Can you imagine a time in which printed hardback and paperback books become as wiped out as payphones?
Although the local bookstore at the street corner still has shelves full of books, these shops may eventually share the similar fate of movie rental stores.
As our world becomes increasingly more digitized, it may leave little room for printed books, physical bookstores and libraries.
From free eBook sites to Apple’s iBookstore, the e-reading trend is steadily finding its way and replacing old-fashioned ways of staying entertained and informed.
Here’s a glance at how eBooks have evolved and impacted education and publishing.
History of eBooks
The Softbook and Gemstar’s Rocket eBook readers were the first electronic book readers to hit the market in 1998, according to Michael Kozlowski, Editor-in-Chief of Good e-Reader.
Two years later, Stephen King’s “Riding the Bullet” was the first released eBook ever.
Throughout the next decade, Sony, Amazon and Barnes & Noble release eBook readers the Librié, Kindle and Nook, respectively.
Then electronic bookstores, such as Books on Board and iBookstore, began to sell eBooks for readers, tablets and smartphones.
Eventually Google launched Google Books and its eBookstore on Google Play, offering books and textbooks for any type of mobile device.
Long-distance Students
Education is also becoming increasingly digital and remote.
As massive open online courses (MOOCs) continue to expand and online academic institutions gain more credibility, the education landscape is breaking away from long-time learning traditions—on-campus classrooms and printed textbooks—to provide alternatives.
Take for example, Penn Foster, an accredited college, high school and career school for online long-distance learning.
In the Medical Coding and Billing program, students can earn an online diploma using a mobile study app and remotely receive expert instruction, student services, study partners, tutoring sessions and career guidance via a laptop or tablet.
Students can complement an online education with electronic textbooks for a completely digital learning experience that is accessible anywhere, anytime.
Emerging Writers
The rise of eBooks provides opportunity and accessibility for emerging writers—opportunity to self-publish a story and accessibility to market themselves.
Writers can easily submit an eBook to an online bookstore for eager readers to discover.
From overcoming the failure of a blank page to actually earning a profit, eBooks have given talented writers a chance to turn their dreams of publishing their words into a reality. Rather than mourn the seemingly unattainable achievement of publishing a book from a top publishing house.
For writers who want to earn extra cash and self-publish, keep in mind InBoundPRO’s expert writing tips from eBook authors who have experienced market success:
- Understand your core audience, seek feedback and write about what your audience wants to read
- Test the market
- Determine what the purpose is for writing your book
- Research and plan properly
- Create an outline and flesh out chapters
- Use outside resources for proofreading
- Don’t dismiss presentation and a great-looking cover
- Work with buyers to make sales
My Opinion
The internet revolution has shown us so many disruptive forces, that it can be difficult to imagine what will all be gone in the next decade.
My imagination can sometimes hardly capture what e.g. technologies under Singularity (AI, 3D, Nano, Bio) will bring to us. Being a non-linear thinker, even I find some disruptive innovations groundbreaking.
I must also admit that I can be a hypocrite sometimes. Why? I do know that ebooks are a no brainer when it comes to education.
I can also understand that printed newspapers will be disappearing in the future. Why would new generations be willing to pay for ‘old news’?
But I seem to have a weakness for the good old paper books, newspapers and magazines. I just like to read hardcopy as well.
When looking at this video, I hope you will keep supporting books. Although I understand that content is more important than packaging.