Tuesday 19 April 2011

The tipping point or the tide

There was much news coverage yesterday on how ebooks sales had overtaken printed book sales in the States. Presumably this is inevitable as we live a more elife than ever.

A few blogs ago I was talking about how covers are so important with physical books but maybe not so with ebooks.

Then I went back to my mother's house where there were shelves of the books I grew up with (inherited from grandparents). All the usual suspects: Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Bronte, Hugo, even Zola.

I remember reading Zola's Germinal in my teens and being spellbound by it.

And then I noted, none of these books have illustrated covers.

People read what is there. Once the words draw you in, it doesn't really matter how they are presented.

I think I will go for tide. Tides come in and go out. I am sure that is how it will be with formats.

1 comment:

Harry Campbell said...

The talk of book covers reminded me of a recent comment piece by a friend of mine: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/25/books-objects-beauty-chick-lit-ugly