"There is a compulsion to believe the magic of a book lies in its surface. In reality, the book worth considering consists only of relationships. Relationships between ideas and recipients. Between writer and reader. Between readers and other readers — all as writ over time. The future book — the digital book — is no longer an immutable brick. It's ethereal and networked, emerging publicly in fits [and] starts."

On the web: http://craigmod.com/journal/post_artifact/

On Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-Artifact-Books-and-Publishing-ebook/dp/B005568MZE/

@studiowalrus are the guys who built the amazing Lovecraft/Epub 3 demo I posted last month.

"To some extent, the book-reading experience will be more like watching a movie, playing a video game and using the Internet. When working on a book project, not only will a publisher and a writer sit at the publishing meeting table, but they'll be joined by a sound designer, a scriptwriter, a director, etc. The publisher's job will soon look more like a producer's job."

http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/07/epub3-enhanced-ebooks.html

There's a salutary column by Tim Harford in FT Weekend on the limitations of marketing via social media:

"We notice the successes simply because they are successful, and overestimate the likelihood of success . . . Most things fail, and . . . the curse of being able to measure everything is that you get slapped in the face with this reality all the time."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/59a8a822-acfe-11e0-9623-00144feabdc0.html

"By 2015, students will be carrying digital textbooks in lieu of paperback books in all schools in South Korea . . . Taking advantage of cloud technology . . . it will invest KRW 2.2 trillion (US $2 billion) to convert textbooks to digital with links to various multimedia content, establish massive servers and WiFi networks in schools, and provide free tablets for students from low-income families."

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/07/04/south-korean-schools-to-replace-all-tex...

Interesting piece on demographics of device ownership:

"GfK MRI found that women are 52 percent more likely than men to own an e-reader, and men are 24 percent more likely than women to own a tablet . . . Nielsen found that 58 percent of tablet owners are men and 56 percent of e-reader owners are women."

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-tablets-are-for-men-e-readers-are-for-wome...