Why p-books are still better than e-books

Paper books or printed books, p-books for short, are still better than e-books in many and important ways. They are aesthetically better, not only because the current e-ink is mostly black and white, but also because typography tends to become a fine art, and as such it cannot be easily incorporated into the existing electronic text presentation tools. If we are compelled to buy e-books, we certainly do it for reasons other than their visual superiority to p-books.

Not only are the capabilities of the “e-printing” tools very limited, but also certain e-book “publications” are still terribly sloppy, as if no one took care to open the e-book after creating it. Recently I purchased an e-book on the economic crisis. When I opened it on the e-reader, there was a space attached to each “fi” pattern, which converted all occurrences of the word “finance” to “fi nance”.  In a p-book this could have happened once or twice, but in the e-book it was bound to happen hundreds of times.

The future of e-books is in self-publishing. While Gutenberg liberated us from allocating man-years to the process of book copying, the e-book technology will liberate us from the expenses required to publish a book. However, one cannot count on the average writer to be a master of writing style and typography rules. This is where advanced self publishing tools will enter. Perhaps their most important predecessor is LaTeX, but more  still have to appear.

But, beyond self publishing there is another important problem, which will soon require its solution, namely the problem of “reputation”. How will the average reader be able to distinguish good books from the vast amounts of junk, which will be created by ambitious and unqualified authors? Currently, there is a selection process, which allows a publishing house to distinguish between documents worth publishing and those which will never see the light of publicity. If you want to take a glimpse of this process, you can perhaps read the first chapter in Styrion’s “Sophie’s choice”. Reputation management mechanisms will become more and more important in this context.

Professional editing services are also likely to become more and more important and to replace the editing departments of publishing houses. Well known writers will have an additional opportunity to make a living by selling their consulting services to a new market of aspiring authors.

Last, but certainly not least, the book distribution related financial model must be modified. Publishing houses will face a dim future, while distribution channels must also be redefined in order to survive, perhaps by exploiting social networks.

Some of the above emerging trends have already started to materialize. However, there is a long way before we reach maturity.