There is a fair amount of speculation about the future of the book. So, is the book dying?  Is reading on the decline? You’ll be pleased to know the answer to both questions is an emphatic “no!”

There is definitely a lot of shifting and change occurring in the book world, but the book is actually alive and well.  In fact, it seems less about whether people are reading and more the question of format that is causing a stir.  Recent data actually indicates that we seem to be living a kind of reading renaissance.

A few years ago there were many who predicted an impending apocalypse in the reading world, claiming the death of the traditional book bound on paper would lead to an inevitable decline in readership.  However, the invention of the digital e-book has clearly changed the reading playing field – and it seems for the better.  Regardless of format, we now have more books, more readers, and larger audiences for words and ideas whether presented to us on paper or pixels.

In its annual report published last august 2011, the Association of American Publishers reported that overall revenues and the number of books sold in all formats have grown significantly since 2008.  However, without e-books the numbers would likely have been flat or declined slightly.

An American think-tank group that looks at current trends, called the Pew Research Centre, also reports an interesting development.  Twenty percent (20%) of Americans report having read at least one digital book in the past year – and digital book consumers read more books per year  (about 24) than the solely paper-bound readers. Another surprise:  e-book readers also read a lot of paper books as they are comfortable in both formats.

It’s interesting to note that with the growth of digital books many authors are also making more money on Kindle, Kobo and iPad format sales than they did when we were limited to traditional publishing.        E-books tend to be cheaper than traditional hardbacks as they are much less expensive to produce—and it seems readers are inclined to buy more given the savings. Think about it: e-books eliminate the pulping of paper, printing, binding, delivery trucks, stores with lots of sales employees and infrastructure costs.

But bound paper books still remain popular with people.  A lot of people prefer the feel of a book, its smell and its portability.  There’s permanence to the book that certainly has a special appeal to many.

So we should all realize that we are living through a time of profound change – probably equal to when Guttenberg invented the printing press in the mid-1400s.  The good news is people appear to be reading more than ever before.  –Chris Shannon, Headmaster