03-09-2009, 01:11 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 455
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Read an E-Book Week 2009
Read an E-Book Week, March 8-14, has again surpassed expectations for 2009, and become a great portal for those seeking information, references, special deals and providers of all things e-book!
A happy confluence of hardware and software have put e-books on the radar of Joe and Jane Average, and served to create unprecedented growth in a previously slow-moving industry. Reading on existing handheld devices, like cellphones, PDAs and Blackberries, continues to grow as people discover how easy, convenient and cheap it can be to carry your books with you, wherever you go, to read at any free moment. At the same time, the e-ink display has spawned a wealth of reading devices that consumers insist are as comfortable to read as paper. Add the marketing savvy of Amazon (whose Kindle reader and e-book service is one of the fastest-growing segments of the e-book market), and the public exposure gained through being featured on Oprah Winfrey's show, and you have an explosion of interest in e-books that is nuclear in proportion.
All of this interest has finally gotten the attention of major publishers and authors, many of whom ignored the e-book field in the past... but who realize it is now in their best interests to join in on the fun. Veteran authors are being joined by new and independent authors in offering their material for e-book formats, and they are being paid more attention to by a publishing industry that is seeking to keep itself healthy and look to the future. New selling paradigns are being developed for e-books, and novel delivery systems are taking advantage of the best aspects of the web and digital delivery systems.
And the public is learning to appreciate the many globally-positive aspects of e-books: The web provides for a truly international market for literature, with instant availability and format flexibility that printed material cannot manage easily, if at all. Further, the environmental advantages of e-books... their small carbon footprint, the removal of the infrastructure and resultant environmental damage devoted to the production of paper, and the extreme portability and economy inherent in electronic storage, all add up to a very green, efficient and easy source of entertainment and information.
The future is bright for e-books. Even now, the next area awaiting a major e-book breakthrough--educational literature and textbooks--is being developed. Soon, schoolchildren around the world may not have to be concerned about carrying scores (or even hundreds) of pounds of heavy textbooks with them, and textbook buyers may not have to fret about expensive books that become obsolete in just 1-2 years' time. And children that barely had access to textbooks may soon have entire libraries of texts at their fingertips, anywhere in the world. The advantages of e-books will ensure that the new format becomes the dominant delivery mechanism for text in the 21st century, the first paradign shift in literature delivery since the invention of the printing press.
E-books have finally pushed to the top of the slope, and are now rolling free, and gathering momentum, on the other side. Just try and keep up! Visit www.ebookweek.com to get information about e-books, find e-book sellers, and get in on some great freebies during this week.
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Steven Lyle Jordan: Original SF so good, Fox would never put in on the air. |
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