The first form of book was the Papyrus scroll by the ancient Egyptians around 3000 BCE. They made these scrolls with anything they could get their hands on, they usually used metal, leather, clay, stone, and bones.  During the 6^th century BCE, papyrus was the most common to write on throughout the Mediterranean.  In the 2^nd and 4^th centuries the Romans would use parchment or papyrus and would bind them together which is called the codex. To get a visual picture, its like books today, it was quicker than the papyrus scroll.

Gutenberg’s industry caused a revolutionary invention which was the mechanical movable type in 1448.  There is a bible in 1455 that he renown, he printed 180 copies. Most of them were on paper but only 45 of them were on vellum, this bible is also called Gutenberg Bible.  After Gutenberg printed out his bible, Pope Innocent VIII demand that all books be viewed by the church authorities before they could be printed. The Pope want allowed to ban books before being printed which he did. He banned the bible being printed in any other language other than Latin. At this point Martin Luther started to challenge the church authority. He believed that everyone has a right to read in their own language and not having to learn a different language or not being able to read at all.  In the 20^th century America created a law for copyright to protect authors from censorship and they were able to make a profit from their work. The very first copyright was England’s Statute of Queen Anne in 1710.

In the 1800’s there was a very famous book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The novel sold 300,000 copies in the first year, this book became the second- best-selling book after Gutenberg bible. This book was created to give the North and South tension which helped start the Civil War. In the 20 centuries, paper back books with different genres like science fiction, mystery, romance, and children’s literature became popular.  

E-books is the electronic way of reading a book, which is the less traditional way of reading a book. These e-books are not usually as expensive to a cover or a paperback. There is no production cost, no transportation, no baggage to deal with. Instead, by a click of a button readers can have hundreds of books downloaded in a couple of minutes. The only problem is, people will need a laptop, phone, tablet to read it on. Most people in todays world has come kind of technology but some people are not willing to spend a couple hundred dollars just to read. An author named Dan Brown released a novel called The Da Vinci Code, there was over 100,000 illegally downloads of this book.  Some authors are worried that the common person will try to find a way around from spending on a book. E-books are accounting less than 5% in the book market but its slowing growing, in 2010, Amazon accounted for 15-20% for e-books in the United states which is about 400,00 titles that are available on kindle. Amazon started the e-book prices at $9.99, in the long run Amazon would be losing money for every book.

The problem with independent book retails is that they cannot win with the larger chains.  Barnes & Nobles is one of the top 2 retailers in the United States. Ever since 1972 the independent bookstores have fallen, in 2005, the number as declined by 65%.

Having an actual book either it is a hardcover or paperback its more personal for people. You have the feel of the book, the unique texture of each page, the smell of an old or new book. By using our senses, it gives us a whole other story on where it came from.  There are people that worry about our future generations, never learning by an actual textbook, or even knowing what a book is.  According to the “Out Of Print” video, “E-books account for 31% of publishing Revenue for adult fiction”. Later, it also says,” we are making 1 million new books a year globally”. The problem is the individual publishers could be doing miserably. A company called Open Road (Integrated Media) is a digital company only. they have around 250 authors and around 3,000 titles. Having E-books is like having no baggage, no transportation, and no emptying boxes. they are simply on technology either it is a laptop, tablet, or your phone. just a click of a button you have countless book on a screen