Debates: VERSUS?
Formats and Genres
Steve: Nicholas Carr in his Rough Type blog3 and subsequent New York Times article suggests that ebooks might be acceptable for genre fiction but not for literary fiction. One respondent to his blog quipped, "That's like saying that CDs are good for heavy metal but not for classical music," which is pure nonsense. Our research shows that, while certain genres are somewhat more likely to be read as ebooks, genres have very little to do with format choice. Some genres are preferred on specific devices (e.g., narrative works on e-readers, how-to guides on tablets or PCs, and travel books on smartphones), but once a consumer switches to ebooks, genre considerations are irrelevant.
John Parsons (john@intuideas.com), former Editorial Director of The Seybold Report, is an independent writer, ghostwriter, and editor. He is the co-author of the interactive printed textbook, Introduction to Graphic Communication, on the art, science and business of print, which has been adopted by Ryerson, Arizona State, the University of Houston, and many other schools and vocational training centers. Custom editions of the book are under consideration by major printing companies and franchises for internal training purposes.