Following on from a few blogs ago, I wonder whether my views are clouded by what I think the e-book is trying to do - replace novels - rather than see its true potential. A portable fount of information. The ideal platform for reference books.
When I worked for Mondadori in London hundreds of years ago, I became very attached to my Random House Dictionary. When I was editing books on plants, I could look up tripartite leaf and as well as the explanation there was a drawing. It was brilliant.
Printed dictionaries are often restricted by space which means you don't always get a clear definition of a word being used in context.
Maybe publishers should concentrate on making their reference archives e-bookable, rather than worry about novels. Reference is the shed-end of publishing rather than the celeb-end. But, goodness, there's a lot of people out there who love to potter.
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