It's a list of challenging observations about the future of books. Or it thinks it is. It is designed to question our assumptions about what a book is. In fact, look at the first comment:
As I read these, I find that the word "book" seems out of place. Maybe we need to find another name for written works in the 21st century.But why? Did we need a new word for books when audio books came along? Did we need a new word for story when stories became written instead of sung or told to a rapt audience in front of the fire?
(By the way, for the record, I found the list interesting and many aspects of it I agreed with, along with many of the comments. But.)
I'm delighted about the rise of ebooks, as new ways to deliver our words to readers. But I don't find the need to call them something different from books. Just as a paperback book is a format, so is an ebook.
In my view there's an artificial argument brewing. Aren't we all just writers? Don't we all simply try to put the best possible words in the best possible order, and who the hell cares whether those words are delivered by paper, screen, bard, or pigeon?
As long, of course, as we get paid ...
If this seems like an unusually short post for me, that's because ten minutes ago Anne reminded me that I had forgotten to do my thing. I'd not even thought about it because I thought it wasn't until the 26th. I'm quite proud of myself for delivering this so quickly but will probably be less proud when you all wade in and tell me I'm talking rubbish.
Still, at least I've not written it in a book...
11 comments:
A book in the broadest sense is, to me, a thing that holds words. Whether it's made of vellum, paper or pixels - it's simply a vehicle or vessel.
Story is another matter altogether. Story is where the bard in the cloak takes the audience on a journey, takes them out of their ordinary world and into the world of make-believe. A story teller holds so much power, so much sway. The sparks of the fire, the hot cheeks of the listeners, the cadence of the story-teller's voice - that's the magic of story.
The book is just one way of recording that magic. That's what the reader buys: the journey into the unknown realm, not the format.
Well said!
There is an important difference between traditional 'books' and 'e-books'. Once produced, the former do not require equipment or, depending on time and location, a source of power to use them. In the end that may matter more than anything else. Off to put cat hair on my own blog about this instead.
That blog's use of 'metaadata' to refer to information about a book is just babble with a techie twist, because it refers to the book itself - in whatever format. What matters is what is inside the book.
On the other hand, compiling metadata on the contents of a book might be useful and enlightening. Think I'll do that for one of my novels and see what I come up with....stay tuned.
Why should we necessarily get paid? Does that make us better writers?
No, I'm not naive. We need to eat. But there are plenty of ways to do so. Don't forget that Wallace Stevens spent his professional life in insurance, and one of the most exciting contemporary poets - Ron Slate - is also a businessman. There's a lot to be said for bringing the non-literary world to your writing.
I find the idea that writers shouldn't be paid for what they do somehwat bizarre, frankly, Lee! What's so different about us? If you do something well enough that someone will pay you for it, I think that's a pretty good model for survival and value. When I write something unpaid (as on my blog) I don't think I'm writing less well than when I'm paid, but that's my choice to do it for nothing; I believe I'm good enough to get paid, witness the fact that I do earn fairly decently from my writing career (including the talking about writing, which I know you'd rather I didn't do!!). I don't think yo're naive but I do think you have a view of life which is somewhat different from mine.
Cat - yes, both still books, though, don't you think? In the sense that we don't need another word for "book"? (I think you're agreeing but you got some cat hairs in the way and I am confused...)
Er, yes...mmm...well, maybe? We could get into a very philosophical discussion here Nicola! :-) I think a book is the information. Does that make it an 'information unit' - UI for short?
Seriously, what I do think is that authors and publishers do need to consider the accessibility issue. I have forgotten what percentage of the world has used a telephone but it is surprisingly small . Access to e-books is confined to an even smaller group. If authors want readers then the book, whatever form it takes, has to be accessible. Who's up for a post on that issue?
I think the best way for books to be as accessible as possible is for them to be in as many different formats as possible. That's why I welcome ebooks (even though I still personally hate reading on screen, EVEN on my Sony ereader.) I do it as a last resort. In fact I'm about to start a manuscript appraisal service and I'm going to ask for everything above 5000 words on paper.
Yes, I do agree Nicola (there you are tidily arranged cat hair for once).
But (here comes the untidy cat hair) what ruffles my fur is the possibility that it may come to a point where books may only be in e-book format 'because that's the way we do things now'. At the moment that seems unlikely but I know how quickly things change. I may yet have to succumb to a mobile 'phone, MP3 player etc. I am sure they are useful and that e-books are useful too but I do not want them to take over my life.
Many of the proponents of electronic formats )Kate Pullinger, Cory Doctorow, Chris Meade) are interested not in straight e-books (same words but on screen) but in 'texts' which are supported or integrated with other media (video, sound, animation, pictures) and interactive potential. These are not the same as a paper book as they are generally not the work of a single author and are not static but have the potential in some cases to be modified by readers/users. I would say this does need a word other than 'book'. But just grey text pixels on a backround of light grey paper pixels - call that a book, yes.
Sorry that was so badly typed and illiterate - first venture back out of the trauma cave to interact with the world :-/
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