In a recent interview with Stephan King by the WSJ King opened up about where he thinks ereading is going and what publishing will look like. He made some interesting points:
1. He buys physical books even when he owns them digitally. This is for the stamp-collector type who wants to display books.
2. Keyword searching of eBooks is great, especially when no index exist, and lets face it, indexes are not what they used to be.
3. Digital books are great for disposable reading, and that is a large chunk of book sales.
4. Bookstores are empty (I disagree with this one, but hey I’m no Stephen King).
King also mentions that half of his reading is now digital, I would like to know if this includes email and web surfing too?
The writing is on the wall. eBooks are here to stay. If we are not ready, we will be replaced.
The Information Activist Librarian 