10 ways digital books are changing our literary lives

From the Denver Post (dated 4/18/11):

The Hermitage Bookshop in Cherry Creek North, decidedly old-school with its oak furniture and elaborate Persian rug, isn't where you'd expect to find a fan of e-books, but listen to owner Bob Topp: "E-books have increased the purchase of print books," he says.

"It's easy for people to read the Sunday paper, look at a book review, and 10 minutes later, they've got that e-book on their Kindle. More people reading is good. I think it's way too early to say that the e-book will kill the hardback."

Topp doesn't use an e-reader, but his wife does. She praises its ability to store hundreds of novels in a slim, mobile device that weighs less than most of the venerable collectible books on the Hermitage shelves.

Certainly, digital publishing is changing the way people consume books — how and where they acquire books, and how and where they read. Here are 10 examples, old school versus new.

Jesse Jackson Jr. views iPads as responsible for jobless Americans

From "the Telegraph"

‘This device … is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs,’ said Rep Jesse Jackson Jr to the House of Representatives last Friday. Here he is, decrying the loss of jobs such as those in ‘libraries, bookstores. Jobs that depend on paper. In the not-too-distant future, such jobs will not exist.’

He also shares that students at Chicago State University are being issued iPads instead of textbooks, and states that the university president is hoping to have a "textbookless" campus in four years.

E-Books Rank as #1 Format among All Trade Categories for the Month

From the Association of American Publishers:

This one-month surge is primarily attributed to a high level of strong post-holiday e-Book buying, or “loading,” by consumers who received e-Reader devices as gifts. Experts note that the expanded selection of e-Readers introduced for the holidays and the broader availability of titles are factors.

And also reported on Engadget:

US sales of e-books generated about $90.3 million in revenue in February -- roughly triple the sales reported in the same month last year. To boot, they were the dominant format for trade titles, a category that includes adult and children's works. Meanwhile, printed books declined 34 percent and 16 percent in those respective areas, with gentler, single-digit drops for education and religious titles. 

The Conversation Continues....

Abilene Christian University hosted the Connected Summit 2011 in February. Steve Wozniak, Karen Cator and Adrian Sannier were featured keynote speakers. The sessions from the summit have been posted to ACU's iTunes U channel, and are now available for your viewing pleasure!

Be sure to tune into Track 3: The Future of Books, facilitated by Bill Rankin, Ph.D., Director of Educational Innovation, Abilene Christian University.

Presentations include: "Moving from Digital Books (PDFs) to eTextbooks: What a True eTextbook Should Look Like," "iPad or iFad: The Reality of a Paperless Classroom," "Chapter 0: How 20 Freshmen Created Their Own Electronic Text" and "Building for the Next Information Age: Envisioning the Future of Books"... just to name a few.

e-Book Sales up 116% from last year

A recent report from the Association of American Publishers states:

Figures for the first month of the new year show that E-book net sales increased by 115.8% vs January 2010 (from $32.4 Million to $69.9M). Sales of Downloadable Audio Books also rose by 8.8% vs the previous year ($6.0M to $6.5M). As AAP reported last month in its December 2010 monthly report and full 2010 analysis, E-book sales have increased annually and significantly in all nine years of tracking the category.

Read the full report at http://www.publishers.org/press/28/