5.31.2007

please allow me...

to introduce myself. actually, i have no interest in doing that. i also have no interest in gushing about who i am, or really much about me at all.

instead, this was born from a swift kick to my cerebrum after attending a few sessions today at the book expo of america. as i sit here in the jacob javitts center, i have made the divine decision to start this gig. of course, it very well might be due to attending three different (yet very similar) bea sessions on social networking for author brands, publishers rocking the digital age with digital media, and corporate social media platforms and why publishers need to jump on the band wagon.

yes, everyone is online. yes, starting a blog is touted as easy. and it is. but it's keeping up with the blog that is the challenge.

and here i am.

jeff gomez, the author of the upcoming print is dead said that "print is dead...and the internet killed it."

i'm not 100% behind that statement...maybe something more along the line of "print is ill...and the internet infected it."

don't get me wrong. i love the net. i grew up on it, back in the day of prodigy online, and i still spend hours cruising the world wide web. however, despite ebooks coming on the scene, i do not think that scanning text on a smallish screen is even remotely close to the experience of flipping through the pages of a book. the book provides an emotional experience.

think about it: you go to the bookstore, thumb through titles that catch your eye. books are tactile, they often have a crisp, papery scent, or perhaps it's the glue, and you will never get an error message from a book. your book doesn't need a power source (though, unless you want to hear your mother tell you that reading in the dark is bad for your eyes, you better turn a light on) and your book will never become corrupted (however, if you leave it out in the rain, it will get soggy and possibly get ruined--then again, so will an e-reader).

i love books. look at my cubicle some time, and you will see them on my bookcase, my desk, my cadenza, my shelves, my floor, and often i have to move them off my chair in order to sit down. the same goes for my home.

nonetheless, if books need to go digital in order to get new readers, then so be it.

but i'll still be going to the bookstore.