Comments on: The Future of Books, Spring Edition by Peter Osnos http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/07/the-future-of-books-spring-edition-by-peter-osnos/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:18:54 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Steve Jordan http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/07/the-future-of-books-spring-edition-by-peter-osnos/comment-page-1/#comment-1033497 Steve Jordan Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:34:09 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/?p=20056#comment-1033497 I suspect Peter has fallen into that familiar trap that traditional publishers have laid out for the unsuspecting to tumble into... the idea that their existent Big Pub business and revenue model must be maintained, or the industry will die. This is simply not true, as any number of other industries can attest. To his other points, he downplays the practical differences between print and digital documents that are becoming more significant by the day, and like many others, he dismisses the real economy of e-books, the economy of production (and resultant lessening of environmental impact). These factors will drive the rise of e-books and the decline of print books, not "dewy-eyed sentiment." I suspect Peter has fallen into that familiar trap that traditional publishers have laid out for the unsuspecting to tumble into… the idea that their existent Big Pub business and revenue model must be maintained, or the industry will die. This is simply not true, as any number of other industries can attest.

To his other points, he downplays the practical differences between print and digital documents that are becoming more significant by the day, and like many others, he dismisses the real economy of e-books, the economy of production (and resultant lessening of environmental impact). These factors will drive the rise of e-books and the decline of print books, not “dewy-eyed sentiment.”

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