I had read a few place, maybe 6-8 months ago, that print sales were up. But that’s clearly changing quickly as more people get digital readers.

Amy: Bravo! You just summed up exactly what I think! It’s a mix between brilliance and short-sightedness.

Rick and Kent: I think the stat is that people are buying more books than ever, but it’s not in the traditional book stores. It’s online and electronically. I just saw an article today that newspapers will stop printing by 2022 and will completely go digital. I suppose our beloved books aren’t far behind.

Erin: I LOVE the idea of not having to carry around, or sell back, text books.

Erik: You may be right about the death of the true editors. It’s scary to think any Tom, Dick, or Harry can now be an author. I like the cache a publisher offers someone.

Caroline: I like “breain!” Kent, do you know if, once people get used to the reader, they begin reading faster/more? I know I read a ton more on the iPad.

Robert: You have an opinion?? Is there a NY Times SM best-selling list?! I’m going for that.

Arya: You’re in the publishing business! You’re the best person to describe to my dear readers what’s happening in your world!

Danny: I have nothing sarcastic to say to you. I think this is a first.

Tom: Really good point about multi-tasking while reading on the iPad. I was doing that in the doctor’s office this morning. No wonder it takes me so long to read a chapter!

Mimi: Smarty pants!!

BJ: Really smart comment about where things are going. So you concur that Seth Godin is brilliant by forgoing the traditional methods in favor of connecting more with his audience?

Sallie: Totally agree that Seth can do some crazy things not everyone can do – he does have 12 best sellers under his belt.

Patti: You can’t really take an eReader into the bathtub, either!

Joe: I think I’d better get to it, too!

Barbara: So, when Seth publishes his next book, but you can’t buy it in a store, will you still read it?

Ed: I agree that both should be able to exist together. We’ll see what happens!

Katie: YAY for English degrees! Really interesting thought that no one has mentioned: The idea that books provide history, culture, and perspective for many generations.

Books last! We have books from hundreds of years ago that tell us about the art, culture, etc. There’s something beautiful about the evolution of print, and bookmaking, about giving a book that you’ve read to someone, who hands it off to someone else, about reading over the crinkled pages of a book you’ve read many times….

Okay so I get it. It’s cheaper to go the Kindle route, for publishers. But I don’t think that books are going away completely. They’ll be printed in smaller quantities, and they’ll be more expensive. On the green note, I’m not sure that creating millions of Kindles that break in two years and end up in a landfill that because they can’t be recycled is more green than books printed on recyclable paper…but I get it.

As for me, I look at my computer screen all day long for work, recipes, booking travel, shopping, and many other things…but when it comes to reading books, I cuddle up, with an actual, physical, book.

In India, the government has backed an R&D effort to develop an inexpensive electronic think pad (similar in size to Apple’s i-pad. Their finished product costs $35.00 (that’s not a misprint) and they hope to get it down to $10.00 with the backing of a “undisclosed” business partner. This device was created for third world countries and their school populations. It surfs the internet, sends and receives e-mails and has a simple word processor. It doesn’t have a hard drive, but has a thumb-drive for storage of memory.

Our own public schools are on the verge of going digital for study materials, as well as gaming programs designed to educate and the days of print text are coming to an end. Not a matter of if…simply when.

When $35 think-pads are available, the culture will adapt to electronic readers the same way we have adopted cell phones and texting as the new norm.

I like the feel of paper myself, but this change is not just on the horizon, it’s zooming past the gate where we’re standing.

As an unpublished author, it would be personally difficult to market my own vanity publication(s), not to mention the expense. That’s where a publisher is worth his/her weight; with all the resources to effectively and successfully get a book printed, into bookstores, and support it with experienced marketing strategies.

I’d say that each medium has its place and time… and both can/should co-exist to satisfy the needs and pleasures of our diverse corps of readers.

As for me; give me a good book anytime!

…

The literary genius, I agree, could be obtained from reading either a traditional or electronic form of a book. But there’s so much more to engagement.

Where would we all go to be able to simply walk through a doorway and be able to lose ourselves in the rapture of a myriad of touchable, literary works of art in all sizes and shapes, from the most incredible to the simplest piece of cover art, photos so compelling that you want to jump into them, not to mention the endless variations of fonts used to create the type? How could we ever replace the feeling of those cool, smooth pages under our palms, some as delicate as butterfly wings, or the intoxicating smell of a book, new or old, so heady that it can make you giddy with delight?

At last, there’s the weight of the book itself in your arms, not to mention the gush of excitement that’s felt while standing in the long line at the register, giving you the opportunity to discreetly peer at the titles of other’s books, wanting nothing more than to shout “comrade!”

I felt exactly like this when I purchased one of Mr. Godin’s books. Isn’t that just another form of engagement, one with long-lasting effects?