The Future of Books
As the age of print approaches its final years, its most treasured form -- the book -- stands much like Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, surrounded, doomed, and all too soon to be slaughtered unmercifully.
But, until then, the book industry is soldiering on, and bravely trying to utilize the web in innovative ways. Today's edition of The New York Times Book Review, long one of my favorite Sunday morning companions, contains an essay about the elaborate websites publishers and authors have been commissioning in recent years to try and stimulate interest in the release of their products.
The essayist's conclusion, as expressed in the print version's sole PQ*, is this: "Do elaborate Web sites and videos really sell books? As in so much of publishing, no one really knows."
As most of the U.S. book publishing industry sits on its hands, and hopes, spectacular new forms of "books" are emerging here and there around the world, on digital platforms.
In Japan, for example, one of the most intriguing developments in recent years has been the rise in popularity of the "cell-phone novel" genre. These keitai shosetsu are typically written by very young women entirely on their mobile phones, and published under one-word handles.
The actual identities of the authors remain unknown. Their stories concern love and loss, tragedy and recovery, betrayal and resolution. They are written interactively, i.e., a girl will start posting her "diary" on a site called "Magic Land," where many others read it and urge her on.
These novels are becoming so popular that eight of the top ten selling novels in book form last year were republished keitai shosetsu.
Each of the tales is divided into short, tantalizing excerpts -- the typical post takes about three minutes to read, which conveniently is also the average time between stops on the Japanese train system.
But inside Japan, which like the U.S. has a long tradition respecting books as a form, this new literary development is heavily criticized by the entrenched powers, who pride themselves on their authors' mastery of the much more traditional styles of Japanese writing, even though those remain male-dominated and out of reach of all writers but a small group of intellectuals.
For this reason, the keitai shosetsu represent a revolutionary literary development in Japan. In the U.S., there are some preliminary attempts to stimulate similar literary products, but our culture is so antithetical to Japan's, I'm not sure these will gain any real traction.
Nevertheless, book publishing execs should be alert about these and other signs about how the essence of writing in long form will find a channel going forward, even as our lovely, leather-bound volumes fade away into dust.
A new, digital library will emerge to capture the spirit of writers -- a spirit that may struggle to adapt, but will never actually be suppressed, no matter what.
* PQ = Pull Quote, or "display text," in the age of print, these were design elements chosen by editors that captured the essence of an article in such a way that was meant to drive readers to read on.