Introducing TED Books

This may be the future of publishing—ebooks by intellectual luminaries explaining a great idea in 20,000 words or less for a mere $2.99. As Seth Godin pointed out in a recent talk on the new dynamics of publishing, the fact that most hardcover books have been between 200 and 400 pages (and cost $24.99 for that matter) is no more than a historical accident—that's how lengthy books needed to be to be worth publishing. But that was way back in 2010. With ebooks, page count has no economic impact. As a non-fiction reader who has read many an 'idea' book that starts off strong but then just repeats itself for the last hundred pages (yes, Thomas Friedman I'm talking about you), I say, hurray!

Read more about TEDBooks here.

Or maybe Blio software and the Mac Tablet will save book design...?

From the Blio website:

Books, the way they were intended.

Unlike other eReaders, Blio preserves your book’s printed format, including layout, fonts, and images true to the book’s original form, and in color. Now, fully enjoy the subtlety of design originally intended by the publisher.

Blio offers a large selection of books that otherwise don’t translate well into eContent: especially cookbooks, travel guides, how-to books, schoolbooks, and children’s stories.

More on the Blio in this NPR article and on their website.

However, most eReaders are still rather ugly. But according to this Wired article that quotes cover designer Henry Sene Yee, the situation is most likely temporary,

The devices’ limitations are mostly because they are in their early stages. For instance, color e-book readers are not likely to be widely available until at least mid-2010. And the current black-and-white displays offer readers no choice beyond increasing or decreasing font size.

As e-book readers get more popular they will get more sophisticated, bringing in a new crop of designers that understand a changing world of digital publishers.

“People want more than just plain text and the technology will have to change and keep up with this need,” says Sene Yee. “It won’t stay ugly forever.”

Kill the Kindle...? hmm.

Cover designer Charles Brock obviously hates them, but I'm not sure how I feel about e-readers like the Kindle. Perhaps book covers will go the way of the record sleeve. Who knows? Either way, creativity will always have a place even in a paperless digital world.