At last evening's program with literary agents Alexandra Machinist, Bob Diforio and Michelle Brower, people at our table discussed the pros and cons of e-readers. We realize that e-readers are not going away, especially since the innovative, albeit pricey iPad is expected to change the way we read. Or will it? All of us love the printed page. You just can't snuggle in bed with a Kindle. You can't read it in the bathtub without wondering if you're going to hear a sizzle if it falls into the water. Toddlers, although able to discriminate between real electronics and toys, love to turn pages.
In my humble opinion, the success of the iPad will depend on the following: 1) that there will be an economic turnaround in the foreseeable future because Apple's pricing is much higher than that of competitors and 2) that it will live up to its promises.
The most positive thing we heard about the iPad, besides the color graphics, is that it authors will get more money for books because Apple is willing to set the price of e-books higher than Amazon does. High time! It's hard to accept the constant downsizing of our income. The writing profession is very labor-intensive. It's not just typing our thoughts or the words we utter. It includes research, interviewing, writing, rewriting and marketing. We are far from overpaid for what we do.
As for the claims that the iPad will save newspapers and magazines, we're not sure. We have witnessed the destruction of periodicals by MBAs who are after the bottom line at, well, any cost. Sounds like a variation of the page from Amazon.com, which has lost money in an attempt to gain market share.
Posted by Sherry Shameer Cohen.
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