My husband Henry is a devoted reader. He spends hours a day reading. During the warmer months you can find him out in the sunshine, a book opened and a coffee in his hand. During the winter the same scene plays out in a coffee shop. Most nights his final thoughts before his eyes close are of words that take him to far off places inside his own imagination.
This autumn his reading life changed a bit. He went to the local Apple store and bought an iPad. Now instead of trekking to the library he opens an online store when he has finished another book. He is revisiting some of the classics like Huck Finn while enjoying his favorite authors. The glow of the lit screen provides him all the light he needs in a darkened room.
"I'm a big fan. I am able to do things now I always wanted to like highlight passages and bookmark them to go back to or email them to someone I want to share them with instantly," Henry said of reading via the iPad. "There are now books from Kobo, Apple and Google. All the big players are getting into the marketplace."
From the
classics to
comic books, more publishers are turning to digital publications. It makes sense, there are little overhead costs when it comes to publishing digitally-no trees to chop, no ink to purchase. Once a book is written and published, all that is needed is storage space online until a reader wants to buy the book.
The future of publishing is changing as the public turns to using digital means as their preferred reading tool.
Adobe is one company that has jumped on the bandwagon providing tools to media publishers.
So are books on the way out? It's possible that in the future a book will be a novelty while most reading is done on a digital device. It makes sense environmentally. Still there is nothing like curling up with a child for a bedtime story and turning the pages for the next step of an adventure.
