How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write - WSJ.com

This is the best article on the coming ebook revolution I have yet to read--this spoken by someone who tried to write one of his own. The author is Steven Johnson and it is published in the Wall Street Journal.

Here are the money quotes:

"It will make it easier for us to buy books, but at the same time make it easier to stop reading them."

This only puts more pressure on writers to keep the pot boiling. I think that wil lbe great for commercial fiction, how it affects literary fiction is up in the air. But, it will definitely put all writers on the block to keep their writing high on suspense and drop the boring digressions.

"Before too long, you'll be able to create a kind of shadow version of your entire library, including every book you've ever read -- as a child, as a teenager, as a college student, as an adult. Every word in that library will be searchable."

"Imagine a software tool that scans through the bibliographies of the 20 books you've read on a specific topic, and comes up with the most-cited work in those bibliographies that you haven't encountered yet."

I've been using both a traditional book and an ebook version of the Catholic Bible when working on my novel. This has shown to me the truth of this statement; ebooks aren't so good for browsing, but searching is magnificent. Once a better navigation system has been developed ebooks will be in a strong position against traditional books.

"Amazon's early data suggest that Kindle users buy significantly more books than they did before owning the device,"

"My impulsive purchase of "On Beauty" has another element to it, though --
one that may not be as welcomed by authors. Specifically: I was in the middle of
the other book, and in a matter of seconds, I left it for one of its competitors."

The famous double edged sword! Easier to attract readers, but harder to keep them. Sounds like TV...

"As a result, I fear that one of the great joys of book reading -- the total immersion in another world, or in the world of the author's ideas -- will be compromised."

"Individual paragraphs will be accompanied by descriptive tags to orient potential searchers; chapter titles will be tested to determine how well they rank."

This will force writers to focus on the overall quality of their work, focusing on every sentence, every paragrah to make sure it lives up to the rest of the story.

"The 'free sample' component of a book will become as conventional as jacket-flap copy and blurbs; authors will devise a host of stylistic and commercial techniques in crafting these giveaway sections"

"For nonfiction and short-story collections, a la carte pricing will emerge"

The first chapter will only become MORE important than it already is.

The rebirth of the short story. I think this among all things is the biggest and most important change the ebooks brings to writing. The financial viability of short story writing as an art form.