How Technology Plays Into the Publishing Industry - podcast

Journalist and author Hiawatha Bray discusses how technology has impacted bookstores. There's a shift to more people reading e-books and ordering books online, instead of going to a local bookstore. Bray feels that bookstores are in a state of crisis, but they may survive more as a niche or hobby for those who love them. E-books offer advantages to readers, such as giving farsighted readers the ability to adjust the print size for an easier read. There are also some privacy concerns related to e-books, because in some cases there's marketing feedback delivered back to the retailer or publisher. That data may later affect what is published, producing more homogeneous literature. But in the end, Bray says that writers will always want to be creative and original, producing the books they want to share with the world.