To e or not to e

I’m not a trendy person. Not really. I don’t want to say it is a disdain of pop culture. Actually, I find pop culture fascinating… especially when it is at least a decade out of date. But I do hop on the train every once in a while… when the trend enters my price range.

There is a trend… gadget… new thing… that is starting to get more attention these days. E-readers. I’ve solicited opinions for the past few months about Kindle, the Sony reader, the Nook, and the rumored tablet. From my friends, most of whom are devout readers. Why? Not because I want one. Not really. Because I want to know if they will ever read one. And thus, would they read/buy my book on one?

But let’s put my ambitions and plotting aside. It’s new(ish) technology, which either gets one excited or causes the sniveling of one’s nose. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be interested were I not contemplating investment. But maybe… that prompting is a good thing.

Because… there are so many upsides to this. I just spent some time and effort purging my bookshelves a month ago. I realized I place too much attachment to the physicality of books. It’s a waste of paper (trees) and a waste of money to collect all those volumes I find deliciously appealing for the five seconds I gawk at it in the book store. Then it just sits on a shelf and waits for me to find the time to sit and read it. Which I do… eventually.

But I sit at a computer all day. Which means I should either resist staring at another blue screen… or make use of that sedentary time and actually ingest something more meaningful than Facebook updates. In fact… really… in that respect, the idea of reading electronically is not that new. Just the screen is different. I read Shakespeare on the computer ALL the time. I’ve passed the time at my last hellaciously dull job reading all sorts of classics on the Internet. And hell, I’ve written and reread my own manuscript over the past twelve months on a blue screen. I don’t like it any less than books that have paper and glue and ink.

It is because of that book that I really do contemplate this thing. I spent a chunk of time in the late summer surveying the publishing world. It’s a brutal competition. There are a lot of writers out there screaming to be heard… or read. It’s difficult enough to get an agent to like your work, never mind a publisher… never mind the masses. But in the end… the masses are really… the audience. Electronic publishing cuts out the other two and gives a writer more power. A double-edged sword, sure. But… look what the electronic world did for smaller musicians. It’s a rocky road, but it’s slightly more direct.

I love books. I really, really love books. I love the smell, the feel, the artistry of the physical book. I’ve said before my favorite room at Beauport is the book tower. But… Beauport makes me appreciate how silly it is to place so much value on things. Those books sit there, never opened, never read, never appreciated for their original purpose. The reason for which the writer set pen to paper or fingers to a keyboard. To share an idea and create a story. That is the ultimate goal of the writer. Not to have the toil of his emotions and creativity sit forlorn on a shelf collecting mold, only to be admired for the way the bindings curve within a stone wall. That’s… as a writer, I find that heartbreaking.

It’s the intangible of the book, not the tangible of a book that makes me love it. I don’t love Jane Eyre because of the paper. Or the cheesy 1930’s illustration that was on the cover of my first copy of Bronte’s tome. I go back to that book in different physical forms because I love Jane and her struggle between her idea of good and her undying love of Rochester. It has nothing to do with what I hold in my hands. It’s all to do with what I carry away in my head.

I doubt books are going to go away. Really. It would be great if some rogues did fade into oblivion … but I don’t think that’s going to happen. But this train is coming fast, almost about to pass me by. I can get on and see where it takes me, or I can stand by the rails and hope for another ride.