eBooks: A body bag for books?

Are we ready to let go of the humble book and fully embrace its digital counterpart? Sienna shares the Part C, Form a View, from her Gold Arts Award.

eBooks: A body bag for books?

Everyone loves it: that cracking of the spine as you open a new novel.

A lot is made of the sensation of burying your nose between the pages and filling your nostrils with the perfume of paper. Running your hand over the silkiness of the cover untarnished by fingerprints. Tracing the swirling, vinyl sticker text of the title and opening the leaves to delve into a deluge of words.

Okay, maybe a little too much – you can tell I love the feel of a novel in my hands. I've always preferred reading from paper. For me, it's the satisfying smack of when two ends of a hardback cover come together – it's just not the same as tapping a screen.

I can understand the appeal of eBooks, but whilst I use my tablet for almost everything – everything apart from reading – the published volume is relief from the screen. So why do the majority of my contemporaries own an eBook and rarely buy paperbacks?

Let the stats speak

Launched in 2007, Amazon's Kindle sales grew rapidly and just four years later were worth £13 million worldwide. So should publishers be worried? Here in the UK, the sales of eBooks flew with £393 million being spent in 2014. With 47% of adult fiction being bought digitally, everyone predicted the painful death of the printed tome.

However, new figures suggest eBook sales are slowing and the printed book is making a comeback. Waterstones have even decided to stop stocking Kindles and use the space to house paper editions. Sony has discontinued their range of e-readers after lack of interest.

Is the obituary of the book premature?

To me, the eBook screams hectic commuter. A thin sliver of plastic that you can cram in an overhead, almost weightless, something you can take anywhere. However, as a student, I can't imagine owning such a device. As it is, I already spend more time than is healthy glaring at blue-light which often results in headaches – for me, reading offers welcome relief for my eyes. And not only that - to me a book is beautiful. Those scrawling chapter headings and tense paragraph breaks only heighten the experience.

The initial worry of the death of the book has resulted in more effort being made with the design and production of many titles. Beautiful and appealing cover art is now seen as essential as the quality of words inside. If books are to compete with tech, their creators need to rethink designs and cover illustrations. Some publishers have said they will print on better quality paper and produce prettier dust-jackets.

Paper Perfection

Sharon Biggs-Waller, author of A Mad, Wicked Folly comments:

"I usually purchase eBooks that I know I won't want to keep on my shelves, such as quick reads, paperback releases, non-fiction books. But I prefer to read actual books. I love to look at the book's cover and its design, plus I love the feel and smell of the paper and the sound the pages make as I turn them. I also love bookmarks and bookplates. From a professional point of view, it's great to have my books available in every form. eBooks don't require storage and they tend to have a better pay-through rate. Bookstores can return books if they don't sell, so that can be a disadvantage to a writer's bottom line. Having said that, myself and most of my writer friends sell more books than eBooks."

For me, a book holds another story too, one that's held in the stitching and smells. Books are a memory – my favourite Enid Blyton from when I was a child or my grandmother's battered copy of Nancy Drew. No matter how technology has advanced, that familiar friendly feeling cannot be replicated.

Everyone knows technology is growing and perhaps this is literature's way of responding. So was the glorious eBook revolution was just a fad? I'm sure there'll be much more drama before we find out.


Author

Sienna James

Sienna James Voice Team

Formerly Assistant Editor, Sienna now studies History of Art at the University of Cambridge and loves to write about the intersection of politics, history and visual art. Sienna is author of the Creative Education and Instaviews series.

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1 Comments

  • Luke Taylor

    On 27 March 2017, 09:18 Luke Taylor Contributor commented:

    I always prefer paperback, as it just feels so much more natural. With an ebook, you're literally staring at a screen for ages, which isn't particularly healthy for your eyes.

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