Disposable literature

Writer Charlie Stross has a blog post entitled Why the commercial ebook market is broken that’s a really good read and puts forth a thought I hadn’t really considered before:

My take on ebooks is that they are — and should be seen as — the cheapest form of disposable literature.

“Disposable literature.” I like it. I should probably point out that this isn’t meant to be derogatory; rather, Stross is using it in the same sense as for mass market paperbacks: cheap, portable, easy to mass-produce and replace.

I’m not sure I have more to say about it at the moment… I’m kinda letting the concept roll around and ferment in my head a bit.

Comments

2 responses to “Disposable literature”

  1. Jennifer Avatar

    Blogs are the ultimate disposable literature. Think ebooks can compete with blogs?

  2. Jon Avatar

    Yes and no. I think blogs and ebooks are different enough that they don’t really compete in that sense… I think blogs are less of a disposable literature (DispLit?) phenomenon and much more of a social networking thing.

    But I keep thinking we’re moving towards a *convergence* of the two…