The Kindle Changed the Book Business. Can It Change Books?
A very valid point! Kindles and eBook readers have been mimicking the existing paper book format. Yes, we can argue the pro's and con's of that again but personally, I find many more pro's to using my Kindle and I read a good 25 to 30 books per year on it.
But this article poses the question about why are authors and publishers not changing the format and experience of book reading itself considering all the new advances and tools we have now which offer new opportunities. Why are we still reading long-form books broken into serial chapters?
The next phase for the digital book seems likely to not be about trying to resemble print at all. Instead, the next step is for authors, publishers, and readers to take advantage of all the tools now at their disposal and figure out how to reinvent longform reading. Just as filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh are experimenting with what it means to make a "movie" that's really an app on a totally interactive device with a smaller screen, Amazon and the book world are beginning to figure out what's possible when you're not dealing with paper anymore.