The value of a print book in the digital age

30 October 2013 by Admin in Book publishing

Yet another great article from Publishing Perspectives here. It’s arguing about the value in this digital age of print in certain sectors and it’s an argument that we at Infinite Ideas constantly engage with.

The rise of e-books over the last few years has been a phenomenon; the effect they have had on the (pretty antiquated) business of publishing is reflected in the range and scope of the e-reading technology now available. In the same way as the rise of TV was seen by many as the death knell of radio, there has been a cry that e-books will replace print books entirely some time very soon. I think this is true in some sectors (think mass market paperbacks – always as a physical offering something of a disposable item, given to charity shops or left in hotel rooms once read). Of course, consumers switching to digital has affected the music and the newspaper industries too; the question is how to continue to monetarise content which people now expect to get either for free or at least very cheaply.

In an attempt to do just that, Kevin Kelly has published a large format collection of reviews around his Cool Tools website, called A Catalogue of Possibilities. It sounds perfect as a web offering and he starts off by making some interesting observations about printed books:

Paper is old. You can’t search it, you can’t easily share favorites, you can’t instantly click to get items, you can’t haul it in your virtual library device. The web and Kindle are so much better that way.

Hmm – not the best start for lovers of Mr Caxton’s legacy. But it does get better. He goes on…

There is something very powerful at work on large pages of a book. Your brain begins to make naturally associations between tools in a way that it doesn’t on small screens. The juxtapositions of diverse items on the page prods the reader to weave relationships between them, connecting ideas that once seemed far apart. The large real estate of the page opens up the mind, making you more receptive to patterns found in related tools. There’s room to see the depth of a book in a glance.

The upshot is that he decided, for the benefit of the user experience, to publish his collection of reviews in print. This idea is something dear to our hearts at Infinite Ideas. Whilst it is undeniable that some content simply lends itself better to being produced in electronic format only, the print book is not going to die out.

Printed books have a physical presence – they are often things of beauty in their own right, things to be valued and we’d argue that have a physical as well as an emotional connection to the reader. Picking up a life-changing novel that you read at the age of eighteen can be a moving experience in its own right. Just look at the cookery book sector. Sure, most recipes these days can be found on the web, but there’s nothing quite like picking up an old favourite. It’s the way it falls open at much-loved recipes, stains from spilt Rioja. It becomes a book of memories as well as of recipes.

Printed books still have a high perceived value. Kelly is charging $40 for A Catalogue of Possibilities – much more than he could have done for an e-book. You pay that money and you don’t throw the book away. And that’s what we tell many of our authors who publish books with us to promote their businesses. A physical book has authority, it has value and it stays in the life of the reader. As a means of communicating with an intended audience, print books still very much have their place.