Boing Boing had a link to a very interesting story on the state of publishing books from New York magazine. Their coverage can be found here Cory Doctorow gives a good analysis as a lead and certainly is qualified to do so. He has been tinkering with publishing strategies for some time now.
A good amount of the story concerns itself with the Amazon Kindle. I have been seeing these a lot more on the airplane on Wednesdays. They appear cool enough although quite expensive. I think what can not be underestimated is the physical good that is the book. It is the same with CD’s. I want to buy books. I want to have books. I love to look at them lined on the shelf. I like to look at the dust flaps and read the turn-ins. Onto CD’s – I also like to look at them stacked up on the shelf, read the liner notes, etc. Although almost any music you could ever want is readily available I still am buying the discs. Outside of the moral reason of supporting the bands I love I just want them. My lovely bride spoke the other day of acquiring a family heirloom bookshelf that would be nicer but smaller than mine. I thought – we don’t need less room – we need more! I will never stop building my collection, ever!
Here is the direct link
