Is the printed book dead? Jumping into the debate with Lee Child and Barry Eisler.

Over at M.J. Rose's Buzz, Balls, & Hype blog, author Barry Eisler has been making the case that e-books will soon replace paper ones in a series of posts titled "Dead Trees is a Dead Model." While I agree with some of the things Barry says (especially the need for authors, agents, and publishers to finally view e-books as important), I don't believe the printed book will go away, in spite of my embracing of all things digital when it comes to publishing.

Barry's first post sparked a healthy round of debate, including a nice response from Lee Child. As a man who has sold enough books to make us all look like fools, Lee had some great points about who the majority of book buyers really are and how they buy books.

In his next installment, Barry addressed some of Lee's points directly, which then led to further counter-arguments from Herr Child. Not having the basic common sense to keep my opinions to myself, I couldn't help but chime in on the issue. As I said, I agree with Barry on some points and Lee on others, but in my own stubborn way, disagree with both of them on a few key issues. Needless to say, it is a great debate and one that I think needs to be kicked around more often within the publishing community.

I won't rehash the arguments here, but you can read Barry's original posts along with good comments from Lee Child, myself, J.A. Konrath, and a slew of other folks at Buzz, Balls, & Hype via the links below:
Dead Trees is a Dead Model, Pt. 1
Dead Trees is a Dead Model, Pt. 2