eBook Design
Written by David on January 9th, 2009Hugh McGuire at The Book Oven Blog brings up an intriguing point that I hadn’t considered previously:
eBooks, and digital devices are a different medium, they call for a whole new design approach. The constraints are different, the reader’s needs different, and so how you’ll design a text is going to be different. I was shocked that with the iPod, the small screen actually seems to me an *advantage* over the paper book in some ways. And so where Kindle & Sony Reader have tried to reinvent the book in electronic form, using the same kinds of design principles, the ereaders on the iPhone/iPod have instead tried to build a new kind of design/interaction standard into existing constraints of devices people already have.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what kind of effects the rapidly growing readership of ebooks and the medium itself will have on writing. Will books or paragraphs or sentences become shorter on average? Might we see the resurgence of the novella? Or will there be little or no effect at all? I’ll have a post next week on how writers might effectively tailor their books for a world in which more books are read on ebook readers and, just as importantly, a world in which far more books are published due to the relative ease of ebook publication.
Hugh goes on to point to a new open-access electronic journal launched by graduate students at the University of Toronto’s iSchool, Scroll: Essays on the Design of Electronic Text.
Yes, lots of people are thinking about this.
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9
AM
Thanks for this, and for the link to Book Oven.
I’m asking the same questions, both as a reader and a writer.
I’m working on a new book, so most of my brainpower is devoted to researching and writing it.
But a BIG chunk of my brain wonders: by the time I finish writing this book, will anyone still be “reading?”
And what WILL a “book” look like in 2011 (which is when my next book will likely come out).
It’s hard to imagine that it will roll off a printing press with its hardcover and paper jacket . . . .
But who knows?
And then there’s the nature of the research itself, which in my case (I’m a historian) has changed dramatically in just the past couple of years, as more documents, especially obscure newspapers, are digitized.
Certainly my first three books were much easier to write: everyone knew what a “book” was and the conventions of publishing were just that: conventions. We all knew the score.
These days? Not so much.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and the link to Book Oven.
9
AM
Maureen, my guesses are:
1. People will most definitely still be reading
2. You and your publisher may not want to spend the money on the printed volumes that are not pre-sold
3. You will have to work even harder to get your book noticed
4. But that the rewards, both the financial rewards and the impact of your work, will be potentially much greater if you succeed
But, as you say, who knows?
In any case, fear not and keep writing.
9
AM
Well, I like your thinking with point 4.
And for point 2: yes, I suspect the whole “print run” thing is in the process of being re-thought (after all, it’s based on an antiquated system of producing the physical object.
So, too, that damn “returns” system that the publishers and booksellers use, which makes no sense to no one and drives everyone nuts.
In fact, I bet the entire system will operate differently.
But as you say: keep writing.
It’s the only thing writers can do because none of us know what will happen.
So: onward.
10
AM
Yes, keep writing, so that readers like me have something to do whether we’re curled up in a nice comfy chair, sitting in the shade on a warm day, or working through the previous day’s ingestion.
11
PM
What’s a Page?
Reading e-books is a whole different physiological and psychological process AND it’s different if you’re reading on a backlit device or an eInk device.
Psychologically, there are just some who can’t wrap their heads around the fact that there is no such thing as a “page” in properly formatted e-books and no, I don’t think PDF is a proper e-book format.
But that’s me.
12
AM
Call me old-fashioned, but I spend most of my day on a computer. When I read, I do it for enjoyment and for a break from the computer screen. I love the physicality of a good book. I like the weight in my hands. I like the smell. I really hope this form doesn’t go away.