Paper books are dead - get over it!

In the late 90's the agency I owned, Beechwood, handled the advertising for the Waterstone's bookchain. I remember well a pre-Christmas dinner with the marketing department and a jovial but heated argument about electronic books. Bear in mind they didn't exist back then and the three Waterstone's marketing ladies just couldn't believe that electronic books would ever take sales away from physical books, or even exist in any commercial form for that matter. Our side of the table felt it was inevitable and although the technology might not exist, it would certainly arrive one day.

Getting on for 20 years later I was amused to see that Tim Waterstone was sounding the death knell of the electronic book yesterday at the Oxford Literary Festival. Unfortunately Tim Waterstone has a track record of failing to have his finger on the pulse and the eponymous book chain, which he sold to the HMV Group in 1993, is now owned and propped up by the largesse of Russian billionaire, Alexander Mamut.

Tim Waterstone said, "The [physical] product is so strong, the interest in reading is so deeply rooted in the culture and human soul of this country that it is immovable".  

A blip in ebook sales last year is being presented as evidence to back up his argument. So there you go then, electronic books were just a flash in the pan.

What a load of old tosh! Firstly does he really think that ebook technology will stand still, I don't know where it will be in ten years time but it certainly won't look like a Kindle and secondly, has he watched any ten year olds with a tablet? Their lives revolve around it - books, games and films - paper is quite simply an alien substance. When they reach adulthood will they be buying books (or magazines for that matter)? - not on your nelly!

Now I'm sure physical books will exist in the future in the same way that vinyl still holds an interest for some people but it's a tiny amount of overall music sales, and so it will be with paper books. 

So Mr Waterstone, in the long run it's physical books which are dead, not reading - so just get over it and be thankful about all those trees which won't have to get chopped down.