I'm too sexy for your paperback?

We’ve all seen it happening. The sleek, beautiful technology makes everything older than six months hideously dated and as similar to an old maid as the eight-track tape – once so desirable, but not quite special enough to hold onto for life. The iPods are flirtatious. The netbooks are alluring, and if you listen closely to the new flat panel, touch-screen monitors, you’ll hear the sirens’ song. But is this the future of books too?

I couldn’t help but laugh at the headline: Tablet OS ‘has a good bit of sexy to it’ (http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/07/tablet-os-has-a-good-bit-of-new-sexy-to-it/). I understand the appeal. Yes, sex sells, but does it sell books? When I think of the appeal of reading books, I think of curling up in a cozy chair with a blanket pulled over me, with steaming cup of tea on the coffee table, and a cat purring lazily on my lap. I don’t have a cat and rarely drink tea, but that’s the image that pops into my mind all the same. Right Said Fred isn’t there.

This exact discord is what is holding back the Tablets, Kindles, Sony Readers, and all the others. Book-lovers don’t think sex appeal when they choose their next novel. I’m sorry Fabio, but it’s true. Only when the advertisers figure out that sexy really doesn’t sell in this case, when they can show that these e-readers can equal what has been known and loved for centuries, then, they will find their market.

Admittedly, there are some who are intrigued by the allure of the e-book, but so many others are disgusted by the idea of electronic texts. However, Sony seems to be starting to figure it out. Their reader store (http://ebookstore.sony.com/) looks like a polished library’s site rather than something to make a techie drool. They’ve even come out with leather covers to encase their Readers. I’m intrigued. I’ll admit it. Those leather covers hit a nerve, but I’m not willing to give up my hardbacks or paperbacks just yet.

Does the sexy e-book call to you? Or are you calmly content with your old-fashioned novel?

Sony Plots Death of Amazon Kindle

Doesn’t it sound like some corporate sponsored thriller? The Sony Corporation lurks in the shadows, watching Amazon’s every move, waiting, watching, breathing as softly as possible to avoid detection. Amazon has an eerie feeling it’s being watched, but every time it turns around, there’s nothing in the shadows but dust.

I can’t take credit for this blog’s title. This article is where it came to my attention:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/17/sony_on_readers/

Now, I, myself, will forever be a collector of tangible books. I love the strength of black letters on an off-white page, the dry smoothness of each piece of paper, the way pages stick together, the musty smell of a used-book store, the unique atmosphere of each independent bookseller’s shop, and the desire since childhood to see my own name printed on that hard-covered work. But I would be kidding myself to say that this should be the only form we as readers and writers should cling to.

Books are no longer bound by hand or bound in leather; perhaps we need to summon the courage to accept that our tomes can also be bound in bytes. I have an aversion to the Kindle in the same way that I have an aversion to that first colored leaf of autumn - the first note to break my delusions of an eternity of delight, be it hard-back books or summertime. However, I’m willing to admit that e-books could be a possibility of the future. If the next generation of readers wants digital, we can go digital. If that’s what it takes to keep an interested audience for books, by all means, let’s keep our readers happy.

I vote, though, to keep all readers happy. I’m willing to go digital if we still have those special editions still on paper – recycled paper.

Amazon’s in on the game; Sony’s fighting for their share; Google’s getting involved; how about you?