In a recent article in Scientific American entitled, “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper Versus Screens,” I found much that was fascinating. The article went out of its way not to say that screens are bad or that paper books are antiques. Rather, that our brains handle some things better in paper books than they do in electronic forms.

This past weekend, Dan Poynter – a legend in the self-publishing and small press community – was on NPR on a program entitled “The Future of Children’s Books.” He said all children’s publishing will transition over to tablet-based e-readers. I had been pondering a response to his thesis, which I think has some merits, but [...]

This past weekend, Dan Poynter – a legend in the self-publishing and small press community – was on NPR on a program entitled “The Future of Children’s Books.” He said all children’s publishing will transition over to tablet-based e-readers. I had been pondering a response to his thesis, which I think has some merits, but goes too far, when I was contacted about it by Sheila Ruth, a friend and fellow publisher. Here’s her reply, which will be in two parts.

I often contemplate how profoundly e-readers will change our physical spaces. I’m well aware that most homes right now don’t have books at all (or only a few, for show), and most use bookshelves to display tchotchkes. But in an all digital content world, there won’t be any books in any homes. This actually makes me queasy. I cannot imagine a world without books as personal furniture.

Stop worrying about “Is Publishing Going to Die?” or “Are Books Dead?” Instead, focus on what your market needs. And recheck every couple of months. Be the expert, rather than the follower in your genre.

Here’s an economic conundrum for you: as you’re probably aware, Amazon has a base-model Kindle for $79. But according to this article, it costs them $84 to make. And that’s before packaging and shipping! So how does this make sense? Amazon often seems to exist in an economic reasoning-free zone, especially when you consider their pricing [...]

Two items lit up the publishing world this week: The debut of Barnes & Nobles’ “Nook” e-book reader and thehardback book price war between Wal-Mart, Target and Sears. Let’s take a look at those issues.

It’s worth watching – and talking about Amazon’s moves this week. First, they announced they were applying for patents to insert ads into e-books. Then they disclosed that the Kindle 2 has fracture and breakage issues… which they will be happy to replace for $200. Then they deleted e-books from people’s Kindles. Some of this [...]