The innovation we need to see before eBooks can completely replace pBooks

I haven’t bought a paper book since I bought my first iPad in 2010. Before that I bought between 20 and 40 books a year. I also own every Wired magazine, including issue 1.1, but I switched to the digital version as soon as it became available. You could argue that I prefer digital over analog most of the time. But I would like to refine that a bit. I like substance over form and content over carrier.

As a technologist and early adopter of technology I’m often pushed into a defensive mode. People will see my iPad and (rightly) assume I like it and then try to poke holes in my reasoning for liking it. That’s fine and I often enjoy the discussion. Especially when I can persuade people to look beyond their preconceptions. Of course, I’m prejudiced myself, with my unshakable faith in technology and innovation and my unconditional love for all things Apple.

When I meet authors, publishers or avid readers I like to ask them about the future of books. Not long ago I met with Walter Isaacson and asked him how many of his books were sold as ebooks. Unsurprisingly it was more than 50%. Then I asked him when his books would go all digital. Surprisingly he said he didn’t believe that would ever happen. He couldn’t see a future without paper and believes people will always prefer paper books over digital books.

A lot of people can’t imagine a future without paper books. They’ll argue they like the smell of paper and the fact that books are tangible, real, and even, romantic.

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All those qualities also apply to the horse and carriage, doing the dishes, washing your clothes by hand, and a fireplace. And of course, you can still go on a horse ride, do the dishes without a machine, wash your clothes manually and get a fireplace. But even though all of these things still exist, it would be safe to say they also have been replaced by their modern equivalents.

When I hear people say they will always prefer paper books over digital books I can’t help but think that it’s almost an insult to writers and content producers. It is like saying you like someone just for their looks. Or that a painting goes well with the drapes. Or… you get the picture?

Now, I understand there are a few advantages to paper. But I see a lot more advantages to digital. The fact that I now carry about a hundred books with me, wherever I go, that I can read whenever I want, outweighs any advantage a paper book could give me. Well, beyond the shallow extremities of the paper book, like its smell.

There are however a few technical challenges that could be overcome by Amazon and Apple that would make my digital books even better and would let me forget about paper altogether.

1: Make it easier to show off my library
Not too long ago a journalist visited my house. He looked at my books, smiled, and said ‘we have the same books. I own 90% of these books, at least’. We became instant friends based on the books I own. Nobody knows what’s in my digital library. Now I know there are sites where you can build a digital bookshelf. Right now it is possible, just not easy, to do that. I already have an iCloud account. Why not let me show which books I own (including my reviews) at boris.icloud.com. Apple isn’t very good in doing social (Anybody use Ping?) but they do have a huge opportunity there.

2: Make it easier to share books
There is no second-hand market for digital books. That’s unfortunate. I would like to share my digital book with my friends, even if that would mean it would disappear from my library. It could even contain a sharing history so I could see (on a map?) who is reading my book right now. Amazon at least lets customers borrow some Kindle books, but Apple is still behind.

3: Make is possible for authors to digitally sign books
I had to get a paper book out of my library for Walter Isaacson to sign. Luckily I had his book on Benjamin Franklin so I asked him to sign that. But both my girlfriend and I had read the Steve Jobs book on the iPad and there was nothing he could add to that. How easy would it be to add an ‘author signature’ page to a book? You could hand your iPad to an author, he could draw something on that page or call up a keyboard and type something. Even better, you could ask him to do it remotely and it would have an indication of the queue length. You could enter a request to have him or her sign it for a friend and the book would predict it would take 6 months before you get the signature, without ever meeting the author.

Conclusion
Digital books are here to stay and there is no doubt that within a few years we will look at paper books as relics from the past. They will still exist but will be expensive and only available for a small group of collectors. We will still see a lot of innovation in digital books. They will become more useful, personal, shareable and awesome. And I will keep buying and reading them.