The Ebook Has Grown Up!
There was a time when downloading an ebook was the luxury of only the tech savvy or geek weirdo.
But now, it has become so easy to use that it is the preferred way to purchase books and information by millions of Americans. The ebook is now a household term and it is here to stay.
Among the many benefits to consumers for buying eBooks is the almost instantaneous acquisition of in depth facts, on any subject, moments after an initial search on the Internet.
This means no more waiting for the next day to head to the books store, or day’s spent looking for the UPS man or Mail person to come and deliver a book. Consumers love getting their answers right away instead of waiting long after the initial flame interest has smoldered and died.
Another key factor in growing online ebook sales is the clear ecological benefits gained when a book is delivered electronically rather than by traditional means.
A traditional book as we know is printed on paper.
We all know that paper starts out as a tree growing in a forest hopefully not on a hillside outside your living room’s window and then transported miles over road by smoky diesel trucks to a paper mill which then will then use toxics chemicals to bleach the wood pulp white and then later add more toxic polymers to the pulp slurry, to reconstitute it into sheets of paper.
These first steps of simply making the paper, for printing books not only consumes incredible amounts of fossil fuels to provide energy initially, but also are responsible for sustaining eco damage that is incurred through the way of taxing the local municipal water filtration plants surrounding the mills.
Ultimately almost all paper mills will leave residual contamination in the watershed surrounding the its plant generations after it has left town and it’s jobs have moved on.
Even today’s supposedly “eco friendly” soy based inks while not immediately threatening to the end user, as some of the lead based inks of the past did also exacerbates the eco system.
By relying so heavily on the new bio engineered soybean mono culture factory farms for ink we are encouraging the creation of freak crops suitable only for growing in soil so poisoned, it has become all but sterol to any crop other than the ever more genetically modified strains used.
Negative reasons for buy traditional books aside the most important reason eBooks are threatening to upset the status quo is the sheer speed in which information can be made available to the end consumer.
In a world that changes at the speed of light, information which would become obsolete if published through traditional channels (think printing schedules at big publishing companies and distribution line lag times) can be offered to the public moments after editing in formats perfect for reading via the customers laptop or phone!
Yes indeed, the publishing worlds “baby” the ebook has certainly grown up and is going head to head with its traditional older brothers the hardcover and paperback.
