Demise of Print and Barbara Kingsolver

Was lucky enough to secure a ticket to see author extraordinaire Barbara Kingslover.  As we all know Ms. Kingsolver has written much beloved books such as "The Bean Trees," "Poisonwood Bible" and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle."

Ms Kingsolver was entertaining and well spoken.  She was wonderful at pulling the audience into her daily writing life and the way she creates her novels.  For all budding, frustrated writers her description of her methodology of thinking out an idea, doing research and then committing the story to paper was a road map that hit its mark.   I could hear the muttering from the crowd as we were leaving: "She does research first!", "She is not always in control of her characters," "She loves to edit! She actually CUTS material!"

The audience questions were always bordering on reverence and the need to share how her books had changed their lives.  And one woman asked the key question of the evening:

"When you talk about a reader falling asleep while reading late into the night to last page and then the book, which has fallen on their face, becomes drenched with their tears, how do you feel about the Kindle?"

You could have heard a pin drop.  My seat mate had just showed me her kindle access on her iPhone.  I have written two blogs on the Demise of Print. We held our collective breath to hear the mistress of writing to hold forth on this topic.

"I am for reading in any manner that will allow for the magical world for stories to be read by the largest amount of readers.  What I am concerned about is the monopoly that Amazon created with the Kindle.  With the cost of a book down to $9.99, where is the revenue to support not just successful writers, but budding authors who need the advance to live on while they develop their next project and skill?  Where will the revenue come from to keep your independent book seller in business?"(paraphrased by the way)

I thought of all the wonderful books stores L.A. has lost in the last year.  Dutton's in Brentwood, Dutton's in North Hollywood, Book Soup and Skylight books are merging, and the only independent store left in my neighborhood is a rare book collector dealer with outrageous prices that I cannot afford.

I am as concerned as Ms. Kingsolver on the demise of a system that was perfected and efficient to nuture the budding talent hidden  within the vastness of the US.  Without the support and guidance and FUNDING to improve themselves via one advance after another what will stop the slide into mediocre literature?

My question now goes to Jeff Bezos of Amazon to ask him, how as a publisher, he intends to find, fund and nuture all those writers of passion and talent to continue creating the stories to entertain us.  Because in the end all any of us have that we most value are our stories!

Demise of Print!

"See how light it is," says my friend Randy B.  "Just settle on the couch and you'll see it's lighter than a book. It's so easy to see the text on the screen and you push this button to move forward, this button to move up or down and this one for backwards!"  Randy is very proud of her Kindle.  It's changed her life when it comes to reading.

I thought about how a Kindle would better my reading life.  I think it would not. Why?  Well for starters, I'm a bit sick of all the button pushing that goes on in my life these days. 

And second....I love books.

I love the smell of a new book.  Some women like the smell of new shoes, but me, I like the smell of ink drying on paper.  I love bookstores.  I love wandering in bookstores,  getting lost in picture books and magazines.  I love perusing the pages of a book with an interesting cover only to discover that I am falling into the story as quickly as Harry Potter falls into the pensive.  My brain goes to zen in 6 seconds flat.

Upon exiting the book store with the new purchases under my arm, I am impatient to go home to pop some corn, grab the cat and settle down to read.  I can't wait to live in the world of the story.

At times I am so enthralled with a 'page turner' that I don't even hear my name called unless the person is two inches from my ear  - at full volume. That happened a lot in 8th grade algebra.


I guard my collection of signed first edition in a locked glass cabinet.  I STOOD IN LINE for those signatures! I had a brush with genius and walked away with a snippet of conversation and being able to say, "I met her at a book fair.  Great author!" Some signed books (by dead authors) are currently priced at $5,000.  Yes, $5,000 for a signed copy of "Riders of the Purple Sage," by Zane Grey, one of my favorites.


So the Kindle got me to thinking.  How does an author "sign" a downloaded version of their book? How does a collector collect "e-books" from favorite authors?  And how do you sell an "e-signed, e-book on eBay?"


I will grieve profoundly the day books go the way of gas-guzzlers. But for now I will continue wander the last book stores, smell the drying ink and plot my attendance at book fairs.