And books -- ten years ago maybe 242,000 books were published. Now, 1,050, 000 are published, but they're mostly e-books -- for every 100 hard backs , 200 e-books are sold. Amazon, with the Kindle, says that by the end of last year, 3.7 million people had electronic readers. They claim that by 2015, there will be 30 million reading e-books on their readers.
Well ..."♪ Don't cry for me Ar- gen- tin -a... ♪ " (I'm humming the tune, probably off-pitch.) What does this mean if you are a writer? It means further and further away is the dream, the hope, the faint possibility that the novel you write will be published. (I put away that dream away, but dreams remain shadows of themselves, and sometimes, in the dark, I'm scared.)
When I saw this picture in Newsweek, I felt sick to my stomach. Zoom IN on it! Look! See how it was ten years ago, and what's happening right now to things we do and use!
Newspapers -- 178 of them have died. And letters -- I can't think in the "billions" -- I just picture 207 B and 175 B-- see that 31 B letters are being mailed.
E-mail rules the world. Online research is HUGE!
And while I am frowning about that, I see the fantastical figures on texting --400,000 text messages were sent ten years ago. 4.5 text messages were sent this year.
I see people on their cell phone keyboards, tapping away with a finger confidently, in the abbreviated language texters use.
On Facebook, I've been getting messages with LOL or :) or :O or ^-^ symbols, and have to look them up online, in the "Emoticon Dictionary."
What bugs me may not bother you, but if you like games, CD's, or iTunes -- well, zoom in on the picture, and brace yourself.
Double-brace yourself! The big guys, the Kings -- Google, AT&T, and IBM aren't whispering about cloud computing -- they're saying CLOUD COMPUTING is HERE and coming to your desktop!
Oh dear, maybe we'll be sending invisible messages into the vapor with ultra Hi-Fi, practically inaudible twitticons, that only a dog's ear can hear.
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4 comments:
I have a friend who self-publishes his novels and markets them heavily. He is now getting into e-book publishing. The technology is a little tricky, but will work, and Amazon will sell the book. It will make it possible for him to keep on publishing his new books, because it costs less.
I too have a dear friend who is an extraordinarily talented writer. She has struggled for years to get her books published to no avail. At one point she resorted to self publishing and did tons of book signings. It didn't get her very far.
Now she is seriously thinking of going the Ebook route. She is awaiting one last publisher and then she will probably wind up doing that.
Meantime, she makes a living ghost writing, teaching writing and editing. Its a pity, because she is so talented.
On a personal note: I have never texted in my entire life and still own a "dumb phone". LOL
Hugs and love from Linda
Disappearing things, yes they are.
It's sad really. What will happen if we can't use our computers or cell phones to communicate or search for information? Some people don't even keep hand written information anymore. Hope they have it down somewhere.
To have that dream of writing the all american novel and see it published really is a dream but don't let the dream fool you. It can be a lot of work once you get there.
So many publishers won't even look at a manuscript without it being represented by a literary agent. I guess no one has the time to check out the unknown authors to be out there which is a shame.
JMF
I am torn between both worlds. I am immersed in a lot of new technology - iPod, smartphone, blogging, etc. but still prefer to hand write letters and cards, talking on the phone and turning the pages of a book. And a real throwback: I collect Broadway show LPs - and I actually play them!
I'm curious how they calculate current blogs, because I know that blogging seems to be like the new resolution: people start them with great intentions and abandon them within a month. It takes real commitment, I think, to continue blogging steadily.
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