Why Is This Hill So Steep? Page 19

  Epilogue: The future—Where are my flying books?

  It has been in the nature of technological progress that it doesn’t always progress as expected. This has been especially true in entertainment media, which has historically followed in its previous format’s footsteps upon being created, until someone came up with an idea that took it in new and often unexpected directions. For example: Radio initially settled for recording theatre performances, until the idea of reading scripts to portray scenes in a sound stage was conceived; later, early television simply recorded actors in studios reading scripts to an audience, until producers developed teleprompters (to hide scripts), and later created actual sets… ironically, returning television to the roots of theatre, until the ability to shoot in actual locations was developed.

  Digital music has likewise shaken up the audiophile world: After decades of music producers and artists developing the “album” concept of ordered singles in a coherent physical package, the MP3 file has brought new meaning to the “mix” concept that actually began in the magnetic tape era, and selling music singly again is becoming the delivery standard.

  We should expect some kind of development activity to take place at some point in the e-book area. A few forward-thinking artists and enthusiasts have proposed new digital literature models, including the addition of web links or multimedia, non-linear storylines, combined storylines from multiple sources, storylines that are influenced by readers in realtime, etc, etc. There are probably some future e-book formats that we may see, that we haven’t even conceived of yet.

  At the same time, much of the overriding concepts behind these forms of media have remained essentially unchanged by the development of the media: Music remains music, acting remains acting, comics still tell jokes, and people still laugh. The linear narrative that dominates printing can be expected to continue, since it actually existed independently of printing… and in fact, is an art form in itself older than theatre.

  So what is the future of e-books likely to be, and how will that impact the future of the media or the technology? We can make short-term predictions that will be fairly accurate, much like predicting faster automobiles that will get better mileage on the road. But when it comes to the more radical ideas—the popular icon of which is the “flying car” of the future—we literally can only guess (and we’re more likely than not to be wrong).

  ~

  There are some major developments we can see happening right now. E-books are becoming the subject of mainstream interest in the media and markets, as more booksellers are opening e-book portals, and more companies are selling reading devices. E-book readers are being highlighted in stores and sales, and their individual characteristics and qualities are being discussed in popular and non-technical publications.

  The OEB (ePub) format really is becoming the default format of e-books: With the exception of some of the big-box vendors like Amazon, many of the other large vendors are reconfiguring their reading devices to read ePub, or beginning to sell ePub in their portals. This standardization is aiding the mainstream phenomenon, making it easier for new consumers to find e-books for their devices from multiple sources.

  Schools are beginning to look at the practical aspects of e-books vs printed books, and are seeing ways to cut costs, open distribution of books to more people at once, remove the physical load of multiple heavy textbooks on students, and economize on space and infrastructure expenses. In these economically tight times, being able to reduce costs and provide students with a more comprehensive access to library services will enhance educational opportunities and make schools more efficient.

  Google’s push to scan out-of-copyright books for online access has resulted in copyrights and user rights coming under review in many countries. Global copyright treaties are being discussed, with an eye to bringing better definition and control to the issues of digital files and their fair use around the world. And countries are beginning to examine their wealth of national literature, with the intention of converting them into digital files themselves and making them available to posterity.

  New publishers that have embraced e-books are joining established publishers in the major e-book sales portals. Individual authors are finding more self-publishing tools available to them, and easy access to the online sales stores of companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and others. And as tools improve, the boundary between Big Pub-produced books and self-published novels is becoming thinner and thinner.

  Each of these steps serves to bring e-books further into the mainstream consciousness, increase its popularity, and allow the market to influence the future formats and selling paradigms that will become the e-book industry.

  ~

  This developing but still unknown e-book future will have a sizable impact, from publishing industries, to individual artists, and on down to consumers. History has shown that when aspects of an industry change significantly, not all of the older players can manage to adapt to the changes. In fact, some of them will take the position that they only want to do business the traditional way, and will refuse to even try to adapt. Others will try to adapt to the new ways of doing things, but for one reason or another will fail in their attempt, or at least not succeed well enough to stay viable in the industry, and will be forced to close their doors. Some companies will pool resources, merge and reshuffle their operations in order to reshape themselves for the future market. And some brand new companies will form, with business models that would not have made it in the past era, but which can be successful in the new era.

  This reshuffling of old publishing corporations, new publishers, and other entities that may not yet be a significant part of the present publishing industry (like the indie authors) will eventually present a new face to the literature industry, and that new face will to varying degrees be ready and able to try new media models and presentation formats, to possibly take e-books in directions we can scarcely fathom today.

