How Do You Read?

This never used to be a question. Kamy Wicoff asks: How do you read?

You read by opening up a book, or picking up any piece of paper with letters printed on it, and go! Now this has all changed. With e-books exponentially increasing in popularity in ways that have taken the industry by surprise (but not Jeff Bezos) publishers everywhere are scrambling to respond, and so are revered institutions like the New York Times. This morning, the Times announced that it will be publishing bestseller lists for e-book fiction and nonfiction beginning in early 2011 -- a hugely important development for authors and publishers given the fact that e-book sales are beginning to comprise a significant portion of the total sales for any given title. (Several publishers told me this summer that they were frustrated by the fact that their authors' total sales weren't reflected on the bestseller lists for this reason.) It is also significant because in this new system, some titles may be bestsellers in e-book form, but not in print.

What does this mean for us -- women who write? To me, these changes present an exciting opportunity to open the world of writing, which for many centuries has been built on a model of scarcity, keeping 99% of people who want to publish OUT and deriving value from this exclusivity, to a more transparent model based on generosity and abundance. When it is possible to publish without a publisher, to print without printing, many more writers can share their stories, and produce work in many more forms and genres than fit into the literary-headlock of the traditional 250-page hardcover book. (How many nonfiction books do you know, in particular, that would have been oh-so-much better if they'd been half as long?) Look at the experiments already underway, in the form of audio magazines like Textsound, with innovative poetry sites like Cellpoems, and poets like Anne Carson experimenting with the print book itself, exquisitely imagined in her captivating "Nox", an accordion-style book-in-a-box, with mixed media on textured pages that engage a reader's senses in a rich, non-digital way.

So how do you read? We would love to know -- please take a minute to answer that question in our latest She Writes survey.

One thrilling prospect I see in all of this? When storytellers are not dependent on institutions and gatekeepers to give them permission to tell their stories to a wide audience, or even reach the small audience given a chance to decide what it wants to read and hear -- groups traditionally kept on the outside will find, for the first time, a door in to the world that nobody can block, bully, intimidate or prevent them from opening and walking through. Think of the Afghan Women's Writing Project, which fulfills its mission of empowering Afghan women to have a voice in the world, against all odds, by leveraging digital technologies, and you will know what I mean. That is not just thrilling -- it's revolutionary.

She Writers: what do you see as the opportunities presented by this dizzying moment of innovation and creativity -- and what makes you wary?

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And the Most Popular Way to Read An E-Book Is... from Wired.com

Tags: #publishing, #things we care about, book publishing, e-publishing, reading

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Comment by Valarie Rocha on February 5, 2011 at 1:36pm: I think this is fabulous for new writer such as myself because it eases the fears of what to do after my work has be edited and polished to my approval. Also many people do not like to read because it seems so time consuming but if you allow them the ability to listen while they can multitask i.e. exercising, chores etc. then it can be much more beneficial.

Comment by Eunice Boeve on January 14, 2011 at 5:24pm: I just got a Kindle and since I do a lot of my leisure reading after I go to bed, I find it much easier to handle than a book. But I love the smell, feel, and sight of books. I also like to share books. I can't share an e-book

Comment by Kim Steutermann Rogers on January 5, 2011 at 2:27pm: Any and every way I can: Print, e and audio. The new options just allow me to read MORE books.

Comment by Atiya on January 4, 2011 at 1:00pm: I read both e and print. But I prefer print

Comment by Monette Dalley on December 20, 2010 at 7:22am: I read any way I can: scraps of paper on the kitchen table that need clearing, signs along the road, over a person's shoulder in the metro, upside down when the page is facing the other way, e-book when I get my hands on it, my eyes closed as I listen to my son 'read' the story in his head after I have read him a story in a book. For as long as I can remember, I have read everything my eyes set on, and wrote everything my mind lit upon. The two go together, no?

Comment by Ginger McKnight-Chavers on November 14, 2010 at 1:28pm: Just to qualify my previous comment, I still love real books, real bookstores. But, given my current family and life situation, reading requires lugging books around with me from early in the morning until late at night, which was not happening. The Kindle enabled me to join the land of the literate again - not an exaggeration. I still buy books that I just want to have on the shelf, but 90% of the time I read electronically - out of necessity, not preference.

Comment by Ginger McKnight-Chavers on November 14, 2010 at 1:23pm: Having a Kindle has actually made it easier for me to read. Given all the responsibilities and stresses that suck up my middle-aged, sandwich-generation life, I am barely able to write, much less indulge in one of my favorite activities, reading. The Kindle is so convenient to carry around, that I'm able to sneak in a few pages here and there in between picking up people and waiting on people and taking care of people. I have read more books over the last year of owning a Kindle than I did in the few years prior. The electronic publishing revolution is a welcome change for me, because it makes it more convenient for me to read - as I carry around 5,000 songs on my ipod (can you imagine the number of record crates?) in my pocket, I'm currently carrying at least 30 books in my handbag on my Kindle.

Comment by Dana DuGan on November 12, 2010 at 2:55pm: Books are artwork. They fill me with adventure, romance, thought provoking behavior and verse, and afterward line my shelves like decoration. So much cheaper than a painting. I never go anywhere without a book. A portable screen--Nook, Kindle--is a great idea, and I know the industry will grow for all our sakes. But I will always be most at home in a room full of books.

Comment by Barbara Ehrentreu on November 12, 2010 at 1:16pm: The e-book revolution means a lot to me since my book is going to be published first in an e-book format and that makes me feel that it will be read more than I thought. It is not being self-published, but it is being published by a company that is primarily e-book format. I think that this new tracking is going to be a boon to publishers who do e-books. With the Kindle and the Nook people can now take their e-books anywhere they want to read them. I'm looking forward to seeing how this translates to more sales.:) My book isn't out yet so I'm hoping that in the next half year or so the e-book revolution will have exploded!!

Comment by Amy Wise on November 12, 2010 at 8:48am: I just had this converstion with a friend yesterday. We were in Barnes and Noble talking about missing the small book stores, and holding books in our hands. It's ironic that I'm so torn about e-readers because for many years I worked in the internet advertising field long before it was the norm. I'm used to new technology and embracing it. I have nine different sites that I check each day that I either write for or am tied to in way or another. I have a love/hate relationship with the internet, technology and my computer. It has brought about friendships, connections and opportunities that otherwise would not have been there. However sometimes I have to force myself to step away and go breathe some fresh air! Okay, I digress...back to the conversation at hand.....I have yet to buy an e-reader in any form as I can't give up holding a book in my hand, and turning the paper pages. I can't bring myself to go there, so that is one bit of technology that I can't quite embrace, at least not yet. I love that doors are opening for so many because of this technology and I never knock progress but I have to "feel" my books, look at them on the shelf, decide which one to read next, and anticipate turning that first page and digging in. There is nothing like it. For now.