If we are to believe the forecasts, the future of books and storytelling is inextricably linked to the increasing inter-connectivity of our world. A future beckons in which it will be bad manners to read a book alone, without sharing every character, every plot twist, and every page with your friends, your family, and that odd-looking homeless person on whom you took pity and to whom you gave your small change on the way home from the office. It all sounds perfectly hideous to me, but that’s what the experts say is going to happen.
In the kind of news story that makes me consider a lobotomy to be a prudent, forward-looking lifestyle choice, CBCNews in Canada claims that ‘Social reading is the next phase of e-book revolution’. The article is bookended with misplaced references to Al Jolson and, inevitably, Guttenberg, and after a few figures on the growth of the e-book market in Canada, we are introduced to Bob Stein, who is a ‘digital pioneer’. Continue reading “Indie News Beat: Is this really the future of storytelling?”