Will the printed book disappear?

I was invited this week to speak about e-books and the implications for book distributors at the “School of Christian Booksellers” during Expolit (the Spanish Christian Book Fair) to be held in Miami next May.

At these workshops, this question always comes up, “With the arrival of e-books, will the printed book disappear?” My answer is, “It depends…”

A medium is not necessarily replaced by another one if it offers a unique experience. There is a pro-magazine campaign running in the USA that states that in twelve years of Google existence, magazines have not disappeared but they have grown by 11%. That may be true, but it is also true that growth could have been greater and possibly does not compare to that in previous decades.

Personally I now read magazines, newspapers, the Bible and books only on the iPad for the following reasons:
• I can increase font size (I am not constrained by editors decisions about the font of a text)
• I carry with me dozens of publications without increasing the travel load.
• I can read magazines and newspapers without paying a cent, and I can still read it all without being connected to the Internet.
• It gives me the unique experience of seeing links to websites and videos related to any content.
• I can highlight the passages that draw my attention and see what other readers are underlining (Kindle).
• I do not have to go to a bookstore to buy the book (with the hassle of parking, commuting, etc.) and I can have the book on my iPpad within seconds of making the purchase.
Next Sunday, I am going to preach at my church using my iPad.

For me, magazines have lost their unique experience. The only thing that I cannot do with my iPad which I used to do with a magazine is killing a fly.

A new medium does not necessarily eliminate a previous one, but alters it. Film did not eliminate Radio but changed it. TV did not eliminate Film but changed it.

It all depends… It depends on what we (Publishing Houses) do to keep a unique experience in the printed book, one that cannot be obtained from any other media. If this were not possible, books could eventually or at least change.

It is my firm conviction that books will not disappear because not everybody has access to an e-book reader and the internet.

The challenge is to maintain a unique experience with the printed book especially for people that have other options to read content.