[LDBoblo]

Just a bit of a thinking exercise.

Ebooks are currently at a state where they are quite primitive and significantly inferior quality-wise to their paper counterparts. The degree of work that is normally involved in finishing a book seems to largely be omitted in ebooks.

Of course, the ebook market itself is also quite underdeveloped, and will probably mature a little bit.

As the market matures and a digital model is developed, will the product quality rise to that of physical books, or will quality remain where it is, with previously important jobs and associated costs getting cut as a means of bringing price down (or profit up)?

Even if publishers keep qualified typesetters, designers, and others on board, will ebook reader manufacturers and software creators actually cooperate and provide reader software that handles properly prepared books? Will there be collaboration on improving the digital book standards, or will it entirely be independent and disconnected?

Naturally I don't expect anyone here actually knows...and I'm aware that a lot of people here have very low standards in terms of book quality. For thoughtful predictions and conjecture though, that's pretty much unimportant. I may want to see stuff improve to at least paperback-level quality, but that doesn't mean I think it's going to happen. In fact, I'm a bit doubtful that much will change, except perhaps slightly better proofreading. It's not about what I care or don't care about, it's what I guess will happen.