The past and future of books

It’s strange to think that a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – well actually no it was in our galaxy – there was a planet where eBooks didn’t exist. Now the technologies and jargon for them are evolving so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up! It parallels the way in which the world of music and films are changing.

The tale of the old fogey and the eBook

When I first got into eBooks I started with Kindle. Although it wasn’t that difficult it did seem like a bit of a pain to put together a book by using a template in word which you then had to convert to another format so it could be read on a device. I pretty well always found that something weird would happen when I tested my book and then I would have to start all over again. I would often be so fed up with the experience that I would put off doing a revision and get on with something else. Also, however, hard I tried to make my book look good it lost a lot of the visual appeal that my print version had. Of course I could have always handed the job to someone else, but I wanted to control my costs and I felt that this was an area I should have a go at myself.

Kindle Kids’ Book Creator

At least for now, I’ve found the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator very helpful. I can use the print-ready pdfs for my book and easily convert them into a version for Kindle. It maintains the fun “look and feel” of the print book that my designer has created there’s also scope to include additional fancy elements like text pop-ups. Kindle is just one route for eBooks, so I need to keep exploring what is out there on other platforms.

If we jump to ten or twenty years in the future I wonder what the world of eBooks will look like? Will there even be eBooks or will they have been replaced by something else? Perhaps virtual holographic books or augmented reality books controlled by thought!

What’s the future for books?