In
July 2004, an article in
the Chicago
Sun Times considered
the fate of print books a question, rather
than a
fact. Instead of the regular group of
Chicken Littles declaring the end of books, authors Kevin Nance and
Mike Thomas
found a surprising number of optimists in book publishers.
Several CEO's of top publishing companies
boasted that revenue from print sales had increased in the past few
years and
that the future of books was secure. However,
industry analysts and academics point out that current sales figures
reflect
price increases rather than a rise in the number of books published. The culprit in this case is not hypertext or
e-books, but, rather, the entertainment industry on the whole, which is
steadily turning readers into viewers. With
so many choices offered to consumers, fewer and
fewer people are
turning to books, in either electronic or print format, to fill their
time.
Technologies change and culture
changes with them, but these transformations do not occur as quickly as
people
suspect. And there is still life in the
book, yet.
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