It’s the End of the Book as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Our childhood experiences shape our expectations later in life, and whole generations are growing up with the expectation that entertainment will be available whenever they want it, wherever they are. This will have a profound effect on… everything, including books.
He understands.
Does anyone in print publishing understand?
Does anyone who writes understand?
Does anyone on the frikkin Internet understand?
Print publishers, writers, and eejitastic Internet “pundits” dismiss something such as Vook.
They don’t understand: You’re not their market.
You’re too damned old.
Your age group is dicking around with waste-of-money Kindles and Sony Readers so you can see the text by enlarging it.
You are used to a words-only paradigm.
You are future-book FAIL.
Hey, I’m videogame FAIL, so I see this clearly. I came in at the dividing line between those who would grab at videogames and those who wouldn’t. I fell on the wouldn’t side.
I’m not the market for videogames.
I’m too damned old.
Disney Digital Books, Vook, and other upcoming entrants are the pioneers for the next generation.
Do you think Toyota and Nissan developed full-blown into Detroit-devouring megacorporations? The first cars they imported into the U.S. were outright junk, the Yugos of their time.
But the Japanese were in it for the long haul.
Detroit wasn’t.
Print publishing doesn’t seem to be in it for the long haul, either. As newspapers and magazines drop dead around them, book publishers think sticking their heads in the sand will save them.
That’s no strategy at all.
Finally, I want it understood once again: digital books are not eBooks. The terms should not be used interchangeably!
Previously here:
How To Properly Integrate Video Into Fiction Digital Books
Eveda: How NOT To Do A Digital Book
Vook Debuts Digital Books
Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Apple + iTablet
Smart Digital Books Vs. The ePub FAIL Model
He Understands Something Is Missing
English-Subtitled Editis Smart Digital Book Video
Why eInk, ePub, And eBooks Will Fail
Dumb eBooks Must Die, Smart eBooks Must Live
ALL eInk Devices: BAD For eBooks!
The eBook Test 
I don’t know about the cynicism about the Kindle and Sony reader. Eventually, these things will be combined with Vooks, so books will be more interactive – like websites. They’re being developed separately but eventually they’ll come together once ereaders can handle the tech.
Actually Mike he understands a part of it. Yes, there will be a new form called the digital book and it will be the kind of thing he writes about – more complex, more ambitious than the Kindle. But that doesn’t mean that books, works composed solely of words that people want to read, will be displaced. Far from it. I’d hate to read a novel and be distracted by all that crap. It would be like all those extras on DVDs that people never watch. Lots of works of non-fiction could be enhanced this way to some advantage – and the extras would be used.
But fiction? What, Moby Dick with video of whales?
Nah….
@Henry: Sony and K are married to eInk tech.
@David: Non-text content in a digital book doesn’t have to be invasive.
1) Digital books will lead to a new storytelling form.
2) All-text books can have added content. See the Enhanced Edition digital book of Nick Cave.
ePub — static, flat text — is not going to preserve the value of books. ePub will inevitably lead to a race-to-the-bottom price war.
I agree completely, digital books should be much more than current e-books. If you’re looking for a sample of a digital book that includes videos and Web links, try:
http://www.mediatechnicscorp.com/pub/ohbobasp/BookOnBrowser.html