Books Have a Bright Future, Just Not Like You Expect

Publishing Perspectives reporting:

As the function of reading is disrupted by convenience of consumption and construction, it changes “the book.”

Editorial by Chris Rechtsteiner
This week the future of the book has been widely lamented. From the Wall Street Journal to Slate, everyone seems to think the book is doomed — or at least in for a very bumpy ride.

Fortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The future of the book is actually very bright. It just won’t look anything like you expect.
To be fair, there are similarities between the past, present and future of the book. Books have always been one of the purest points of intersection between form and function. The proper form of the time (parchment to paper to pixels) has had limited to no impact on the proper function (reading) throughout its history.
We’ve seen, time and again, that form follows function.
However, right now, a debate is raging about form — and the debate is seriously misguided.
While everyone’s arguing about HTML vs. apps vs. ePub vs. KF8 (form) — the function of reading is being seriously disrupted by the convenience of SMS, Twitter, Hashtags, Facebook and a host of other new elements — and very few people are paying attention.
The function of reading is being disrupted by convenience — convenience of consumption where information or a story can be read or played back, regardless of medium, at the reader’s discretion — and the convenience of construction — where authors can leverage every single technology and vehicle imaginable to tell their story.
Let’s look at two examples that are far closer to reality than most authors and publishers care to admit...
http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/05/books-have-a-bright-future-just-not-like-you-expect/