fine press book
This project was produced by our own locals Shari DeGraw and Em Ellison. Wood cuts by Gaylord Schanilac.
bibliography to come
Here is a gathering of resources for those interested in the continuing role of print books in a context of its screen delivery. Such a prospect must consider the intersection, interplay and possible interdependence of paper and screen books and also consider a wider future for book transmission. But only works with implications for the future of the monographic book are considered here.
This bibliographic constraint is an attribute. As it is, our small topic of the future of books will address plenty and crosses disciplines between book studies, current book technologies, cognitive features of books, book preservation and book arts. We also survey conferences, forums and discussion threads on the theme of the future of the book. There is also deliberate moderation to constrain hype or hyperbolae from either fringe of print or screen book advocacies.
All that selected reading together is enough to advance an understanding of a continuing role of the print book in a context of its screen delivery. This investigative agenda is a project of the University of Iowa Center for the Book. The project is named “Books to Be” and the bibliography is also augmented by blog and seminar activities.
The Center for the Book is an innovative arts and research program dedicated to the past, present, and future of the book. Located in the University of Iowa Graduate College, the Center pursues a distinctive mission, integrating practice in the art of the book with study of the book in society.
We are living through an exciting moment is book history. Welcome to our vantage point!
tether
“The 263 titles I tallied, though probably not the complete list, still provide a fairly comprehensive look at what Amazon has published so far and where it is headed. Here are some of my findings:
» 261 of the 263 titles are available as print books as well as digital books.
» The average sale price of an Amazon Publishing paperback is $9.92. (The average price of a trade paperback in 2010 was $10.14, according to publishing research firm R. R. Bowker.)
» The average price of an Amazon Publishing e-book is $6.91. (The average price of an e-book in 2010 was $5.75, according to Bowker.)” The Truth About Amazon Publishing
Print and screen book sales are not tethered to each other and neither are their average unit retail prices. There does appear to be a blank stare print unit revenue advantage of 1/3. It is also worth a passing consideration that the publishers’ e-book infrastructure has been built with print revenues.
Going forward publishers will not care to abandon print and that is apparent even in genres of high screen book adoption where the vast majority of titles are released to both formats. Over all genres a future could be imagined where print and screen unit sales are equivalent although the higher print revenue could hold on to a 1/3 advantage. That trend would not establish a print/screen tether, but it would begin to suggest a print/screen interdependence; that neither will flourish without the other.