Book Keeping

BoingBoing guest blogger Paul Spinrad posted a provocative short piece yesterday, advocating getting rid of hardcover books. In "Replace Harcovers with a Bunch of Signs," Spinrad makes the point that publishing a book in hardcover is the publisher's way of getting attention and credibility through reviews, which then lead to profitable sales of paperback copies.

Spinrad suggests that publishers each put up a digital sign in a prominent place, say Times Square, where they can show off the books they're proudest of.

The book industry would tell book reviewers, talent coordinators, etc. that the signs are the new hardcover. In other words, this is the pool of people we're putting out there to make the rounds in the media, and other people will be covering them and people will be thinking about them at the same time that you are. Meanwhile, aspiring authors should want to see themselves up on one of those signs. They should be framed with appropriate gravitas indicators (marble, columns) and designed by famous artists.

According to Pat Holt, publishers fear that reeducating the audience away from hardcovers is impossible. But I think it would happen quickly if all the major publishing houses unveiled their signs at once with some fanfare and ribbon-cutting. It would be a major cultural event, and would get plenty of free coverage.

I think it's an interesting idea, and would certainly save a lot of trees (and cost a bunch of people in printing their jobs). Given my attitude about paper newspapers, though, it's probably not a surprise that I object to the idea of giving up hardcovers.

In fact, if I had to choose, it would be paperbacks that I would give up.... let them go the way of the Kindle. They have no shelf life anyway. But a hardcover is good for my lifetime, at least, unlike a paperback.

(I have several paperbacks that have cracked completely in half -- see the photographic evidence above -- and others that have come loose from their glued covers. Then, should you be foolish enough to open them and try to read them, the arthritic glue completely disintegrates, leaving the book in chunks of pages. And I haven't even mentioned the cheap paper that has yellowed as if it has been sitting out in the sun, and will have holes eaten in it from acid before too long.)

But what Spinrad's idea does make me think of is the book trailers that have become increasingly common. They're basically like movie previews (except they're for books, of course). I don't think I've actually seen one, and definitely haven't been influenced to buy a book because of one. But the premise seems similar.

Come to think of it, though, the idea of a billboard or a trailer appealing to a serious reviewer seems pretty misbegotten. Probably better to keep the hardcovers around for a while longer, which has the added benefit of making libraries, collectors, and me happy.