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Article by: Robert Blanc
Way back when the internet first learned to walk
there was a famous aphorism encouraging it as it took each unsteady
step: “Information wants to be free.” Well, while the
internet is not old by any stretch of the imagination, it is now
upright, sturdy, and racing ahead, two legs strong and insisting:
“Information wants to be on the internet!” The resounding
boom of this proclamation initially caused other information-related
industries—namely print media and publishing—to backpedal
or just plain shake. Newspapers, luckily understanding the ramifications
of the internet, quickly steadied their nerves and appeared online,
first as supplements to their printed versions, then vice versa
as their primary mode of distribution. Books, on the other hand,
appeared slowly, initially at a crawl, but seemingly overnight
are like the internet itself, already running.
In increasing numbers, books are now digitized; i.e. becoming
eBooks. Though industry numbers vary, some sources already place
eBook sales at 35% of the overall total of yearly book sales.
Book reviewers, likewise, increasingly shift their critical gaze
away from traditional hardbound and soft-cover books to eBooks,
which either appear solely in digital format, or as alternatives
to their tangible world counterparts. And not only do eBook reviewers
now regularly give resoundingly influential thumbs up or down
to specific eBooks, but entire websites are available to review,
catalogue and otherwise provide information on eBooks in an increasing
number of categories. In fact, the breath of reading materials
contained within an eBook’s pages already exceeds traditional
(and at present most sought after, and thus lucrative) self-help
eBooks to encompass even literature’s canon (formerly only
found gold-leafed and leather-bound) from Homer to Shakespeare.
Monster search engines, with Google™ of course leading the
charge (and Yahoo!, Microsoft’s MSN, and bookseller Amazon.com
in tow) are years into developing systems that will digitize the
printed word. Despite copyright infringement lawsuits hurled like
spears from traditional book publishers, steps have been taken
to digitize several large libraries whose collections presently
exist in the public domain (thus not subject to copyright law).
Microsoft, for instance, is digitizing 100,000 such books from
the British Library. Additionally, Random House recently became
the first of the traditional publishing behemoths to realize their
future, in part, relied upon selling eBooks, and began digitizing
portions of their catalogue. Finally, Amazon.com is setting up
a cheaper alternative, a “pay-per-view” system not much
unlike checking books out of a library for a nominal fee.
In the future, many experts predict, if we read something, it
will be read online and online only. Trusted offline information
will be digitized to replace currently less trusted online information.
Access to information will even be available for purchase piecemeal
to accommodate specific needs and interests. Examples include
a chef’s recipe without his or her entire cookbook, a Bible
verse without both testaments, a single chapter relevant to a
student’s research, and access to the foreign city a traveler
will visit without lugging the guide for the entire country abroad.
But what is wonderful for the average Joe and Jane, Smith or
Jones about the digitizing of information being but in its most
nascent stages, is that opportunities abound for them to become
primary movers and shakers, pioneering and (thus) profiting from
this revolution. Now is the time to digitize the stores of information
and know-how that you already possess. Don’t know what I
mean? Check out the wealth of information accumulating daily on
numerous new eBook review websites to read how hundreds of others
did exactly this: turned what they were good at or what interested
them into an eBook now sold to and shared with likeminded people
wanting to learn or benefit from another (and perhaps former!)
Joe or Jane, Smith or Jones’ expertise.
Otherwise, not interested in entrepreneurship? eBook review websites
are still a wonderful place to begin your search for information.
There regularly are links to not only individuals selling eBooks
they wrote, but to eBook exchanges and sellers promoting libraries
worth of eBooks in an astounding number of diverse categories.
Either way, you’ll be onboard, running ahead with the knowledge
that not only does “information want to be free” but
it “wants to be online!”
Copyright 2006, Robert K. Blanc. All Rights Reserved. Reprint
or reposting of this article permitted only in its entirety with
the below resource box included and unchanged.
Robert Blanc is a frequent traveler and freelance writer, having
covered current events, niche markets and subjects of personal
interest for both online and traditional print publications. Recently
enamored by the eBook phenomenon and the booming self-help industry,
he regularly turns to http://www.ebookreviews.net
to begin his searches for the latest information and eBooks currently
on the market.
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