Will apps, instead of physical books, become the new norm?
Hi friends!
First of all, I apologize: I seem to have fallen into the bad habit of only writing Monday Musings… To be honest, I feel like I’m going through some kind of blogging “sophomore slump.” Plus, with a lot of new things happening in my life, it’s been harder and harder to sit down and blog. I hope I can kick this funk soon! I’ve read some really incredible books that I can’t wait to blog about (note: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, The Widow by Fiona Barton, etc, and the Carly Rae Jepsen Book Tag that I’ve been meaning to do!). However, I hope you will bear with me in the meantime until I get my mojo back!
Anyway, back to today! Just as I was thinking about what to write about today, I came across a tweet that caught my attention:
The tweet links to this article that outlines what to expect from Wally Lamb’s upcoming book –or, more accurately, app. It’s interesting to note that the publisher has decided to forgo not only paper editions of the book, but e-books as well. I suppose I see the merit in it, in that it means that everyone who is interested in the book will have no choice but to download the app. And, to be fair, the bundle included in the app (“an original soundtrack, a full cast audio drama narrating the story, and a documentary about Lamb, shot in the movie theater that inspired the novel,” according to Electric Lit) sounds pretty enticing. I’m definitely interested in seeing how the novel and app is received when it comes out next year.
What do you think of this book/app? Would you download it? Do you think it’s a wise choice for those involved to not publish a physical book and e-book as well?
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The extra bookish content sounds amazing but as a huge fan of Lamb’s I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to read this book. I flat out refuse to read books on a digital platform.
I’m looking forward to those posts when you’re ready to write them! Maybe new year, new start? This time of year is kind a special kind of madness, not sure you want to add the pressures of blogging to that if you’re not feeling it!
Aw, yeah, that’s too bad! I would have loved to sit in on the meeting where the publisher/people involved agreed on not publishing the book in other formats.
I’m looking forward to writing those posts! I have all the excitement in my heart, now I just need to sit down and do it. Hopefully I can get at least a few posts written before the holidays!
Why do you refuse to read digitally? Just curious. ..
I stare at screens all day. I just don’t want to read books on them too.
Yeah… I tend to read ebooks in bed and some nights my eyes have just had enough!
I probably would. I often find myself reading on my phone or tablet, so I don’t see a huge difference as a user. It’s a brave move!
It really is a brave move, isn’t it? I rarely read on my phone and I don’t have a tablet, so it’ll be interesting to see if this catches on and becomes more mainstream. I only *just* got used to reading e-books!
It makes sense; time will tell if readers buy in. I’d be willing to check it out but I’m not that interested in the extra content.
If the crime scene photographs and Lamb’s research are used wisely and meant to be engaging then I think the app has potential. But at the same time, if the publishes aren’t putting it out as a print book or even an ebook they are losing out on potential customers who aren’t willing to test out something experimental like this. I guess next year they’ll find out. Maybe this is the future of publishing…
Hmmmmmm……I’m not sure what I think about this. My gut instinct is not one of excitement, but maybe I need to give the idea a little time to settle in. This is the first I’ve heard of it!
My issues are that it might not be available in libraries and not being able to read on an ereader, though I did recently read a whole book on my phone and it was okay.
I don’t e-read much, so this isn’t my favorite idea, though I can see how it would be appealing for certain title. I just wish the book was still being offered in multiple formats.
I don’t like the idea of it being available *exclusively* as an app (seems kind of unfair to people who can’t afford devices). But I think it sounds cool, I’d probably give it a whirl depending on the price. 🙂
I won’t be reading it – I’m still only reading print. But, I’ll be curious to see how it goes. Maybe one of the reasons there will only be the one format is to see how much interest there is in it?
I’m slowly coming around to the idea of ebooks, but still (and always will) prefer paper books 😀 I think we should always be given the option of how we want to read the book (paper, ebook, app etc), rather than being forced! Curiosity may pull readers in, but I personally think it’s a bad move!
I can’t wait to read Carly’s book! And look forward to seeing Lamb’s first app book