Books matter. And books are matter. Technology will surely progress and ebooks may or may not alter the equation, but there will never be anything that tops clutching a book in one's hands, rifling through the pages as one zooms to the conclusion of the story. When holding a book, a reader is able to hold a whole world in their hands. And no technology will ever change that.
Well, this pretty sums it up. This great article at Flak Magazine ponders on the above issue and writer, Iris Blasi, does a great job in telling us how heavily-published author, Margaret Atwood experimented with the idea of doing a book signing at a New York bookstore while actually being in London herself, at the time of the event. And she actually did that on purpose and did sign a few books as well. By the way, when we say "a few" here, we really mean "a few."
Now how stupid for an author so heavily backed by a pockets-full-of-money-publisher to do a such a thing. Doesn't she realise that the guy who wants his copy signed wants more than the signature? He also wants to experience the famous author-reader and only your damn presence that grant him his wish.
This type of book signing of Mrs. Atwood is good for those writers who are relatively unknown and don't have big money to spend to go on book tours. And in any case, these writers usually provide the readers with the author-reader experience by using the latest trends like blogs and podcasts. That's the magic of indie writers: they're part of the reader world too, and they know what will really make us, the readers, happy.
As for those big corporates… only time will tell.
Khalil A.
sky media 