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JamesNune "I've been following the digital paper development and I believe we are on the brink of a revolution in books and the written word in general, similar to the one we've seen in the music business."
Too right!!, these are the very early days. It is not the beginning of the end of the printed word, but it is going to be a gigantic shift on what is committed to paper and what is not, and just how much wood is given over to printing. Ironically, ebooks will probably support more on-demand printing and auto-binding, what will probably vanish is the huge piles of remainders which end up being pulped.
I would also strongly agree that e-ink is the technology, or reflective "monitors" are critically important - reading has never been good on CRT and LCD (the later much better than the former). I am new to this forum as well - I was very much taken by surprised on how many e-ink devices are coming onto the market (none in Australia yet). This is a very good thing.
Some signs of what may evolve are already apparent. The publisher/retailer, rather than publisher - distributor - retailer seems a useful model, and one uniquely suited to digital communications. Self-publishing is part and parcel with this, and roles for freelance editors and copy-fixers, will make some headway.
However, it comes down to money and while I love things being free, the fact is that authors, especially, need to earn money on their writing so they keep writing.
Small, even nominal payments, are not yet practical, that is a technical restraint. I would like the people who scan old books, format them to be paid, precisely so they continue doing so, and doing more.
Free is not good, nor is paying near paper prices for digital works. I would hope in the fullness of time, that prices come down smallish amounts, and most of what is given for free is charged at least a few cents. I would like to think that someone in the Third World could buy literature at very little cost for them.
Micro-cash is really needed in this area. Even if Gutenberg charged as little as .01 cent for raw text, they could always give the money to a charity. That would be a good thing IMHO. I would like to see free formatted books charge a a single cent, and in the end a new best seller for a for a few dollars, and most commercial ebooks for a dollar or two (or less).
The scale of consumption would have to change dramatically to support this kind of pricing, but paying for things has to become a lot simpler and the banks/financial houses should not get away with a transaction tax (one of the main reasons it is not viable to charge too little for most things). Micro-Cash (anonymous transferable scripts) rather than Micro-Payment (transactional, levy based imposts) is the key, unfortunately it is out of our hands for the most part.
Greg Schofield
Perth Australia
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