The first known printed book is the ‘Diamond Sutra’ dating back to 868 AD, during the Tang dynasty in China. Soon after, scrolls were invented which were primarily used for texts, some being religious and scholarly. Invented by the Greeks and Romans, these increased in value during a time when scribal skills became more rare among people. These giant rolled manuscripts were made from the papyrus plant and were used by many religious groups, like Judaism with the Torah. It took an estimated 3,000 years for this long rolled document (read horizontally instead of vertically) to transition into a more modernized device with printed pages. Scrolls soon evolved into the codices by the ancient Romans during the first century, pages with print made from parchment paper and bound with wooden covers. These most emulate the novels we read today, featuring colors, pictures and documenting stories.

An ancient Roman scroll with colored graphics and writing.

The Coronavirus has impacted the already struggling book-business franchise even more. While seeing the big chain bookstores shut down, It’s especially saddening to see small independent book sellers go out of business.

Traditionally bookstores have served as a backbone for new authors to advertise their published works. Authors could get a leg up in advertisement through having their books being advertised in key sections like the ‘staff’s pick’ with their summaries advertised in attention-grabbing fonts and covers. Small independent book sellers were hot-spots for avid readers and book-consumers to confide in with regards to the best ‘just in’ books and their personal opinion on whether or not they were worth the read. Amazon introduced it’s Kindle in 2007, the most widely used device to buy and download books and (now) movies. Within the last decade, digital e-book purchases have sky-rocketed and the consumerism of paperback books have suffered immensely. As a result, many bookstores have permanently closed and have gone out of business, affecting personal author-relations and their own book-store goers. Many people grow nostalgic for exploring a bookstore and purchasing a book or perhaps even going inside to simply sit at a cafe inside to read or people watch.

Major Bookstore chains like Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Book World and Discount Chain, Atlantic Books have been unable to stay open amidst digital pressures.

Soon to follow, have been libraries which have dwindled immensely since the rise of e-book rentals, sold even more cheaply than regular e-books. Libraries are state-funded and proper funding often lacks when you factor in everything needed to keep a library running like book-cases, proper storage, archivists, librarians and updated computer appliances. As a result, libraries have suffered almost as greatly as bookstores have. Many libraries are built inside historic buildings and offer readers a special historic experience when going inside to check out a book. Like public libraries, university libraries have also experienced closings as even students are checking out books less and less, opting more for the study-experience or to login on a school computer. Alternatively these activities can be done in study spaces, cafes and lounges where the massive up-keep of books is unnecessary.

St. Paul’s James J. Hill Center permanently closed in July of 2019, it first opened in 1921 and remains one of Minnesota’s most historic buildings.

James J. Hill Library struggled for decades as a privately funded non-profit library, completely reliant upon the Minnesota Historical Society, private grants and public donations. They even changed their name from a ‘Library’ to a ‘Center’ in 2013 to advertise their public services going beyond books to attract more consumers. The Executive director Tamara Prato sorrowfully justified this closing in not having adequate funds to maintain their services to the public. “As a privately funded nonprofit, our ability to provide these services to the public for free is not sustainable,” said Prato, in her statement. “We continue to be challenged to develop a financial model that can deliver the original intent while being fiscally responsible for the ongoing operating costs of the organization and necessary capital investments in the historic structure.” This unfortunate trend in library closings has hit the United States (especially) by storm.

