Matt Eaton recently wrote in the Bodhi Tree Blog how the next revolution in publishing will be driven by children's books and not adult literature. See Matt's blog post here.
The revolution is beginning, I'll grant you that - but I fear it may be a very long, slow, drawn out revolution. Many revolutionaries will die in the process, and some of the old-guard will manage to maintain control of their own little domain.
I wrote about e-books a couple of months back and think that there are two important issues here:
a. the digital divide is growing ever wider. As some are only just beginning to get online, others are streaking ahead with multiple portable devices, such as iSmartPhones and so on and all the interactivity that they can bring. Consequently, it is easy to go months and never see an e-book reader (include iPads in that) - simply by being in non-techie crowds.
b. for the revolution to truly take hold, formats need to be homogenised. At present we can all buy a print book and know that it will be compatible for both our eyes and hands and those, for example, of our children. The multitude of conflicting formats, however, makes me think that e-books for entertainment, business and education will only truly take-off when there is consensus on formats such that all readers will be able to access them. I think Google's project to scan all known books sets them apart as a likely source of dominant formats in the future, but it's too early to tell yet.
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