If so, what is the market going to be like for writers? Should we be setting up pay sites of our own for people to see our work. Are publishers just distributors of our art? If so, is the electronic equivalent just some mechanism of having the ability to point "browsers" to the website for our work?

Authors don't make but a couple of dollars for each paperback book that is sold. The rest goes to the publisher for cost of making the book, paying the cover artist, and, of course, a little bit of profit.

I haven't done research on this, but I'd bet the production of the book costs about $1-2, depending on the quality of cover and paper and binding. Cut all that out. Then subtract $2 out for the author, though to be honest, I doubt he gets that much. That leaves another $2 for the paying of editors, secretaries, etc. and then whatever extra out of that goes to the furtherment of the company.

I'd say an e-book should charge about $2 a copy--though I don't have a clue yet how they expect to not get hacked somehow--that would leave about $1-1.50 for the author, and the rest for whoever publishes, because it would take less staff to publish on the net. In fact, one man with computer skills and an editor could publish several books a year. the author himself could publish his own book if he had a bit of knowledge or the right friends.

So if it's done right, the author shouldn't loose too much in the way of royalties for e-books.

Personally I don't think it will be done that way, though. I think that an encryption program will have to be made and sold by a publisher, then the stories distributed for free. I've got some ideas how to do this and make a fairly lucrative business out of it, but I won't post them just yet. I think this is the only workable form of the e-book medium if people want to get paid for their work. That, or a subscription to a publisher, kind of like e-zines--which would bring to life the art of serial novels.

By the way, there ARE a few companies who are trying to break into the market with novels on the net, especially in the format of subscription of a serial novel. I'm not sure how they'd do it exactly, but you can see for yourself. I'll post what names or links I know in the Writer's section in the next few days.

What I find most incredible is that the prices on the books are the same as one would pay in the bookstore at each of these sites. Most offer a freebie or at least a sample, but the prices to actually purchase one of the books is just as high as if I went down to Barnes & Knoble and bought the paper back.

I don't know why that should be, unless the volume is just so low at these sites (the mom & pop had about 3000 hits since 1997) that they have to recoup their investment in web space and Adobe Acrobat somehow.

The variety available is pretty small, although one place had lots of "classics" (things for which the copyright has expired), but again at prices the same as or even more than what the paperback would cost.

I like the idea of charging $1 or $2 and having the money go to the authors (mostly) and the editors/publishers secondarily.

If you ever get to the point of seriously pursuing your "secret idea" I would like to be "in" on it. Maybe you could clue me in via e-mail?

I like being on the internet. But I don't like to read for an extended period of time sitting on the computer for half of a day. I think a lot of people feel this way, too.

One solution: Print out a story. What? That would take forever, and it would use up so much paper, and it would be jumbled up, and what if you spilled it? Okay, okay.

Better solution: Make a small desk computer like Ender, or just use your lap top as you sit in bed relaxing with that lemonade in hand, but don't spill it on the keyboard!

There was an announcement this week of the production of electronic paper. Paper that can looks like paper and has words like paper, but the words can change at will. For example it is being used in a clothing store to display a sale item but every few seconds the items display change.

Books will then come out on cartridge or be downloadable into the electronic paper.

I did not describe this too well but I am not making it up. I think this is what will happen. There is a detailed scientic study on this at the following URL:

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/journal/sj/363/jacobson.html

The problem: they're costing the same amount as real books, so it seems to me to be a rip off. I feel that will change, but the unit is 200-500 as it is. They frequently give away novels, too...some of them are fairly good. For instance, the Scarlet Letter's (C) died, so it can be reproduced for free. I bought the book for 1.60, and saw it for free once on one of the pages.

As for the emphasis, I think that an audio notation could be an interesting lead in to an expansion of the traditional punctuation we all deal with in our reading. If Audio books take off and are written with emphasis and pitch notation, that would naturally enhance reading as well. Just think, using modifiers like, "she said in a sultry tone" would be almost unnecessary.

