Until now, electronic devices have never seriously challenged physical books when it comes to content delivery. But with Kindle, iPhone and others, and now iPad, make no mistake: here comes the sea-change in the way that we take in the written word. We are talking about consuming content in a way that’s different from how we’ve done it for centuries.
How will this change publishing? What will determine what will be published as a book and what won’ be? Will any books at all be published, anymore? Craig Mod takes a stab at all these questions, in a ‘State of Publishing, 2010′ post. Absolutely worth a read. Very nice looking site btw, which reinforces one of Mod’s points, namely that some content (‘Definite Content’) that really makes use of the form of the printed page, will probably now be able to make the transition to digital reading devices.
The exciting thing that Mod touches on is that the formats that digital devices allow has only just begun to be explored. What do you do if your canvas is no longer pages that you turn? There is an infinite horizon upon which even people who make ‘formless content’ with text only will explore. Soon the idea that we had to mimic page-turning metaphor for e-books to be–what? Accessible?–will be seen as laughable…
Actually, worth the price of admission alone is comment #1:
“I find it difficult to fully engage any text unless I have the option of throwing it across the room.”
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