If you’re having trouble keeping up to date on the next biggest thing to revolutionize the publishing industry, you’re not alone. Apple’s iPad came out in the US just one month ago. How many units have they sold? Over a million as well as 1.5 million eBooks. Say, that sounds like pretty good business, and it doesn’t go international for another few weeks? Yep. It’s big.
The next newcomer to the scene will be Google ipad trade in value Editions. With a name like Google it has to be good, we’re thinking. Although they don’t yet have a device specifically made for them, Google will be selling eBooks online starting sometime this summer. They’ve already digitized over 7 million books and are certainly digitizing thousands more as these words are being written and read. If you want to read plenty more articles on the subject you can use a search engine, perhaps Google, to find them. Many are describing Google as the 800 pound gorilla about to be unleashed in the eBook retailer’s storeroom.
The publishing industry goes back many thousands of years, literally starting with stone carvings like Sumerian archaic cuneiform script and the Egyptian hieroglyphs which helps distinguish history from pre-history. A major milestone for its advancement was the Gutenberg Printing Press in 1440 AD, which allowed mass copies of documents to be produced.
It’s hard to think of another industry that has as much history as publishing and is changing so amazingly fast. 2010 will see Apple’s iPad and Google Editions before it is halfway over. What’s in store for the months and years to follow?
A few things are sure (at least in my opinion). Publishing has been once again changed forever. People are reading more than ever and on far more devices. Prices for reading books, magazines, newspapers, etc are dropping dramatically and will continue to. Authors can completely side-step agents and publishers and still make it with talent and persistence. There’s never been a better time for getting your words, voice and opinions out there.
Hello new world. Love it or hate it, this is where we live.
Jason Matthews is the author of two new age novels: The Little Universe and Jim’s Life. He’s also the author of a self-publishing guide: How to Make, Market and Sell Ebooks – All for FREE. He studied television and film at UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating in 1990. After a brief time in Los Angeles making made-for-TV films, he moved to the mountains of Lake Tahoe.