I have read several articles recently about the e book revolution and how it is changing not only how we read, publish and advertise our writing but also that the whole industry is in a state of flux from publishing companies to bookshops. As a writer this can be quite exciting, albeit a bit daunting. Personally I feel as if I’m standing on the fringe, on the outside of a revolution watching it happen, almost as if I’m watching a fast action movie, when you’re left in suspense but your brain is trying to tell you it’s not real.
Years ago I had a similar experience in a space simulator at Universal Studios. However hard I told myself that I was sitting in a capsule which was suspended over a 3D screen and that we had barely moved half a metre since the start of the ‘flight’, the signals to my brain were contradicting reality and I felt as if I’d journeyed through several time zones, shooting through the air, narrowly missing buildings towering in front of me. Later on in a theatre I even felt mice rushing under my feet. How did they do that?
I digress. Form all the articles I’ve read, I’ve been gleaning how it all affects me as I write?
- It gives choices barely contemplated a couple of years ago
- It provides opportunities for writing to be available to an audience almost immediately
- With Social Media Networking it is possible to reach that audience equally fast, to all parts of the globe
- The writer appears to have more control over their writing
I’ve said nothing new here so what are the pitfalls:
- Ensuring that the quality of the writing is not undermined
- Not being tempted to short cut the vital editorial process. The final novel should still be as perfect as possible before it reaches the public
- The writer’s time is no longer taken exclusively with the creativity of research, writing and proof reading but in experiencing hands on marketing in a way never seen before, a far cry from the odd book signing or library talk of the past- this can be a positive thing but it is also very time consuming
- The novel itself, the creation which took months of painstaking work, can be read and deleted almost as instantly as it arrived, whoosh, back into the ether
Do you think the two worlds will be able to live amiably side by side for a while?
I do hope so because as a reader there’s nothing quite like reading a real book and there are those I’ve kept for years because I treasure them so much. Sometimes life is just too instant. How do you wrap up an e book to put under the Christmas tree and think of the festive season without anticipation of wondering which book lies inside the wrapping?
Diana Jackson 