By Guest Blogger Aaron Patterson
#1 Amazon Kindle Best-Selling Author & the Publisher at Stone House Ink & StoneGate Ink
Books. eBooks. Audio Books.
I love books, or shall I say I love stories. I used to read three books a day when I was a kid. I love the stories, the danger, the exciting places I can go in a book. But what of the paper, the sound, the smell of a book? What is going to happen to books with the digital revolution?
I ask this with a smile and a heavy heart. I know where it is going and part of me is sad and the other part is excited. The sad part is because I like a book. I grew up reading them, and they are going away. Paper and ink are giving away to the eBook.
Are we really losing them? No, it is just changing. The excited part of me sees the cool ways we can now read stories. How we can have links and video and cram 3,000 books in a small device. How I can listen to an audio book on the same reader I can read a novel on. It all comes down to content. A story is a story no matter how it is consumed. I love story, so give me my story. I don’t care how it comes to me, in a sound over the radio or on an eReader or in a paper form.
With eBooks, I as an author can reach so many more people so much faster. I can build a fan base and make a living as an author, where even five years ago this would have been a crazy thought. I do not have to go to a book signing or travel across the country to sell books. I can do it all from my laptop. Through social media like Twitter and Facebook.
What does this mean for a bookstore?
They will shrink and turn into small specialty shops. The first editions, the signed copies, and the cream of the crop. The really good books, the classics, will be in bookstores. The price will go up and most of the new books will be published only as eBooks or print on demand publishing houses.
Is this a good thing?
Think of how many trees we will save. Think of the books that are pulped every year. If the average reader knew how many books are burned or thrown away each year, it would start a riot. Think of the cost savings. eBooks are forever, do not get old or tear, do not yellow or get lost. Is this good or the end of books? Who knows? All I know is, no matter what, the real story will never die.
Aaron Patterson
Blog: www.TheWorstBookEver.blogspot.com
Twitter: Mstersmith
Facebook: Aaron Patterson
Website: www.StoneHouseInk.net
Books:
Sweet Dreams
Dream On
Airel
19 (Digital Short)
The Craigslist Killer (Digital Short)
The eBook on eBooks (Digital Short)