Caroline Dunford Explains Why e-Books Matter - Now

Caroline Dunford, author and committee member for SOAIS

Anyone who has been following the recent media furore about ebooks might be forgiven for thinking they are a recent invention. In reality the first ebooks moved among us in the 1990s. Not many noticed and no-one particularly cared, but today all that is different and ebooks are being simultaneously heralded as both the saviour and the destroyer of the publishing world.

What caused this sudden shift was a two pronged evolution of technology and content finally coming into harmony. The Kindle 2 is unlikely to win awards in a beauty contest but it has Whispernet, an always on service that allows readers to download books anywhere and at anytime straight onto the device. No hopping around between machines, no having to be in the right place at the right time. No, you want a book? You’ve got it! Although it has yet to come with fries it is the epitome of US fast-food service come to the literary market. Right here. Right now.

Of course it’s expensive and while sales of ebook readers are creeping up in the UK at least they are generally top of our personal most wanted lists. But this is liable to change.

One of the big mistakes in all this furore is the loud debate over whether ebooks will replace the printed page. It’s an irrelevant question for readers. In fact for everyone not directly involved in marketing literary products it’s an unnecessary question. Readers will still read and writers will still write. There’s an argument that the form of delivery of a story changes the nature of it – but whether on paper or screen we’re still talking about a printed narrated story. It’s a lot different from say comparing a radio play to a TV production. Ebooks can come with added features, a place to make notes, links to websites, but then so can books. An ebook might be slightly more convenient – and yes, it could also come with sound, but do you really care?

The reality is that while many publishers are starting to offer ebooks versions of their best sellers and the public is beginning to respond to this an awful lot of sales remain things people wouldn’t willing go into a shop and buy over the counter – I’m talking erotica and self-help.

But the applications of ebooks are vast. They bring that 20th century dream of a paperless office closer. They could save the back of many a student bowed by the lugging around of textbooks. Small house no space for book shelves the e-reader is your friend. And of course, many people, buy a book only intending to read it once – buying an ecopy is almost certainly more eco-friendly (who have to figure in the ecological cost of buying an ereader and disposing of it).

Ebooks also offer the possibility of new literary markets. Running an ebook publisher is much less of a risk than starting a traditional publication house. But then you have to find a way to be heard among the myriads of people who are doing just that appearing by the month and dying by the week – although some stalwarts are beginning to emerge. Sadly, these are generally ones catering only to erotica. The market doesn’t yet seem able to support a non-erotic epublisher, but time will tell.

I could start talking about digital rights (DRM), but to be honest my ears start healing over whenever this topic begins. As an author I should care, but we’re only just getting to the point that the music industry was at many years ago, when DRM was heralded as the saviour of copyright and prevention of piracy. It turned out that more often than not it wasn’t too difficult to crack or circumnavigate and the general consumer got a bit ratty about purchasing items that were locked into only one device. Suffice it to say the book industry will doubtless make as many mistakes as the music one did before they get it right.

Digital watermarking is one possible way forward. Instead of an ebook being locked to a particular device, account or system the buyer’s details are encoded into the product on purchase. This has the double effect of not only making the book feel as if it is properly owned by the purchaser rather than on a short leash from the publisher, but also means if some naughty customer decides to put his copy up on the web as a free for all copyright breaking escapade, his or her details will be embedded in all fraudulent copies and doubtless lawyers will quickly be dispatched. So it’s both customer friendly – you can use it on any device you own – and pirate unfriendly. It’s not totally foolproof, but then no system is and it does have a lovely retro-style name.

About Caroline Dunford

Caroline Dunford is a writer, playwright, psychotherapist and journalist. She is author of the non fiction narrative How to Survive the Terrible Twos: diary of a mother under siege, various short stories, one fantasy novel, one ebook and myriad articles. Her
new crime novel A Death in the Family launches this November. Theatre Company Siege Perilous will be staging her play about the murder of an Elvis fan, Suspicious Minds, in Edinburgh this winter.

She is an previous mentee of the Playwrights Studio Scotland and is on a Scottish Book Trust mentorship for a YA novel. She is currently serving on the committee of SOAIS. She has a fascination with technology and how its evolution is affecting us.