Beyond the South End

My life is an open book.

The Death of Pen and Paper

 

With the closing of The Reading Corner on Main Street in Rockland, are we seeing the appearance of but one more nail in the coffin of the written word on actual pen and paper? Let’s examine the facts and try to look into the future of the possible forms of the written word in the future.

If you remember, it wasn’t that long ago when the book store which occupied part of the bottom floor of what used to be the Bonnar Vawter manufacturing building on Camden Street went out of business too. What’s left is one used book store on Main Street, Hello Hello Books. You can find my book there.

Why did The Reading Corner close? According to a story in a recent Free Press, owner Warren Bodine says that changes in the book industry and the rise of online book retailers like Amazon.com is a big reason for the closure. He says, “It’s just a different market out there now.”

Let’s talk about the big box store online, Amazon. Stephen King doesn’t have much good to say about the online behemoth. Amazon has not been kind to writers. Such things as making independent writers submit to Amazon’s own printing process is one thing that irks me in particular. They will also drop a writer for apparently no reason at all.

By the way, my book, “The South End” can be found there. They say they have copies when in fact they only “have” them when you request it. They will get the book at my own publishing site to pass on to the reader. I’m not sure I want any future book of mine posted on Amazon or any other online retailer.

I could rant some more, but I’d like to talk about digital “readers” for a minute or two.

As much as I’d like to make my next book available to those of you who prefer your “digital” reader devices, I’m hesitant to trust the owners of these devices and the manner in which they sell “books” to readers. The writer doesn’t get as much of a royalty as they do for an actual “pen and paper” book. They claim that the volume of books sold is higher, therefore making up for the lower royalty, but I’m skeptical about that answer. I also do not trust that there may be a way for “book crooks” to steal your book by copying it somehow. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I don’t think so.

Now I will agree that a digital reader is convenient, easy to use, etc. etc. For those people with sight problems who could only read a book from the library that came in big print, the readers are a godsend as the reader can magnify the type as big as they need to. Will I ever buy a reader? I don’t know at this point.

Then there are those of us who still like to hold a book in their hands; to be able to flip back and forth easily; to put a marker in where we left off.  We like how they look on our bookshelves. It’s like a status symbol to some. To smell the ink in a newly purchased book is the same as smelling the insides of a new car.

And what about newspapers and magazines? Will we see them sold exclusively online in the near future? It looks like things are going that way already. Again, I like to hold a newspaper in my hand; fold the crossword puzzle so I can figure it out. I do have an online subscription to the Village Soup and have passed on some stories to my Facebook friends from the site. But I also get The Courier Gazette through the mail. I often cut something out and stick it in my “blog to-do pile” to be used later. Many of you may know that I come from a long line of “newspaper” people. My family all worked at The Courier at one time or another. Brother Ted, of course, went on to become a bureau chief for the Bangor Daily News. There is printer’s ink in my veins therefore.

Nanci works as a distributor of books and magazines. She puts up all those materials for grocery stores and the like. She reports that her employer is already looking for ways to diversify because of a slowdown in the sale of written material of the pen and ink variety. However, Nanci said that actual books were a big seller this Christmas. I suspect that there are a lot of older folks like me who may have gotten a book for a present as it’s one of the most popular gifts to give someone. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. Let’s hope that tradition continues for just a little while yet.

How do I handle my own written materials? Do I back up my stories and other work with a written copy? You bet I do. Every story you see here has a written copy in a binder somewhere. At this point in my blogging career, I have several binders. If you want to look at a whole year’s archive, I’ll hand that year to you if you come to visit me.

My book is on a flash drive, plus my publisher has a drive too. Then again, I have the written book, don’t I?

What does the future of “pen and paper” hold then? Think about the Library of Congress. Will it become known as an ancient depository of “real books?” When will they stop accepting books from authors for deposit in the library? My book is there. At least it will become an ancient relic if nothing else.

I believe that as long as there are writers to put the words out there, there will be readers to read them. What format gets the words to the readers is another kettle of fish altogether.

Remember the burning of the books in Germany by the Nazis? Remember the book called Farenheit 451 where books were outlawed and any found were burned? Ray Bradbury, the writer of that book in 1953, figured out that Farenheit 451 was the “autoignition” point of paper, thus the name of the book.  Do we want a world without books?

Thanks for listening to my ranting. Go read a “real book”, please.

Correction:

January 13: I would like to correct the phrase above which reads: "I'm hesitant to trust the owners of these devices..." to "I'm hesitant to trust the manufacturers of these devices..."