  The global market will also be changed by e-books, as the old ways of marketing, buying and selling will be changed by the demands of the new media, and the new business methods that will be developed over time. As the e-book market is expected to be more cosmopolitan and internationally-focused over time, we can expect the major players in the industry to be literally anywhere in the world, not just centered in a few existing commercial meccas like New York, Paris or Hong Kong. And as independently-published authors are expected to be a major force in e-books, their presence will further spread the industry out among more players. Where today’s publishing industry may be said to resemble a loose network of very large nodes with a few tenuous connections between them, tomorrow’s publishing world may resemble more of a finely-spread, (appropriately) web-like network of small nodes and tighter networks, with a number of slightly larger nodes interspersed throughout.

  Governments will be impacted by this industry. As the market forms, nationalities will have to deal with the global economic models that will develop, and make decisions about the copyrights of their literature, and how they will treat other countries’ copyrights. International laws will be written to cope with the issues, and some countries will see now bonds forming with other countries, perhaps the first of many, thanks to e-books.

  The future sales model of e-books is still in flux. Various models are being tested today, but none have risen to the role of a standard, or perhaps they are locally workable but do not take the entire global economy into account. We can expect new sales models to be conceived and tested, and as other global and digital products impact the financial world with unique sales and accounting methods, some of these will further affect e-book sales models. We may have to wait until some entrepreneur develops a new payment transfer system, or for some global markets to adopt other financial bases and standards to be more in line with the rest of the world, as the missing link between digital books and a functioning global market. Or maybe all that is needed is the mass embracing of one existing sales model that can be rolled
out to other regions, until everyone is dealing from the same deck. Or maybe all artists will form their own nation and write their own rules… only time will tell.

  The development of e-books may also have a direct impact in the development of digital file security, a system that is more concept than effective reality today, but which can be expected to develop over time into a robust and workable system. E-books being as easy to replicate as they are, they could become the front line products on which to test new security systems, the results of those tests on e-books becoming the backbone of further development efforts. They will also be evaluated against other security systems, and quite possibly, the reality of those security systems could impact the development and delivery of the media itself.

  ~

  The ultimate result of this development will be something for all of us to look forward to. New forms of literature will evolve, with new outlets of artistic expression befitting the digital age. Literature in general will be more widely available, transcending physical boundaries and limitations; this will include our classic literature, much of which is fading from the public consciousness as time passes and old volumes become increasingly hard to find. There will be more available personal and public space, as the vast libraries of the past are digitized and stored in devices that fit in our pockets. There will also be a significant savings of global resources, especially of forest products, but we can expect to see improvements on our methods of recovery and recycling of other materials, including precious and toxic metals, spurred out of necessity by increased electronics production. E-books can be a cornerstone of a truly global economy, and a greater dissemination of literature than the world has ever seen. And finally, all of this should result in a more literate, and intelligent, global culture.

  I see this as an exciting time to be involved in literature, as it evolves to the next level of development. Opportunities for authors like me, and for established authors, are changing almost daily, and the walls of the old publishing “castles” are crumbling before us, brick by brick. Eventually all of the walls will be gone, and traditionalists and progressives alike will be left staring at the rubble, wondering what we will build next.

  It is too hard to say exactly how or when all of this will come to pass, especially given the legacy of twenty years of mis-steps, intentional delays, uncoordinated activity, conflicting agendas, stubborn resistance, corporate greed and laziness, personal selfishness, public defiance and institutional blindness. There was never anything insurmountable about the individual problems faced by the e-book industry: Most of them could have been solved, right up front, with a modest application of rational thought in a moderately unsettled atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were simply too many competing and irrational factions, all creating too much atmospheric turbulence concentrated in one area, creating a social, political, corporate, nationalistic, financial and utopian typhoon right on top of the e-book movement. It’s no wonder that e-books have been so badly savaged over the years, while other digital movements in noticeably calmer waters have sailed right through and made it safely to port.

  But bit by bit, this perfect storm is subsiding, and the e-book movement can already begin to see the sun peeking through the clouds. With so many people actively and optimistically working to keep the movement sailing, it is inevitable that e-books will survive this storm and find its way to calmer waters, and a more certain future.

  About the Author

  Steve Jordan was an enthusiast of the e-book before he was an author of them.

  Steve is a self-taught graphic artist and web designer from the Washington, D.C. area, who started writing as a hobby when he began to have trouble finding things he wanted to read! His attraction to the computer era and the development of digital document systems led him to e-books as entertainment, which he loved to carry with him in whatever PDA he was using at the time; and later turned out to be a natural direction for himself as he searched for publishing opportunities. The efforts he’s made to develop his writing, and a consumer-friendly e-book sales model, have earned him fans and accolades in the e-book industry, and his works have been compared side-by-side with professional writers in the industry. His studies of social and technological history give him a unique and realistic perspective of the future that punctuates his writing.

