There are now 76 million Americans over 50 years of age which represents 27.6 percent of our population. Many millions are wearing glasses, and many more millions have some serious visual impairment. In fact, 26 million people over 40 years of age have some visual disorder.
Millions more cannot hold a book or magazine. For both groups of disabled people, reading is impossible, very difficult or just plain problematic. And we can say with conviction that something should be done to help those who have trouble with their eyesight or with their inability to perform the physical act of reading.
Surprise! Something has been done, is in the process of being done, and that something is available on a retail basis. It is called an e-book.
The all-inclusive definition of an e-book is a book which can be read on an electronic device - either a computer or one of the new handheld, wireless products. We are at the very beginning of a new computer revolution - one that will be great for all of us.
When I first saw what was then called an e-rocket book in a Barnes & Nbble store, my immediate reaction was totally negative. Read a book on an electronic screen? Me? No way. Then I walked over and tried it out. Instantly, I became converted! Why? The device was fairly light (at that time 1 and ½ pounds); it was the size of a trade paperback or hard cover book; the screen was back-lit and bright. Further, the font size could be changed to larger (or smaller) with the flick of a button, there was a search function (want to find the name of the prison Jean ValJean was in?), and even better, this little item could hold 10 or 12 volumes! The price was not bad considering that fact - somewhere around $200 at that time.
Since that time (about a year ago), smaller and smaller devices have been enabled to hold books. But who wants to read a book on a Palm Pilot? Not me! At least not yet.
But also since that time, I have been enamored of the whole revolutionary trend, and the market about to explode due to the numbers of people who would find it extremely useful. Right now, not enough product (i.e.books) are available, due in part to the copyright law.
Just today I heard that Gemstar has made a deal with Barnes & Noble. Maybe that means hundreds or thousands more volumes will be available. In my opinion, this market is going to suddenly shoot up so that the e-book on buses and subway, in airports and on trains is going to be as familiar as the traditional soft-cover pocketbook. Another new development has just been announced: Microsoft has produced a flat slate-like device on which a book can appear. That's for me, too!
Also, as a result of my fascination, I talked two friends of mine into attending the very first e-Book World Conference in New York and doing a survey with me of the experiences and attitudes of some of those present concerning this whole phenomenon. Or phenomena if you consider it plural!
The survey is herewith included, for your edification and interest - along with my paen to my computer!
I'd like to hear your opinions, if you have the time to email me.
"Wouldn't it be great to have the complete New Yorker available, archived on a data base that can expand into millions and millions of articles, short stories, cartoons?"
This rhetorical question, asked by Steve Riggio, Vice Chairman and acting CEO of barnesandnoble.com, probably best captured the reverie about the new world of e-books and e-content.
Riggio was one of 48 speakers and panelists at this groundbreaking or ground-grazing (depending on your taste) conference, a first on the just-beginning e-book phenomenon. And he, like the others in the thick of the fray, communicated his excitement about present developments and those to come in the very near future. For example, he envisioned kiosks in stores where a complete book could be printed out in five or ten minutes for the eager reader. Others on the program described the easy reading, portability and storage of numerous books on small electronic devices.
The conference, put on by Penton Media on November 6th and 7th in New York City's Marriott Marquis, drew eager-to-learn attendees from such far-flung areas as Canada, Paris, New Zealand, Asia. It was moderated and chaired by Michael Wolff, both an author and a prominent Media columnist for New York Magazine.
Other speakers included many notables from the book publishing and technology worlds, such as Laurence J. Kirshbaum, CEO of Time Warner Books Division; Richard Tam, the founder and CEO of a leading print-on-demand company, iUniverse; Jason Epstein, co-founder of The New York Review of Books and one of the pioneers of the trade paperback revolution; and Dick Brass, the Vice President of Technology Development for Microsoft. A number of well-known authors were also part of the agenda and in the audience.
The audience consisted primarily of people from the same fields who are established and aware of the need to know what is happening in this new world of publishing in which books are called "content." (See the first item below in the survey results.)
Due to the just-emerging nature of the electronic books world, three of us publishing devotees decided to survey this audience, on an independent basis, as much as was possible. We queried a random cross-section of 50, using a one-page multiple-choice questionnaire. Although we have no firm figures of attendance at this time, we believe that our group who answered the questions represent better than 10 percent of the conferees.
Here are the highlights of the responses.
E-Book World Survey Highlights, November 6-7, 2000, New York City
This independent survey was carried out by the following three people:
Shirley Camper Soman, ACSW, is a long-time journalist (member of the Authors Guild and ASJA -- American Society of Journalists and Authors) and author of four noteworthy non-fiction books. She currently writes the column, "Computers for Seniors" for the Web magazine, www.nypc.org in the area "nypc bytes." Shirleycs@aol.com -- 212-787-8722
Nena O'Neill, author of three acclaimed non-fiction books, member ASJA and Authors Guild, writes frequently on contemporary issues. Nen333@aol.com
Charles M. Levine, former V-P and Publisher of Random House Reference, is currently the VP of Content and Strategic Development with Etronica.com, a content tools software company and Web site. Charlev@att.net
My Pentium 3 Gateway computer is simply super! It sports a 19 inch monitor - wonderful for older-style less sharp eyes. The box that contains the guts of the computer is large, but that allows a lot of storage on top -- my USB ports plus lots of CD Rom Disks that I keep swearing I will look at. And this large box gives me the ability to have a 27 gig hard drive. If the word gig is unfamiliar to you, it means that the storage capabilities of your - I mean my -- hard drive are simply terrific.
This is important if you are going to store or send pictures or other graphics. It is also important for compulsive writers like myself, whether you are given to multiple letters of complaint or of endearment or just like to put words together. The memory is 128 megs. And the modem is 56 K which is the highest you can get without going into a whole other (more expensive) scenario. And the box sports not just a floppy disk drive (a slot for those small disks) and a CD Rom drive (the larger slot that with the touch of a little button slides in and out), but also another CD Rom drive that is a write-able and re-writeable one. This may not interest you, but as far as I am concerned, this is the ultimate. If I want to send my children and nieces and nephews a copy of an extensive family tree that could be expanded, a re-writeable CD Rom is the ticket. Sure you can send it in email, but sometimes email gets garbled and the CD Rom does not. CD-Rom writers are also a great way to backup your important data.
My Gateway computer also has a television card. This may seem superfluous - but I dream of the day when I will get a cable connection installed to my computer and be able to have a small box of a tv talk show - perhaps with written out sentences (instead of sound) to help keep me abreast of the various shenanigans going on in elections, legislatures, the book world and on and on - while I still work at what I am writing. Ah, the joys of doing several things at the same time!
Gateway, too, gives its customers lifetime telephone support and a year of free lon-site repairs. And if you pay a modest amount, this on-site help will be extended to three years. This means that problems do not linger until you can find someone to help - often difficult. Not that there are any real problems with this magnificent machine - so far!
The one caveat I have is that the power button is sometimes a little tough to turn-off. I mentioned this at a PC Expo show to a Gateway representative. He explained that a more prominent button led people to accidentally turn off the machine even though they didn't mean to. Well, I would chance that. And wonder of wonders, today, in a full-page ad in the New York Times, Gateway is offering not just tech support, but what is in essence a training program! Wow! I will surely try this out since there's a lot I still don't know about how to do this and that.
@ Copyright 2000 Shirley Camper Soman