TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL
BOOK TO THE Future Author Rodge Glass considers the demise of the paperback and the bright future of multi-platform publishing
I t’s not quite meltdown yet. The good news is, some stories are projected to sell well in the coming year – the adventures of a young magician, the new Dan Brown, also some book called The Bible. But a combination of the worldwide recession and the virtual implosion of the music industry has made the rest of the book industry nervous. Will literature be next? Will books die out?
While writers were distracted by the Kelman- inspired Quality vs Popularity debate, much of the talk among insiders at this year’s Edinburgh Book Festival was about whether there would soon be any industry at all. Publishers are concerned that downloadable ebooks will increasingly be shared, like music files, and publishers will get bypassed. The next generation of readers will just download new books and enjoy them on their ereaders for nothing. There are some interesting pockets of evidence, though, which suggest possible ways forward. Not everyone is hoping technology will just quietly go away. And one Scottish publisher is faster than most when it comes to preparing for the future. Edinburgh’s Canongate has grown hugely since its breakthrough 2001 Booker success, The Life of Pi. Since then it has looked for radical ways to not only adapt to the changing literary
landscape but also to form it. In August Nick Cave’s fantastic new novel The Death of Bunny Munro was a Canongate world-first, a multi- platform release appearing as book, ebook, 7CD audio book replete with Cave-penned soundtrack, and also as an app for the iPhone. Not everyone can write their own soundtrack for their books, but Canongate also has plans to release David Simon’s books for The Wire as downloadable audio books too, as well as a little-known author from Hawaii, Barack Obama. Canongate’s Digital Editor, Dan Franklin, is at the forefront of these innovations. He says: ‘As more readers are distracted by other mediums, we need to find ways to reach people through the internet.’ But will this mean the end of old-fashioned books on paper? Franklin doesn’t think so: ‘The relationship between ebooks and books is developing all the time, but they’re not in competition with each other. Ebooks just provide another medium for stories to be told.’ All of which bodes well for the future health of the industry. Meanwhile, there’s another interesting development taking place, at the other end of the technological scale. All this online spread has also led to a burgeoning of the live scene, with authors infiltrating music festivals like Latitude, inspired by the European
tradition made famous by Denmark’s Roskilde, which has been including writers for years alongside comedy and music. This performance aspect, especially among young writers, is something particularly evident in Scotland, where the amount of Book Festivals, book launches and crossover nights has mushroomed in the last decade. Canongate’s Head Editor, Francis Bickmore, who runs his own live night in Edinburgh, ‘Kin’, believes this is another important development. He says: ‘At a time when we’re increasingly beholden to our screens, there has been an explosion in people going out and enjoying the live experience. I think it’s a lovely counterpoint.’ So maybe publishers shouldn’t be jumping out of their office windows in despair just yet. Every crisis provides an opportunity. As the arts increasingly bleed into each other, and as technology makes it easier for people to choose how they want to experience literature, perhaps the publishing industry shouldn’t fear change, it should be brave and actually embrace it.
5 OF THE BEST: E-READERS
AMAZON, KINDLE 2 Expect wireless download times of less than 60 seconds a book when the second incarnation of this machine finally hits UK shores. Amazon’s dreaded DRM means no chance of sharing the 1500 possible titles it can hold though. Currently only available in the US through www.amazon.com, although a UK release is rumoured to be imminent. WORDPLAYER FOR ANDROID Although it had teething problems
with book formatting and scrolling pages, this app is one of the most popular and most promising on Android (Google’s mobile phone). One of the simplest e-reader formats on offer, where a page can be turned with just the flick of a wrist. Free to download from www.word- player.com SONY READER, PRS-600 TOUCH EDITION Store up to 350 tiles on the reader’s inbuilt memory, or add a further 16GB of storage – a whopping 13,000
ebooks – with an SD card. The nifty touch screen makes things easier too, though the glare may get infuriating on a sunny escape. £249.99 from www.sony.co.uk BOOKEEN, CYBOOK OPUS One of the sleekest and sexiest e- readers on offer, the Cybook Opus is half the weight of a Kindle, and comes with an easy to read high-res screen and 1GB storage capacity. SD card support too means this is perfect for your pocket. Available from Pixmania, Waterstone’s, WH Smith
and Dixons in the UK, priced at £199 complete with 75 pre-loaded titles. INTEREAD, COOL-ER EREADER The flashy British competitor in the market has been called the budget Kindle, and with eight pretty colours to choose from and MP3 support, it appears value for money. A lack of wireless and poor controls have infuriated a few, however. Priced at £189 online and through select UK distributors including Argos and Borders. (Thomas Meek)
26 THE LIST 8–22 Oct 2009