With the introduction of the e-book and tablet readers,
many people are predicting the demise of printed media in the near future.
However, I do not see such a Bradburian doomsday for the printed word. In fact,
when looking at the current climate, there are many reasons for pessimists to
reassess their half-empty glasses.
To see a brighter future, it is first necessary to look
to the past. In his book, Amusing
Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil
Postman notes that the United States is unique in that it was founded in the
age of the printed word. In fact, it was one of the most literate countries in
the world. This “Typographic America,” as Postman calls it, was integral to a
democratic system because it was the only means of communication across a vast
landscape. Just think: how would a democracy work in a country where citizens
could not read the laws or understand their very freedom? The very size of the
country would also make any sort of verbal discourse across states next to
impossible! This foundation on the printed word still remains today. The
problem with foundations, however, is they are hidden under everything else.
Today, media is overwhelmingly dominated by screens. But
if one would behind those screens, he would see a thriving typographic
landscape. Let’s start with the e-book, the printed word’s latest arch nemesis.
Since 2008, e-book sales have grown 4456%, an alarming number to be sure; at
least until one considers the fact that they still only make up 20% of all
sales. Last year (2013), e-book sales grew by 43%, which is another healthy
number except that it is the first time in three years that they have not grown
by triple digits. One last statistic: 457 million e-books were sold last year
compared to 557 million print books, but that is just hardcover! Finally, polls
have shown that millennials—those people that are supposed to be so plugged
into their screens—still overwhelmingly prefer physical print.
That’s not all the good news lurking behind the screen,
however. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), more than two hundred
movies coming out will be based on books this year alone. While those
pessimists might point to this as a sign of the cannibalization of print as a
medium, I find it quite comforting. This is mostly because these big movies
actually drive book sales, and not just for the juggernauts like the Rowlings
and Sparkses of the world; a new trend has emerged in the past couple years
where studios are optioning promising novels before they are even published. So
in a way, films and television function as multi-million dollar book trailers.
Speaking of television, it too can drive book sales;
shows like True Detective and Game of Thrones have proven this. True
Detective is an especially interesting case because it shows how different
media can feed on each other and boost sales and ratings. The show centers on
two detectives trying to solve a cult murder, with the twist that the mythos of
this cult is based on the book The King
in Yellow, written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. But the
show never mentions this. Instead, it took io9, an online blog, to point out
the fact. The end result was a significant spike in sales of the book through
Amazon.
The future of print can rely on screens, and vice versa.
So, while printed books will never be as powerful or popular as they once were,
there is reason to believe that the foundation is here to stay. Now take
another look at your glass.
by Ian Burnham, intern
