[access-uk] Is this a sign of end to e-books
- From: "Derek Hornby" <derek.hornby_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 11:49:15 +0100
From The Times 22 May 2013
Stephen King logs out of e-books and tells fans to buy print
John Simpson
Stephen King, the prolific horror writer, championed the nascent e-book
revolution more than a decade ago by publishing an online-only novella.
But in a sharp about-turn, he has decided not to release the digital rights
to
his latest book.
King said that for his new novel, Joyland, he hoped that readers would
return to
bookshops to buy old-fashioned print editions. The book, due to be published
on
June 7 in Britain, will be available only in print format.
"I have no plans for a digital version," the author told The Wall Street
Journal. "Maybe at some point, but in the meantime, let people stir their
sticks
and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one."
King's short story Riding the Bullet was published in 2000 in e-book form.
The
decision was thought to have been a significant step towards the new age of
e-publishing. When he released the story, priced at 2 dollars, 50, King
wrote on
his website: "My friends, we have the chance to become Big Publishing's
worst
nightmare." In the novella, a writer sends a man-eating plant to a
publishing
house that has rejected his manuscript.
Now, as it becomes clear that "Big Publishing" has cornered the online
market,
it seems King has decided to back traditional paper publishing. Joyland will
be
published by Hard Case Crime, an independent American publisher that
specialises
in lurid pulp fiction artwork on its book covers. In 2005, Hard Case
published
King's novel The Colorado Kid.
Sales of e-books in the United States doubled in 2012 compared with 2011.
Paul
Ingram, the buyer for Prairie Lights bookshop in Iowa City, Iowa, said he
hoped
that King's decision would inspire other authors.
Mr Ingram said that it was unfortunate that many people would rather buy
books
from their computer or mobile phone than browse the shelves at a bookshop.
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