October 09, 2008

New uses for ebook readers

Veteran literary agent Richard Curtis highlights the kind of problems that arise when dragging the moribund editorial process into the 21st century, and suggests a unique solution (this is a good blog for anybody interested in the ebook business and ebook technology):

Not long ago an editor told me she'd discovered that the Sony Reader was so perfectly suited to reviewing manuscript submissions that her boss purchased them for everyone on the division's editorial staff. She simply uploads manuscript files and reads the book at home or on her commute to and from work. Recently I have heard many an editor rave about the virtues of the Sony (and to a lesser extent Amazon's Kindle) as an editorial tool. They also speak of the "green" benefits of paperless transmission of texts. Authors and agents benefit too, thanks to savings on photocopy, printing, and mailing costs.

Curtis also points out an unexpected difficulty with using Word to review drafts (the intrusiveness of the spell and grammar check functions), and discusses the evolving experience of reading as it becomes more and more dominated by electronic media.

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Comments
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous
10/09/2008 11:06 AM   
unexpected difficulty with using Word to review drafts (the intrusiveness of the spell and grammar check functions)

You know, I read that and just got annoyed at the whine. Just turn the function off. There's a toolbar button that will do it in one click.
# posted by Blogger Eugene
10/09/2008 12:20 PM   
True, but I think that should be read in the context of editors not being famous "for being early adopters of technological innovation." I was wondering ten years ago why editors wanted an SASE instead of an email address. Come to think about it, Sony should give Readers to every book editor in the business. Get them used to the medium and the format, and the whole concept of the ebook may stop being so foreign.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous
10/09/2008 1:35 PM   
Sony should give Readers to every book editor in the business.

That's a brilliant idea. And it would slow down the drinkage of the Kindle-ade.

Quite frankly, I hope the dinosaur dies so the new growth can feast on its carcass. If it can't keep up, it deserves a notch on Darwin's bedpost.