The Bookseller.com

4th July 2008

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Publishers face up to digital

13.02.08

The slow death of the book may be with us, reckons the Times. "Given the advantages of the humble book, it seems inconceivable that it could ever be replaced by an electronic reader. But, just as the music, film and television industries have been forced to grapple with the consequences of the internet, publishers are facing up to the digital threat."

Bibliophiles may want to gather every Kindle at loose in the world and build an e-book pyre, but this will not stop the technology advancing. Would an e-book burning elicit the same horror as a real-book burning? Is it the paper or the words written on it that count?

It may be difficult, and painful, to predict that the e-book will vanquish the real-book, but publishers have to work on the assumption that it could happen.

The Times

digital publishers