But Homeric greek had pitch and tone annotations on it, I just remembered. The accent acute meant rising voice and the accent grave meant falling voice and the circumflex meant uhhAAAuhh, just like it looked. The words themselves had completely different meanings depending on the tone of voice.

That's true of oriental languages, too, I think, isn't it, that the pitch determines the meaning?

I'd like to write a book in a brand new language that the reader had to learn as they read. But, ahhh, nobody would bother to take the trouble!

Lots of electronic communication media now permit 'tone' or emotives to be added to a text message. But I think that a emphasis marker and some others. Like, italics are good for emphasis, and bold is good for a more affirmative emphasis. Changing emphasis can make a huge difference in meaning.

Try the following one:
Well, of course Atrius was in the Sanctuary that night. It was his duty as a loyal servant of the priest.

The pacing WAS a bit odd, but I suppose with some work you could fix that too.

But even without that, if people had to read a book on a screen, wouldn't that actually open up opportunities for us as authors and creative types. I know my book could really benefit from illustrations, and maybe even a hypertext jump or two. E-books can have that stuff in profusion without actually costing any more to produce (unless you HIRE the artist as opposed to scribbling the stuff yourself or copying things in from public domain digital images).

Imagine having a little dancing animation off to the side when you want to get the reader's attention!

There is a certain something about real books that can never be replaced. I will be dragged,kicking and screaming, away from the shelves before I will give up the musty old things!

Who has never curled up with a quilt and a good book by the fire on a cold night? The feel of the paper, the weight and shape, the smell, the whole essence of a book - who in their right mind would want to lose that? Why on earth would you trade it in for a piece of hardware? The computer is great as far as it goes, but you can't quite enjoy that on the nights when the lights go out and you have to light a candle.

Holy crap! What if... What if instead of getting rid of paper distribution, you just totally revamped it? Like, have a automated book binding machine in the back of a bookstore, and they could just buy rare or hard to find book licenses electronically, and then...

That's totally off topic though. Wait, no, it isn't. The fact is, it's really easy to convert an e-book into a print edition, in fact, if e-books became the most common mode of distribution, it would create a niche for book printing shops. They could handle any level of printing you wanted, from a 'Manuscript Version', in a looseleaf binder, to a common paperback, to a cloth or even leather bound edition. Heck, there could even be shops that would give it to you on gold leaf (for a price).

Well, I guess that means that e-books can never take over really. I mean, even if it becomes the most common means of distribution, the technology itself creates a market for book binders, and the craft of book binding is almost an artform already. As a value added sector of... It would be a matter of some shops doing hand work, and setting, and... Wow. Use an automated typesetter, or even... Rad.

It's really not a bad idea, I have to admit.

Still, a book shop can be a real joy, particularly one that has all the books that you want and none of what you don't want. Or, more reasonably, one that has a good selection well sorted so that there is at least one aisle that has only stuff that you at least find interesting. A binding shop would be inadeaquite in that regard.

Maybe e-books would have a good idea or two. You made the remark about having what you did like and none of what you didn't, but what if e-books could do that?

Just think how easy personal censorship would be! Hey, I don't like that paragraph - hit the delete, no more paragraph. How about an automatic rating system? You could put in say G or PG and all the bad words are automatically erased or replaced with lesser expletives. Any book could be good for any one, regardless of original content.

And the Free speech thing, I mean, readers have a free speech right to modify and destroy stuff that they don't like, as long as they respect the property rights of the original authors.

After all, the freedoms of speech apply to all citizens, not just an elect few that have "artistic" credentials handed out by the government or powerful institutions.

I always love the way that some groups regard free speech as the sole province of those chosen by the "Official" media and the NEA and other such monolithic institutions.

Ok, between the two of you I think you made a convert. I need books, I love books, but but if you could get the services you were talking about I'd go for it.

If we're envisioning a situation in which the writer's market has been exploded by the advent of self-publishing, how are people supposed to build reputation for themselves as writers?

Of course, I'm forgetting that the real reason for concern here isn't that there will be so much, but simply that there won't be enough really good stuff. How are writers going to be able to discipline themselves to be able to maintain a high level of profesionalism in their writing, when they only deal with the consumer?