Communications and Media

Institution The Future of Books

    Millions of books are published every year, ranging from academic books used in schools to novels read for leisure. Merely a decade or two ago, a book used to be any written work printed on several pages made of paper, bound together on the side, and protected by a cover on the front and back, with the front cover usually bearing the title of the work and the authors name. However, as our society moved towards the digital age and everything is going online, books have been gradually integrated into the electronic media. There are a lot of questions in digitizing books, and these concerns are of vital importance in the ever-changing society. However, the main question remains what will happen to printed books

    As many books are going online-- making it more easily accessible for the readersthe societys reading habits have changed. The biggest changes are likely to be related to the perception of young people towards a book like how they treated CD albums when downloadable music has been introduced (Economist Intelligence Unit EIU, 2010).

    The emergence of e-reader devices has also changed the books and reading lifestyle of many people. These reader devices have also changed the conventional reading practices of readers. Since the introduction of Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and other reader devices meant for e-books, the different online bookstores started to provide downloadable books for readers. Manufacturers of these electronic devices boast of the advantages of eBook reader devices. Its portability and ability to hold many books at once are some of its main features. A laptop is not that portable for people who only want to read books, but an eBook reader is a cellphone-like gadget for books (Loeffer, 1999). This will be an advantage for the people, especially to students who need to read many books. Moreover, as books are going digital, we are saving a lot of paper needed in publishing a book and saving more trees for the preservation of the whole environment (Advantages of having an eBook Reader Device, n.d.).

    Nonfiction books also share an intellectual idea and benefit from the digitization of books. In order to fully deliver an idea and knowledge, nonfiction books need freedom in explicating terms and scenarios contained in a book. However, they are limited by their publishers as publishing is quite costly for nonfiction books that are not selling that much. However, in a digital book with no limited pages and boundaries, the author can freely expound on ideas he or she needed to include in the book. Moreover, the hyperlink, which is a feature of online materials, can be useful in cross-referencing and additional references for readers. This will be beneficial to ones scholarly pursuit or in doing researches for academic purposes (EIU, 2010).

    The Internet is very transient in the future and it moves in a breakneck pace. There are various predictions on what will happen to books and to book publishing 10 to 15 years in the future. As books are inherently part of the human lifestyle, it cannot be easily eradicated in the lives of the people. However, due to the rapid and unprecedented advancement of technology, the widespread digitization of books is just around the corner. In fact, a lot of books are now digitized Sony alone offers about a million eBooks in its eBook store (Parfeni). This digitization of books will largely affect the book publishing industry. It is estimated that their current profit will drastically decrease in the future as we move towards a paperless society. However, if they venture to downloadable books, they might maintain or increase their future profits.

    In 15 years or so, it is also deemed that authors will write for a global market. The interconnected networks of the Internet will demand works of literature of various authors. Moreover, like in blogs, there will be an upheaval of different indie authors that will soon enter the eBook market. This will be beneficial to unknown but talented artists. We will be all writers, publishers, and booksellers. Books will not be erased in the society it will just change its form and be more convenient to readers. Books will be widely available to a lot of people due to its electronic form. Thus, the digital age will render advancement and innovations to the current practices and lifestyle of the members of the society.

    United Arab Emirates or UAE is gaining popularity for the sudden success of city in terms of industrialization and progress. The capital of the country, Abu Dhabi, is holding international book fairs recognizing the important role of books. However, the publishing industry in the country is also moving towards the digitization of books. This only shows that the global market is moving towards the electronic future.