  He is urged on by his wife, spoken fondly of by family and friends, and tolerated by his cat.

  Other books by Steve Jordan

  Verdant Skies

  The four satellites in Earth orbit were considered oases for humanity, the first of the habitats humans would move to and escape the growing environmental pressures and hazards of living on the ground.

  But when a volcanic eruption threatens to finally ruin Earth's already-collapsing ecosystem, the remaining peoples of Earth demand access to the satellites, and threaten to overwhelm them, thereby dooming all of humanity.

  And as the satellites are under siege from below, a desperate gamble for the survival of the satellite Verdant is taken...

  Comments from MobileRead members:

  "This is your best work so far, Steve ... The people and events depicted are more plausible, more likely to happen in our near-future. This one has that in spades."

  "I have never been shy about saying that I'm a Steve Jordan fan, but this was just a quantum leap (forgive the inevitable pun) from your other stuff! You have hit a stride with this book that I hope we see in your work for a good long time!"

  "You have a true talent for creating a future that can be envisioned, and Verdant Skies is yet another gem. The characters were interesting, and the science sneaks up on you without hitting you over the head."

  "A fantastic read that ended far too soon. I found myself turning the last few pages in the desperate hope that it was not going to end yet."

  The Lens (the Kestral Voyages)

  THE SECOND KESTRAL VOYAGE: Planet Shura Dva seems to be deliberately resisting and sabotaging the terraforming work of the Oan Engineers. A local workers' leader claims to be able to “feel” the planet's anger... but the Engineers are positive he's really a terrorist leader secretly orchestrating the attacks.

  And in the midst of local labor squabbles and strange planetary phenomena, Carolyn Kestral and her crew, flush after a lucrative cargo run, arrive on Shura Dva to help out a friend in need... and discover that the planet itself may not allow them to leave!

  Kestral's back, by popular demand! And in this second adventure, Carolyn and the crew of the Mary find themselves caught in the crossfire between Oan terraformers, fanatical workers, and a planet that may actually be sentient— and angry!

  Berserker (the Kestral Voyages)

  Carolyn Kestral, discharged Galarchy Ranger, begins her new life as a freighter captain and collects a small crew. But there is a question of whether the Berserker virus that forced her Ranger discharge is still capable of being activated and turning her into a deadly human weapon. If it is merely dormant, will it be set off by a clandestine first run and a dangerous run-in with the Spiders in deep space? Will her crew stick around long enough to find out?

  "Mr. Jordan has a good sense of action, and a great interest in the minutiae of running a space ship... It's a worthwhile read."

  - eBook-Reviews.net

  "All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you prefered the original Star Trek series over the later incarnations then you'll love this. 7/10."

  - digiReader.com

  Chasing the Light

  Tom Everson, forced to flee his home during the 2011 oil riots, returns eight years later to find the girl he had to leave behind, start a business and make a life for them both. But he had to sneak into the country illegally, the energy situation has only gotten worse, and the country may break out in more riots at any time! Did Tom arrive at exactly the wrong moment?

  A romantic adventure, taking place against the backdrop of America's energy future.

  As the Mirror Cracked

  The Mirror isn't just another virtual w
orld... it's a worldwide phenomenon, deeply intertwined with real world culture and finances. So when a plot to destroy the Mirror is uncovered, it's serious! It's a race to save the Mirror, and the real world with it, led by a mild-mannered writer and his Mirror "reflection"—the ultimate superhero, Zenith!

  Virtual worlds can be fun, even profitable, but if your life depends on one, you'd better make sure it stays up!

  Lambs Hide, Tigers Seek

  In 2001, heiress Ellen Levinson vanished from a downtown Washington hotel under mysterious circumstances. Five years later, a series of blackmail letters lead investigator Alain Guest to Nashville, and into the local Goth and bondage scene, in search of the missing girl. Will he find Ellen alive... manage to avoid the blackmailers... or will his own fractured psyche finally shatter under the onslaught of such extreme and sexual lifestyles?

  My first non-Sci-Fi novel, a noir-style psychological drama with a little mystery thrown in.

  "Great, great, GREAT book. Excellent story, really enjoyable characters, and the way you throw in things that us geeks enjoy, like gps, pdas, ebooks etc is really cool. Oh, and i actually cracked up a few times."

  -Daniel Mores (www.mores.cc), commentary on PocketPCThoughts.com

  Encephalopath

  Glen Jansen is seeking to improve his work and prospects when he purchases bleeding edge personal computer technology. But when the tech gives him unexpected access to strange parts of the net, and seemingly to other people's very thoughts, he finds himself on the run from the government, the mob, and a bunch of ersatz terrorist/patriots, all while trying to find out who's really controlling the country's networks!