In An Era Of Immediacy, Why Fear The E-Book?

by Eric Weiner writing for NPR

Paper Or Electronic? How does the medium by which you read affect your experience?

A photo illustration shows a hand holding a pile of books, emerging from a laptop screen
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Paper Or Electronic? How does the medium by which you read affect your experience?
How much do you love your e-reader? Author Jen Lancaster may savor the paperback experience, but she isn't giving up her Kindle anytime soon.
Eric Weiner, a former reporter for NPR, is author of "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World."

The other day I was in a cafe when I noticed a woman reading on a Kindle, Amazon's clunky, oddly quaint e-reader. "Do you like it?" I asked. "Yes," she said, beaming. "It's great. I can travel with 200 books, a library at my fingertips." Being an insecure author (is there any other kind?), I asked if my book happened, just happened, to be among those lucky 200. She punched a few keys on her Kindle, and up popped my book. Well, not my book exactly, but the same words that appear in my book. There's a difference. The printed word has a permanence, a finality to it that digital "ink" lacks. Digital words are provisional, always subject to change. Call me Ishmael. No, call me … Brad. Yes, that's much better.

The fact is that books are special. Why else are we so careful not to bend their spines?

Much of the talk about e-books has focused either on technical issues or questions of pricing, but that misses the point. The technology will improve, especially now that Apple is in the game. And I'm confident that I'll still get my fair share from each e-book sold. But as an author, I'm not after your money. Well, not only your money. I have my sights on a much more precious commodity: your time. We enter into an unspoken pact, you and I: Give me a few hours, stolen moments on the subway or after the kids are asleep, and I promise to inform and entertain you. Frankly, that's always been a tough sell, given the sundry ways you can spend your time, but at least I had a fighting chance. Curled up with a pinot noir and my book, your attention was mine to lose. Not anymore. The new generation of e-books will, in essence, merge the laptop and the book. Now if my narrative starts to drag, or I digress, readers can click onto their favorite news site to see what's up with health care, or click onto TMZ to see what's up with Brangelina. How do I compete with that?
Read the rest of Weiner's piece at NPR.