Let me just start out by saying, I can certainly be accused of jumping the gun with a post like this.

E-books are still in their infancy and present one giant hurdle for an entire industry; they will never be able to compete with hardbacks in terms of pure profit.  Of course, the same story is being written in the arenas of music and news.  Smaller to non-existent profit margins for delivering the same product will inevitably shake up an industry.  It’s really as simple as that.

But with so much general negativity surrounding the dying tactile publishing industry, a counterargument can be interesting if just simply in its rarity.

How can the book industry adapt to smaller profit margins?  Simple: they must downsize and/or sell more books.  The former is undeniably ugly for those involved.  But perhaps we can find hope in the latter.

Early indicators have shown that e-book readers consume more long-form writing than in their earlier, analog lives.  The accessibility of e-book readers may even help the industry cut into things like the time people spend watching TV, as was recently mentioned in a New York Times article about tweens e-book adoption habits.  That’s good news.

And not only that, but such accessibility might even help the industry help monetize the library and person-to-person borrowing that currently doesn’t make the publishing industry a single cent.

That means there might just be a light at the end of the tunnel that reveals a world where everyone reads more.  For all of its benefits, perhaps the physical book had just become an unworthy competitor in a world with so many more immediate forms of media.  And maybe amidst days of biting our nails at the transition, we should take a moment to rejoice that increased consumption can be achieved without dumbing down the medium.  The stories and ideas and pictures are evergreen, as we all knew they were.  We just needed to speed up the delivery method.

P.S. Of course, this counter-positive outlook for the industry doesn’t take into account the fate of the countless indispensable local bookstores out there, which act as a meeting place for entire communities of book and idea lovers.  Their future won’t be easy.  But I believe the best will survive.  The shops that give their customers an unique and satisfying experience with each purchase will carry on.  Because regardless of the industry that produces and distributes them, books are foremost a form of art.  And art has always been both a public and private pursuit.

An update from Teresa at Blue Elephant Book Shop on their move to 407 W Ponce de Leon Avenue…

Just an update on Blue Elephant Book Shop. We have run into a couple of snags and our reopening date of June 1 has been postponed. We are now shooting for June 4 and are still hoping on having our Grand Reopening Party on Saturday, June 5. We will be open in our current location on N. Decatur through Memorial Day. We will give an update in a couple of days when we know more.

Could on-demand printing of books save small bookstores?  No comment from Barnes & Noble screams “quite possibly” to me.

Rick forwards a great article from the Boston Globe about a bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont that has taken delivery of the country’s first “Espresso”, an on-demand “Book Machine” that prints books – covers and all – while you wait.  Right now, the machine has access to 85,000 titles, but obviously the sky’s as limitless as those for the much hyped (and IMO) uninspiring Kindle.

So, Little shop.  Any interest?

Wow…this story sure has legs!

Thanks to Carl and romanlily for pointing out that All Things Considered did a 4 minute piece on Wordsmiths fund-raising effort yesterday. Zach Steele was interviewed by phone.

Over on the store’s blog, Zach says they’re closing in on the halfway mark in terms of donations….

Photo courtesy of the NY Times

The “Pioneer Valley” that runs through central Massachusetts could portend the future of Decatur. Aside from sharing certain demographic attributes with our city, this string of towns along the Connecticut River Valley, boasts one of the largest concentrations of authors in the nation.

An article from today’s New York Times profiles this “author-saturated, book-cherishing, literature-celebrating” mecca, where you can’t go a couple miles without tripping over a book reading or festival at a local book shop or venue.

Looking like a matured Decatur, the area is rife with intriguingly-themed book festivals throughout the year and is saturated with independent book shops. (See the NY Times slideshow of local Pioneer Valley shops here)

So the question remains: can/will Decatur become a southern version of this bookish haven? Will authors continue to migrate to our city limits? Will our book festival continue to see its attendance grow and will local authors continue to replenish the line of speakers at our local shops? Only time will tell. Decatur certainly doesn’t have the rustic 18th and 19th century homes that provide part of the charm of these Northern independents, but the relatively recent emergence of book nooks like Little Shop of Stories and Wordsmiths coupled with the increasingly popular Decatur Book Festival, seems to indicate that Decatur could be well on its way to becoming the central hub for local southern writers.