'Now Is the Hour of the eReader'

A recent Maimi Herald article investigated how the old order of bookshops and publishers is responding to the 'attack' of technology on the traditional bookselling world, readers and reading. ( As a discussion point it seems to sit nicely with the interesting comments some of us have been making about ebooks in the blogs, as opposed to the traditional form where smell and feel of real texts is so important. )

At first glance it seems like a disaster.  Borders Bookstore chain gone in the US, 400 stores closed and 11000 employees out of work.  But is it really that bad? Will the art of reading die, and what of the very concept of literacy?    What it certainly is is a real shakeup for the publishing industry as it has existed.  No longer will limited store hours and out of stock items be a problem.

But what is the situation?  The ereader, that little device that you read on, buy books on, allows for a multimedia experience and in February this year outsold  all other book formats for the first time.  All this has happened since 2007 when Amazon Kindle and Sony reader both appeared replacing the existing clumsy and fringe product that they had previously been.  Ebook sales are in fact expected to break the billion dollar mark this year in the US alone. They have changed the book industry forever and it is dffficult to comprehend just where it will all end.