Kindle 2: Kindle Harder

The Boston Globe recently published this article about the clamor surrounding the new Kindle. As the article notes, "Seldom has a new product that isn't really new created such excitement." Increased thinness and decreased weight are among the improvements the new Kindle has upon its predecessor. Fueling buzz for the product are endorsements from names quite familiar to our class: Stephen King (looking rather extraterrestrial in the photo) and Oprah Winfrey.

The article really isn't about the Kindle, but rather what it represents - the future of publishing, and more specifically, books. I think the position the article presents is probable. "Will the convenience of electronic reading make the experience of curling up with a book a thing of the past? Most authorities on the place of books in society doubt it." As is noted in the article, new technology often doesn't completely replace old - the comparison drawn to the emergence of photography technology and its effect on painting was very fitting, I thought.

Another issue raised by the Kindle and other electronic book devices is the question of royalties for authors. Electronic books sell for much cheaper than print books, and if royalties stay at present percentages, authors won't be making very much at all. A resolution to this is not clear at present. If the industry becomes mostly electronic, production costs should go down, allowing authors to stake a higher royalty. With enough fame, fortune, and tech savvy authors may even be able to go it alone without publishers - a la Radiohead and "In Rainbows." As for print books, maybe book contracts will come standard with separate sections for the two mediums, and a proportionate royalty for each.

A final interesting note about the Kindle 2: Stephen King has written a short story specifically for the device, and in that story, a character uses the Kindle. Could we call this product placement? I would say so. A clever marketing move? Maybe. It raises an interesting question about advertising in literature, a subject which has been mentioned by others on this blog. I don't think that we will ever see banners or pull out ads in our books, but I do believe product placement has the possibility for wide prevalence in some areas of fiction and non-fiction. Something tells me that the avant-garde won't take to it (without irony, at least), but I could see genre fiction and non-fiction using it. Obviously, product placement treads a fine line and must be used sparingly and with precision. Assaulting the reader with a tirade of real life products would probably have the same effect as the overuse of adjectives and adverbs has on the pace and feel of a story. But a few spots here and there - why not? Many popular authors have inadvertently done this in attempts to provide realistic detail: for example, Tom Clancy's novels are quite specific about vehicle and weapon brands. The appearance of the iPod, as opposed to the generic mp3 player, in many pieces of popular writing is also technically product placement.