dear John


i too hope we can hold onto that tactile experience for a while


but just like... someone shoves a knife & fork into our hands
when we are still enjoying licking off our fingers

the next generations will be quick to give kids
a screen to read


silent lotus

~

I stand behind what I've written in my essay about the electronic age.  The value of printed literature is especially true when it comes to children and early education.

Wolf

and i guess my final word on this (my decision to publish a meat-world children's book) is my absolute confidence and conviction that i am heading in the right direction.  interestingly (to me, at least), yesterday i started reading George Eliot's 1876 novel DANIEL DERONDA, and it begins with an uncredited quote that reads:

"Let thy chief terror be thine own soul."

Children need a few playthings: books (real ones), colouring books and crayons (real ones), puzzles and other tactile brain toys. A glass and metal slab cannot and will not ever replace those things. My gut tells me that 'old school' books will make a massive resurgence, alongside electronic media, when the novelty of tablets wears thin. 'Comfort' books will be paper; technical books (textbooks, manuals, etc.) will go electronic. If it's to be loved, really loved, it will have to exist in the real world of print. Disposable stuff like magazines and course books will exist in the clouds. The rest, still on our shelves.

Don't think everything has to be so black and white on print or screen. I can read novels quite happily on kindle, whilst preferring to handle poetry in a form that I can leaf through and touch. But if going away for a while, I'd be happy to have several books of poems also in kindle for the convenience, rather than tote the weight and bulk around. The author and publisher get their cut either way. I gather 20% of books are already purchased for the screen, and doubt this is going to go any way but up. I know many publishers don't like this, but I doubt the tide can be stemmed. I think there's room and need for both. I sympathise with the purists in this matter, and respect their position. Even on kindle, I would only buy stuff that had gone through an editor, and maybe there looms a large problem there. There is only a minor problem with self-publishing in print, with vanity publishing, but I can recognize that it could be immense on screen.

milner

Milner,

I agree with what you've written here.  If they ever figure out a way to successfully handle the piracy issue, I'll consider making ERP titles (and magazines) available as e-books. 

As for children's books, although they may be available as e-books, any parent or educator who considers only letting children have e-books is making a serious mistake. 

Wolf

I got a Kindle for my youngest, who associated electronics with fun. Then they started using classroom electronics too to bore him with at school. Oh well.

So I read the first three or four posts on this thread and then skipped to the last page. How the heck did it get from Milner's initial comment to print vs. electronic!?!

Anyway, I think Milner is absolutely right, after writing something the best thing you can do is ask, 'is this boring?' And if it is, the best thing you can do is publish it under a different name.

 @ Stewart - hehehe!

The 'is it boring' question is my personal phobia. Each piece I write, there's that gibbering imp over my shoulder, telling me it's....it's...boring. So I re-work, try again, and even when I do finally post, I'm still worried. Well, thanks Milner, for making this a good thing!  ;)  So long..I've got an imp to feed.

Sharon