DEAD AUTHORS LIVE ON

The very nature of ebooks, compared to paper books, is bound to have profound implications on what we read, with the largest challenge coming from an unexpected group: authors who long ago passed from this world, but whose books remain very much alive and in the public domain.

While publishers run scared of the new reading revolution, keeping their titles from the digital marketplace, owners of new reading devices hungry for reading material are turning to such excellent sources as Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive where there are thousands upon thousands of titles to download. This of course is a good thing - when I first got my electronic reader I downloaded many classics I'd always intended to read but never got around to. - Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, for instance, are the first titles I ever read on an electronic device.

It's clear that reading fiction electronically is beginning to take off. Reading ebooks is different in many ways from reading paper books, and some of the changes have far-reaching and interesting implications for people and businesses beyond readers and booksellers. Publishers and authors need to get with the groove - mass market titles must be made available electronically and not months after the hard-cover - that will only encourage piracy. A new business model must be found for the electronic age.

eReaders are the way forward and will, hopefully, create a surge of interest in the humble art of reading with the younger lot. These kids have been brought up with LCD screens and paper is archaic to them


"After all, despite the continual improvements in reading technologies, many people are upset by the idea of reading anything but a paper book. They think of themselves as Luddites, refusing to use the newfangled technology - forgetting that today's paperbacks and hardcovers are themselves highly refined technology that we have been perfecting for thousands of years, developing and then obsoleting cuneiform, papyrus, illuminated manuscripts, and hand-set type presses along the way. But the refusal of some adults to change their habits is irrelevant in the long run. Mobile phones are just as much a part of children's environment as books, and many young people don't have the habit of reading on paper. Instead they are accustomed to reading and writing Web pages, text messages, Facebook updates, and even email on computers and smartphones. Books are longer and (currently) less interactive, but there's no question that our kids will read them online." CHRIS PEPPER, TIDBITS

The experience of reading on an electronic device is improving by the hour as more and more devices come onto the market- smartphones, laptops, eReaders. When I first got my eReader it felt awkward but now after a few months using it is second nature. Anyone who loves books can no longer turn a blind eye to the eBook revolution - it's no longer just around the corner. It's here and it's now....