Why?
I am unable to understand why anybody, other than a publisher, would ever advocate advertising inside of an e-book--especially ads that "ping back" to advertisers to let them know when the reader has reached a certain part of a book or seen a certain ad.
Are we so desparate to have our hobby, or pet reading method, attain wider approval that we would put up with advertising inside of a book? Or is it that we want advertisers to play the role of the guys in the white hats and come in and fix the pervasive confusion in the e-book martketplace?
Books and internal advertising do not go together. We accept ads in movie theaters, on TV, and on radio, because that's the way these media developed. There were ads on radio almost from the beginning. Even publically-funded broadcasts carry ads (for other public programs). We accept that because we're used to it. We don't accept ads inside the track order of CD's because we paid for the objects and the track selection and would not tolerate an interruption of the flow of music.
A book is an extended work of human discourse. Book reading is a private, solitary mental interaction with this extended work of human discourse. To invite advertisers into that space is to devalue the space, the reading experience, and the rightful expectation of freedom from commercial (or political) intrusion or interruption. Books don't have ads--and never have--except for low-end mass-market paperbacks, and they have ads outside of the actual reading space.
Let's not ask for commercial interests that have no interest on our personal pleasure, learning or thinking for "help" of any kind.
|