Publishing: The Revolutionary Future by Jason EpsteinThis article floored me. After I was able to pick myself up from the floor, I began to mull over what the author said. I re-read the article. Then mulled some more.
I then felt compelled to write out my thoughts on some of the points raised by Mr. Epstein.
Primarily I thought of connectivity, since the digital age depends on it.
And when discussing digitizing books, connectivity takes on a whole new meaning: physically, culturally, and globally.
GROWTH IS GOOD, OR IS IT?
As Mr. Epstein notes, the transition from physical to digital is irreversible.
Which leaves me with a question: Will those of us hanging onto the love of a soon to be outdated medium, merely become caretakers and docents, where our personal libraries become a type of literary museum?
A worrying thought, but books will not die. They cannot. Just as technology seems to eliminate, it also helps to keep alive what we fear to lose.
To see what I mean, check out Espresso Book Machine, a way to produce (on demand) a library quality paperback. It is my great hope that this type of innovation keeps up with the warp speed of technology.
The benefit of digital distribution to a global market is that people will have access to a diversity of knowledge nearly unimaginable and a way that brings all of us together in a better understanding of one another: separation becomes integration.
Books available any time, by anyone. The only constraints being affordability, access, and control. Will the content be filtered? Should it? The ethical and moral implications are a debate for another time. My concern being that since many still attempt to ban or limit the publication of material they consider inappropriate or obscene, they would do the same in this new digital age. Even today, we see some governments (i.e. China) attempting to control internet content aggressively.
In addition, and the most important point of all, is education. Literacy is the tool, the skill, the requirement, to make all this happen. Otherwise, this is merely a dinner table conversation held by literary elitists.
BEYOND OUR OWN BACKYARD
Digitizing literature will impact our global society in unimaginable ways, but not so much as teaching the ability to read. All these points are moot, if as a whole, we do not advocate literacy for all.
In addition, for those cultures such as the Australian Aboriginals, oral tradition and storytelling must be preserved and fostered. But the method to do so must be approached and handled cautiously and with respect.
A unique feature of Aboriginal stories is that they do not belong to anyone. They cannot be inherited or legitimately used without permission. Each clan has specific stories that they learn and hand down. Even so, no one member of any clan can claim personal ownership of a story. Each group will appoint a member to be a ‘custodian’ and this person becomes the keeper and protector of clan stories. It is their obligation to pass them down.
This poses an interesting question, as theirs is not the only culture that relies on oral tradition to preserve their heritage and pass on ancestral knowledge.
It becomes clear then that the digital age will impact our culture greatly, but how it does, and what path it takes remains to be seen, and in many regards, frightens, as well as thrills me.
THE PAST WE CANNOT LEAVE BEHIND
Another point made by Mr. Epstein, one that I agree with, is the need to maintain and provide access to backlists.
As societies and people gain equal footing in regards to literacy and access to digital literature, it will be essential that classics and other great works remain in print. It is my belief that backlists may indeed disappear from publishing houses, but will remain alive and well in ours, as we are not concerned with the financial aspects of warehousing materials as much as corporations are in attempting to remain solvent.
Digital content is fragile. The secure retention, therefore, of physical books safe from electronic meddlers, predators, and the hazards of electronic storage is essential.
I do not feel I’m exaggerating when I say that a library made up of diverse and thought-provoking works is the backbone of the community. Keeping a home library then takes on a whole new meaning.
Without the contents of our libraries – our collective backlist, our cultural memory – our civilization would collapse.
It is not our ability to walk upright that makes us an evolved species. It is the ability to learn, to think and think well, to disseminate information in order to form opinions, to understand the world around us as well as the people living in it. This is what takes us to a higher state.
ACCESS IS EVERYTHING-CONNECTIVITY ESSENTIAL
Having ready and instant access to a vast database of knowledge is a good thing. As long as that connectivity is available to all. That for those who are not able financially or otherwise to obtain a device that makes it all possible, the physical connection – a lifeline to a better world – is preserved through community and personal libraries.
It is through this connectivity our cultural world will survive.
E-books will be a significant factor in this uncertain future, but actual books printed and bound will continue to be the irreplaceable repository of our collective wisdom.
Mr. Epstein ends his article with a declaration of his bias that touched me deeply.
I cannot help but feel the same way. That if by some unforeseeable event, my heaving shelves evaporated into nothingness, so would my spirit. I would be forever broken and bereft.
His last sentence is the most powerful:
I mention this so that you will know the prejudice with which I celebrate the inevitability of digitization as an unimaginably powerful, but infinitely fragile, enhancement of the worldwide literacy on which we all – readers and nonreaders – depend.
Well said sir, well said.
Books are our past and our future.
What say you?
Other articles by this author related to this subject:
Reading: The Digital Future
The Coming Revolution
About Jason Epstein (courtesy of The New York Review of Books):
In the 1950s Jason Epstein created Anchor Books, the first American series of so-called quality paperbacks. In the 1960s he helped found The New York Review of Books. In the 1980s he created the Library of America and the Reader’s Catalog, the precursor to on-line retailing. He is the first recipient of the National Book Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and also received the Curtis Benjamin Award of the American Association of Publishers for inventing new kinds of editing and publishing.
