Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Nemo
According to Gary Frost, the University of Iowa's book conservation specialist, “The pbook (the 'physical book' as opposed to the ebook) will eventually become an object of curiosity to be looked at in a glass case. “ What a sobering thought.
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Not sobering...
sensible.
Print has limits that digital documents do not. Though there is still a lot of romantic attachment to print, eventually, its utility, its flexibility, its storage practicality and its instantaneous communications reality will overcome its paper roots, and paper will become a true anachronism in literature, reserved for special production events and gifts.
When I considered the possibilities of print and vanity publishing, I decided right off that I didn't want to be a part of the ecologically damaging process of pulping trees for book fodder. I've never regretted that. And if it means that it takes longer for consumers to accept me as a legitimate writer, then so be it.
As time has gone by, the impression that a writer isn't a "real" writer unless they are in print has already been impacted by paperbacks, then by vanity presses; ebooks are continuing the eroding of the "legitimacy" of paper, especially as more established writers are produced digitally. Eventually, it will mean nothing other than the fact that the writer or publisher was willing to spend more money and knock down some trees to show off their product... and that will mean less and less to those entering the reading world in the digital age.