Many writers are nervous about book digitization. The future of the publishing world is changing. Just as the music industry has been transformed by Mp3 players, books may soon undergo a digitization revolution. What will these changes mean for the writers who create the works? Will they embrace book digitization or meet it with fear and dread?
Why Writers Fear Book Digitization
The combination of copyright and digitized books has some writers terrified. Understandably, they wonder how they will protect their livelihood when their works are readily available in a digital format—perhaps readily available for copying and stealing. Safeguards will probably be put in place to try to prevent copyright infringement.
In order for some writers to really embrace book digitization, security measures will have to be developed to prevent files from being copied all over the internet and distributed freely. After all, this is exactly what has happened in the music industry. Everyone knows that most record companies and music artists are not happy about how this has affected their bottom lines. Writers fear the same thing happening to their own careers.
Of course, consumers are upset at the prospect of not being able to share digitized copies of books with their friends and family the way they could a paper book, which is another issue that has yet to be worked out.
Why Writers Embrace Book Digitization
On the other hand, there are a number of ways in which writers stand to gain a lot from book digitization. A lot of writers, perhaps the majority, see this and are excited about them. Books will become much more readily available when they’re in digitized form. The hope is that more books will be read when they’re more accessible, and so far this seems to be true. This opens up great opportunities of growing audiences for authors.
Less well-known writers could see their book sales rise when the full text of books can be searched online. Their books will become easier to find, which is a big deal because marketing a book can be difficult. They aren’t exactly featured in TV commercials. As a result of this accessibility, these writers will make more money. A higher income is generally always a good thing, and is the one thing that writers are most afraid of losing through book digitization. Anecdotal evidence suggests that sales actually go up when a book or piece of music is published online for free.
Because publishing digitized books is much cheaper than paper books, publishers will be able to afford to take more risks in creating book deals with writers, both new and established. The prospect of having more opportunities to publish is another reason why some writers embrace the future of digitized books. These are some advantages of book digitization that writers should be excited about.
Will Writers Embrace the Changes?
There is no solid answer to this question. Many people stand squarely on both sides of the line—either embracing or fearing book digitization. Only time will tell the true effect that these huge changes to the publishing industry will have on writers.