NYT article gives shallow reasons for not embracing ebooks
The New York Times website is probably where I get most of my news on a daily basis. I like their style and their articles are informative and well-written. So you can imagine my surprise when I read this article entitled: ‘With Kindle, can you tell it’s Proust?’
The NYT really stooped to a new low with this article. It’s nothing more than a fluff piece with superficial arguments on why the Kindle, or any ebook reader for that matter, won’t catch on. But first we get a quote from an author who actually does not want people buying her book on the Kindle:
Anne Fadiman, the author, was relieved to learn that her essay collection, “Ex Libris,” was not available on Kindle. “It would really be ironic if it were,” she said of the book, which evokes her abiding passion for books as objects.
“There’s a little box on Amazon that reads ‘Tell the publisher I’d like to read this book on Kindle,’” she said. “I hope no one tells the publisher.”
Well Anne, I hope your wish comes true and your collection of essays stays in good old fashion print format. But don’t come whining to me (or anyone else for that matter) when you start losing readers for your lack of acceptance of this emerging technology – and the profits that go with it.
(Note: I did, by the way, go to Amazon’s site to “Tell the publisher I’d like to read” Anne’s book on the Kindle. Take that!)
Superficiality taken to a new level
Stubborn authors aside, the main gist of the article is where the fluff really starts flying. Take this though-provoking paragraph:
TO some book lovers and editors, there are myriad reasons to deplore the Kindle. Publishers will no longer get the bump that comes when travelers see someone reading, say, the latest James Patterson and say to themselves: “I’ve been meaning to get that. I think I’ll buy a copy at Hudson News before I hop on the train.”
Just how big of a “bump” do books get from travelers seeing what someone else is reading? I doubt it’s even noticeable. And as Joe Wilkert pointed out, writing for Teleread, ebooks offer all sorts of marketing for books that includes email blasts, social networking, etc.
My favorite from the NYT article has to be the quote from executive VP of Simon & Schuster David Rosenthal:
He uses a Sony Reader for manuscripts “because it’s easier than schlepping them home,” but doesn’t read books for pleasure on the device. “It’s certainly convenient, but I still haven’t gotten around to reading a finished published book on it,” Mr. Rosenthal said. “For me, it feels awkward to have a metal tablet as opposed to a book.”
Does that even make sense? He obviously sees the “convenience” factor of the Sony Reader, and reads manuscripts on the device, yet finds it awkward to read a published book on the Reader? Either he’s not really reading manuscripts as he claims he is, or he’s even more stubborn than our author friend Anne mentioned above.
I think I read on novel on my Sony Reader and I was used to it. Now I can happily engross myself in any ebook and forget I’m reading on a “metal tablet”.
There are other bits and pieces of superficiality mentioned in the NYT article, but I won’t even give them the time of day. And while the article is more or less about the Kindle, it’s really about ebook readers and ebooks in general.
We ebook lovers have to face it that there are still people out there who refuse to see the value that ebooks offer the reader, the author and even the publisher. The ‘common sense’ of ebooks could smack these people in the face and they’d still walk around in their own oblivious little world.
What’s the solution? I think it’s education, good marketing and producing quality ebooks. I think that even the most snobbish, stubborn of readers will eventually come around to the ebook side, but we have a lot of work to do getting to that point.
What’s your superficial reason for not embracing ebooks? People not seeing what you’re reading? People not knowing how big your library is? Leave a comment below and I promise not to laugh to hard at you!
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