Re: "The Elusive E-book"

Joseph Harris writes:
> The question this doesn't address is how do you build the 
> delivery mechanism [i.e. the infrastructure for a thriving ebook 
> industry] if there is no encouragement in terms of money from 
> profits and royalties?

I think that's a fascinating question!  Most other formerly popular
forms of leisure entertainment which have persisted to the present
seem to have a strong thread of live performance.  While there are
book readings, I don't really think that's the same thing.  I think,
in the book world, it's more like Timothy Zahn writing STAR WARS
novels, or Bernard Cornwell's restatement of the Arthurian legend.
George MacDonald Fraser's brilliant mix of Anthony Hope, Thomas
Hughes, and Imperial history in ROYAL FLASH.  That is, re-telling
familiar stories in your own voice.  The sad part about this is that,
as dej points out, fewer truly new voices with new stories and new
worlds will be writing.  But maybe it's not that bad; after all, most
of the old stories and some of the new ones started in a different
medium anyway.

And, of course, with many art forms no longer patronized by the
masses, there's an element of snobbery and elitism, from opera to
those who say, "I don't listen to CDs -- I only play vinyl records."
In the book world, this might mean fancier printings and bindings, I
suppose.  Might work against ebooks, if so.

And, of course, this presupposes that money is the only adequate form
of recompense.  Wikipedia, a truly astounding work of collaborative
authorship, wasn't written for money.  The authors got something else
out of the endeavor.  Writing, and reading, are booming; it's just not
what we used to think of as books, back in the last century.  And
maybe that's OK.

Bill

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