INDEX // mb Ideas on Publishing Books in Canada (and other attempts to write good)

Hey Mark. Interesting stuff and you’re almost certainly right about text books and certain kinds of nonfiction being superseded by digital. I do however take issue with the idea that the book can be reduced to an “information product” or that it is simply a means to an end — i.e. that people only write to communicate ideas in as simple and straightforward way as possible. I think that definition misses something about writing (why people write) but also about our relationships with books (why we read them). Do we only write only to impart data, and read only for information?

Posted by dan on 10 March 2009 @ 4am

I’m glad you wrote this — I’ve been amazed at the enthusiasm for e-books, without people taking into serious consideration that the book, as it exists, is not the optimal content for an electronic, online device. Non-fiction, particularly when it comes to reference and business, stands to be redefined by going electronic. The challenge, as I see it, is cost — right now, the paper-bound book is still tops, and the e-book is gravy. Anticipating the dominance of the electronic book means spending money on the less profitable, something I can’t see exciting too many people right now.

And, as someone who loves captial-b books, I worry about the shift to the electronic, particularly for non-fiction. Will artistry become less relevant as books become information?

Posted by Robert Hickey on 10 March 2009 @ 8am

@Dan — there is definitely something essential about the book. I won’t argue that, but when I am reading only for information (when I am trying to learn) I get frustrated by the limitations imposed by the publisher not the author.

@Robert — pleasing your current customer instead of spending money to please your future customer is the innovator’s dilemma. That makes things Darwinian but I hope artistry will thrive in both extremes — both in the old medium and the new ones.

Posted by mb on 10 March 2009 @ 5pm

This has been one of my rallying cries for years. We are in the content business, and although the print book is something that we all love (at least current generations), we need to be smarter about delivering that content as widely as possible.

When someone develops a killer app that shifts the textbook toward a digital model that embraces mobility and value-added features (for one small example…online connectivity for footnote expansion and research?), and isn’t just one-way print on electronic page (a la most current ebook formats), then the entire paradigm will shift.

You can bet that if a savvy big publisher doesn’t do it, a savvy tech company will, and market share will be lost.

Posted by David Leonard on 10 March 2009 @ 8pm

@mb — What you’ve stated about looking for information is what’s critical. I’m not convinced that we’ve yet hit upon an optimal information delivery service. And until we have, people (both publishers and writers/creators) won’t know how to create content for it.

But I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all solution; the shape an electronic Tom Clancy-esque novel might take would be very different from a wired Zadie Smith. An Anne Applebaum history shouldn’t be the same as a Peter Ackroyd biograpy. And there, I think the onus is on the writer as much as the publisher, something many ebook zealots shaking their fists at publishers forget… It’s not about an app alone. The creation must work within and with the medium. Otherwise, taking a book into the electronic realm is not unlike Turner colourising old films — it’s the publisher forcing a new (and incompatible) technology on something that was meant to be experienced in a different way.

Posted by Robert Hickey on 13 March 2009 @ 12pm

@Robert — that is a really good point. The speaker from O’Reilly brought that up at this year’s tech forum. He still framed it as a publisher’s problem — as something publishers needed to encourage writers to change — but I don’t think it hurts to repeat. Hmm. Now I am wondering if younger writers will need to be taught or if they will just do?

Posted by mb on 13 March 2009 @ 5pm

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