (can you imagine it? the biggest library ever!) available to readers for a subscription fee. This will happen. I think it's just a matter of when, and how much? See the early version at Google Book Search here. |
| 6. | 6. Sony E-Reader Technology powerhouse Sony was the first to market a few years ago with a major commitment to an e-reader device. The Sony E-Reader of today is an easy-to-use handheld gadget with an easy to read screen, and the latest versions of it have been much improved over the first generation. There are plenty of places to buy ebooks online now, versus 2-3 years ago when the thing first arrived, including www.ebook.com, www.fictionwise.com and elsewhere. There are also places online to get FREE ebooks (most of which are in the public domain) such as www.netlibrary.com, www.free-ebook.com, and www.gutenberg.org. With that said, however, the e-reader still hasn't become a mainstream device just yet. The reason? How many of you are going to carry around a phone, an iPod, a laptop and an e-Reader? Not I. |
| 7. | 7. Downloadable Audio Books You can buy downloadable audio books now, most notably from Audible.com, but also from various others sources, such as iTunes. Pioneering publisher Thomas Nelson is experimenting with a model (called Nelson Free) in which you buy a printed book and get a free digital version and audio book for the same price. Interesting future publishing model? Or simply an experiment that won't work? I have my own opinions still forming on this one... |
| 8. | 8. Blackberry Reader Apps So far, I have found Blackberry to be moping along, far behind the competition in the app development department, but in good news for Crackberry addicts, there is actually a reader app now available that has been reported to work quite well. I believe it was created by the makers of E-Reader, and is available at www.fictionwise.com, apparently it brings a solid, readable experience to those who love their Blackberries! And now there is FINALLY a Blackberry app store at Blackberry App World. Wow, they're getting with the program! Maybe someday, Blackberry's will offer a reading experience that rivals the iphone....but not any day soon! |
| 9. | 9. The Podcasted Novel There is a horror novelist out there who has video and audio podcasted a couple of his novels, essentially offering them for free online to anyone willing to sit through a dozen or so video/audio files, one for each chapter. This guy was unpublished when he began this practice, and this unique device earned him enough "readers" that he landed a traditional publishing deal and an internet audience! I guess, in all brutal openness, I see this as a total novelty idea, but I'm not sure that it will actually catch on in the mainstream. However, it might qualify as a good way for an aspiring author to build up an audience. So I will call this one, more marketing technique, and less a future way to read. What do you think? Free content delivered in this fashion, good thing or bad thing? |
| 10. | 10. Serial Novels via Blog I have seen some blogs out there, mostly amateur writer blogs, in which the blogger posts one chapter a week from his or her novel. Honestly, I can't see myself reading an entire book this way, seriously, can you? Though I do read enough blog content that way...hmmm...but people are trying it out. Could you read a book that way? Or should blogs only be reserved for shorter snippets of content? |
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Comments
What about digital books that are multi-media. Download to your pc. Works well for children's books as story reads along as the words highlight modelling fluency, illustrations can be animated to bring the books to life, each word can be clicked on to hear it spoken. It makes reading for kids fun!
Posted 1 year ago
I think I also saw where people are tweeting 140 character of their books on Twitter. Kinda like eating one cornflake per day! I like your number one choice. They all have their place in our lives, but when I want to relax, give me a print book any time.
Posted 1 year ago
Interesting list Alex, technology is amazing.
Posted 1 year ago
How about being plugged into a book. Instead of reading, it goes straight into your brain, kinda like the Matrix. That would be fantabulous!
Posted 1 year ago