Thursday 25 August 2011

Things that scare me...

Are books dead, and can authors survive? - Guardian 22/8/11

This scares me. It scared me on the 4th October 2010, when I wrote about something similar, and actually I haven't really got anything new to add. But the above article did remind me how much I hate the idea.

Thinking back to the way there has been so much uproar over libraries closing, the majority of people feel the same way as me. You don't need a building to house ebooks; therefore, if you want the building, you want the books that are inside them.

When I was younger, imagining my life (in a freezing attic, wearing fingerless gloves) as a writer, I never pictured myself uploading files to a computer. I imagined opening a big box full of first editions. I imagined hardbacked books, with crisp white paper, with a beautifully illustrated front cover. (Do front covers exist in ebook format?) I imagined being able to give my friends and family complimentary, signed copies. (How do you sign an ebook?)

I have not yet had any form of book published. The longer it takes, the less likely my mother will ever get that signed copy - unless something drastic happens.


2 comments:

  1. Your last sentence really struck a chord with me. I hope to be published one day, but I'm less and less certain about what format it will be in. I would like that decision to be mine, but it may not be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know it should be exciting, thinking of all the possibilities epublishing can offer, but still...

    In hindsight, though, I'm probably not as 'scared' as I suggested in the title :-)

    ReplyDelete

Please comment - I love a good chat!

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.