As Angelica I have never published a book. I have two contracts, for a novella and a short story, that will hopefully be published in the next few months (longer for the anthology). Both will only be available in electronic form. So... is an ebook, especially a ten or fifteen page story, still a book? I notice the prompt photo on Terri Long's site is of a stack of hard books. If you search book in Google images, that's what you see as well. Is there anyone, when hearing book without an e, doesn't think of pages bound together? Will our children? The media is changing. We still buy hard books for our kids, but we are also letting them read on our Kindles and IPads. Which will they give their children? Will the collective image coming to mind at the word 'book' ever change?
My real name has written a post-apocalyptic renaissance based on a future where it did change. In her world, the reason they have floundered and returned to a dark age level of technology is that no one had hard books anymore. When the power went out, no one could access information any more. It's a scary idea, but one I don't believe is unrealistic. It is a future I hope I don't live to see. Although I love my Kobo and will probably sell more files than pages in the long run, I hope there will always be a place for a bookshelf in a home.
What do you think? Will the definition of book change? Will we always keep a few relics to remind us of the old days? Will the tide turn back to printed books?
