The Bookseller.com

11th October 2008

Philip Jones is the managing editor of theBookseller.com. He will blog with links and comment about the book business.

Is the e-book over already?

16.05.08

Writing in the Guardian, columnist Simon Jenkins thinks that the book is, after all, not dead. He has a whole host of reasons: "Cherie Blair loves them, so does John Prescott, Lord Levy, Jordan, Gordon Ramsay, Banksy, Danniella Westbrook and almost any name you care to mention."

Removing his tongue from his cheek for a moment, Jenkins reckons that because these celebrities believe their lives must be honoured with a book "proves the overpowering usefulness, the sheer vitality, of the form to all who live under the capacious roof of modern culture".

Jenkins' words will be music to the ears of most publishers and booksellers who clearly remain to be convinced that they have a profitable future in digital: "Long after emails have been wiped, tapes have decayed, CDs have rusted and computers have crashed, dusty books will remain as silent witnesses on the shelf. Power lies in their simplicity and indestructibility. They are a habit we will never kick. We love them because we know they are for ever."

Interestingly, the piece has so far received far fewer comments than is usual on the Guardian's blog pages: perhaps Jenkins' argument is just too convincing. "It isn't time to sell shares in paper companies" as one of the commentators puts it.

Even the Borders chairman Luke Johnson doesn't believe that books have met their iPod moment--and his company has just begun selling an e-book reader, the iLiad. As everyone seems to know, Waterstone's was due to launch with a Sony device during the summer, but this has now been delayed till September. Why? Something to do with Sony apparently. Either way, not a good sign.

So is the e-book dead in the water?

My colleagues Anna Richardson and Graeme Neill have each both received iLiads as part of a press trial of the device following the Borders launch. Their blogs will follow over the next week as they grapple with the device. My first impression is that "grapple" is the correct term to use. Graeme was scared of breaking it, while Anna was worried it would get nicked. And probably not by any book lovers.

Of course digitisation is about more than the e-book, and the book--at least the one Jenkins cherishes--is more than just the sum of its packaging: but print lovers can perhaps sleep a little easier—at least till the Kindle 2.0 makes its way across the pond.

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