Being a author in this day and age is extremely difficult. According to the Taleist self-publishing survey from 2012, half of all self-published authors make $500.00 or less. Agents used to promote books are dwindling in numbers, causing a ripple effect in the amount of available editors and publishers. In addition, many writers can’t financially sustain themselves through solely writing, even with hopes of publishing their work and making money from their book sales. It is not uncommon for writers to take on multiple jobs for financial support, taking away from the time spent on the writing process. The tedious steps of writing, editing and finally publishing their book comes at a hefty price and sometimes isn’t worth it. Many writers will do these steps themselves to save money but then lack the additional support in the final stages, often times leaving them to feel alone and confused. Darcie Chan, author of The Mill River Recluse worked on her novel while being a full-time attorney. “I did it mostly in the evenings after work, on weekends, it took me about two and a half years to write.” Chan got an agent who made great efforts to sell to publishers however, as an unknown author nobody was willing to take the risk to take a chance on her novel. Chan took a break from trying but when she read about the increase of popularity in e-books and kindles, she decided to go ahead and self-publish. Chan wasn’t looking to get rich fast or sell a huge amounts right away but merely thought that the feedback she would get would be conducive to her writing. When she uploaded her book to the Kindle Store and to her surprise, sold about 100 copies within the first month. Flashback to around a year later, her book’s e-book success landed her on the New York Time’s best seller list.

Amazon and Google have marketed on e-books, PDF’s and even movies, cutting down the price and making resources readily available to almost anyone. Scott Turow, President of the Author’s Guild credits this easy accessibility with a simple solution: the power of big tech corporations and their grasp on the industry. “Google a number of years ago entered into an arrangement with seven major university libraries and scanned their entire collections- and proposed to make snippets of these books available to Google users.” Unlike Amazon, selling e-books for less than a third of their marketed prices, Google has made many texts free, at the cost of only a few clicks.

This blatant transition from the way in which people read traditionally to a new modernized method has been thought to negatively affect younger minds. The 2013 Tribeca award-winning film ‘Out of Print’ draws attention to this important issue presented by many parents and educators, worried that future generations will never know the feeling of ‘opening up a good book’, not merely just skimming for information or digitally highlighting passages they need to read for school by searching for the key words at the top of their screens. When a group of teenagers were interviewed about their perception of reading, one young boy said, “A book is something I’m being forced to read, so I spend my time thinking about how I’d rather be sleeping.” Many older-generations find these common perceptions among youth to be shocking and dis-heartening. Has digital reading taken away key aspects from the overall intellectual experience of reading a book? Children and teenagers alike are less likely to go to the bookstore or library simply because they see doing so as a chore or homework assignment but this takes away from the enjoyment of exploration and possibility. As an adult now, I am grateful that I experienced the joy of going to the bookstore and reading the book summaries on the backs of novels for pure curiosity and excitement. Hopefully, there will be efforts made to preserve this youthful curiosity and comfort of going to the bookstore or library for personal and not just education or parental-forced experience.

This mass-accessibility has angered some authors and publishers who feel as if the power of their book’s success is no longer up to the consumer but at the hands of massive tech companies. Many people feel as if books carry a special effect in their traditional paper form and offer a more immersive experience for the reader. Like Chan however, some authors enjoy the seemingly endless opportunities of being able to mass-market their work on their own and make more money than if they would’ve marketed their book to a traditional store with higher prices. Low prices target large groups of people who aren’t willing to spend more than a dollar or two on a book that could be marked as $20.00 in store. According to John Perry Barlow, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (referring to Google Books), “They’re making a privately owned copy of many many works that are already in the public domain.” Most people feel a sense of trust towards the main tech companies like Amazon and Google as they are trusted known and established. Users know that they aren’t downloading a virus or the wrong book for a the cheaper price but are just widening their browsing space to get the best possible deal.

At first glance, browsing Google Books could emulate ‘shopping’ except everything is free and available immediately to the Google User.

Works Cited

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-brief-history-of-books/OAXR-SPrQmOCew?hl=en

Arts and Culture, Google. “A Brief History of Books – Google Arts & Culture.” Web. 09 Nov. 2020.

Out of Print. By Ray Bradbury, Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos, and Meryl Streep. Dir. Vivienne Roumani. Web.

Melo, Frederick. “Nearing the Century Mark, Downtown St. Paul’s James J. Hill Center to Close in July.” 13 June 2019. Web. 10 Nov. 2020.