The Future of Books and Newspapers

    Throughout the past week we have talked about the futures of the book industries and the newspaper industries. How E-books are starting to take over hard copy books, and how online news is starting to replace the hard copy that we often get at our doorstep or in the driveway. I'm first going to start off with the book industry and how it is being affected by E-books. E-books are books in which you can buy online, and you can access from anywhere including your phone, laptop, I-pod or any other digital device. E-books are actually a lot cheaper then a hard copy book which is why many people are using it. However though if this trend continues then E-books might replace the book industry for good. Hard copy sales these days are actually declining as more people are tuning in to E-books. The book industry though is still strong, as Economist claim that by 2010, U.S. book sales will reach 47 billion dollars. However though we are in the year 2012 and I am sure that number has dropped significantly. Competition now is at it's highest and it is not looking good for the book industries. Not only that but publishers and Authors are making less money with E-books then a hard copy book. It's something that we will have to watch out for in the near future to see what happens.

     The Newspaper Industry is basically going through the same dilemma as Book Industry is going through. Hard copy newspapers are being replaced by online news, as more people are turning to the Internet to get their information. Companies are starting to loose money as less people are subscribing to newspapers and going online. Newspapers are huge especially if it's a local because it keeps you updated on what is happening. Most people have that specific routine in the morning where they pick their newspapers up to start the day. Well that now is being jeopardized because most people now and days  are going to the Internet and looking up news there. The other day we talked about how this newspaper in New Orleans which has been there for more than 150 years is starting to go more online. They also laid off 200 staff members, and they cut the circulation from 5 days a week to only three days a week. People in New Orleans were outraged, as another newspaper which serves 70 miles away offered to give out local news five days a week. It is something that is closely being watched by many big media markets around the sates as to see whether this scenario would wok. This may be what the future of news papers may look like, and the hard copy newspapers are also starting to loose advertisement money as advertisers are taking theirs ads online. We may go into this digital area in which everything where we get our information from will have to be digital.

    In conclusion I would have to say that the future of the Newspaper and the Book Industry as far as hard copy goes is in major risk. As we are moving more into a technological age everything now is starting to be more digital. In my personal opinion I don't think that hard copy books will be completely replaced by E-books because I actually like reading the book in my hands as do so many other people. I think that E-books are going to become big because more people find them cheaper then hard copy books. As far as the newspaper industry goes I think that online news is going to become big, but it's not going to replace the hard copy newspaper completely. A lot of people like I said have that ordinary routine in the morning in which they get that newspaper and they start going through it before beginning their day, and it's going to be very difficult to replace that. Plus not that many people have laptops and I-pods so It will be difficult for them to access news. The bottom line is that the more technological advance we get the more we are bound to use everything digitally, so the future of the Newspaper industries and the Book Industries that have been there for so long may not really be there any more.