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Tiny Books Fit in One Hand. Will They Change the Way We Read? (nytimes.com)
Several readers have shared a report about publishing industry's new gamble to drive people to buy physical copies of books: making the books much tinier. From the report: As a physical object and a feat of technology, the printed book is hard to improve upon. Apart from minor cosmetic tweaks, the form has barely evolved since the codex first arose as an appealing alternative to scrolls around 2,000 years ago. So when Julie Strauss-Gabel, the president and publisher of Dutton Books for Young Readers, discovered "dwarsliggers" -- tiny, pocket-size, horizontal flipbacks that have become a wildly popular print format in the Netherlands -- it felt like a revelation. "I saw it and I was like, boom," she said. "I started a mission to figure out how we could do that here." This month, Dutton, which is part of Penguin Random House, began releasing its first batch of mini books, with four reissued novels by the best-selling young-adult novelist John Green. The tiny editions are the size of a cellphone and no thicker than your thumb, with paper as thin as onion skin. They can be read with one hand -- the text flows horizontally, and you can flip the pages upward, like swiping a smartphone. It's a bold experiment that, if successful, could reshape the publishing landscape and perhaps even change the way people read. Next year, Penguin Young Readers plans to release more minis, and if readers find the format appealing, other publishers may follow suit.
I would be constantly turning the page. I don't see the benefit for most people. Onionskin is not easy to turn, tears too easily... so many problems with this.
Put it to market and see what happens. Just because I don't like the idea and won't get a benefit doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
I would need MAGNIFICATION to read a "tiny" book, as would most people over 50.
Politician: "What good are tiny, one-hand books?"
Printer engineer: "Senator, in 20 years, you will be having an impulse to censor them."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
If the app has the abilty to connect to a printer, so I can print it to scan and send to my email, you have a customer.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
are:
1) It's less messy than having authors sign tablets.
2) When the power fails for a few days, paper books still work if you have sunlight, or a lamp or flashlight.
3) You probably don't want to swat bugs with a tablet or phone.
4) You can't store as much booty in a hallowed out tablet.
This was done previous with Armed_Services_Editions, meant to provide compact books for soldiers in WWII.
An interesting idea but I don't see this enticing many people away from the traditional paperback form factor which is already a nice size.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This just seems like another gimmick to inflate the price. This book actually uses less resources to make than a standard paperback, so you'd think it should cost less, right? But no, it costs more!
"The mini versions of Mr. Green’s novels — “Looking for Alaska,” “An Abundance of Katherines,” “Paper Towns” and “The Fault in Our Stars” — will be sold for $12 each,"
Take 'The Fault in Our Stars' which they are offering in this tiny less-expensive-to-make format for $12!! What a deal! The hardback is currently about $12, the paperback about $7.50 and the kindle format is $10. So basically a hardback price with a paperback production cost.
From Wikipedia:
A mass-market paperback is a small, usually non-illustrated, inexpensive bookbinding format. This includes the U.K. A-format books of 110 mm x 178 mm (4.3 in x 7.0 in) and the U.S. "pocketbook" format books of a similar size.
That gives an area of 30 square inches. From TFA:
Picador released mini books by Denis Johnson, Jeffrey Eugenides, Hermann Hesse and Marilynne Robinson -- the tiny editions are 5 13/16 inches tall by 3 11/16 inches wide -- to celebrate the imprintâ(TM)s 20th anniversary.
That is 21.4 square inches. So it's 1/3 smaller than a current small paperback. Possibly useful, but not revolutionary.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Bold experiment at least 70 years old. I grew up in the 80s with one of these in the house:
https://www.amazon.com/Christi...
I'm sure there's examples going back to the middle ages and probably even ancient Greece if they survived that long.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
I find it frustrating how many books I can only find as trade paperbacks rather than mass market paperbacks. They are less convenient and more expensive.
And that answers why they do trade paperbacks more often. More expensive so they make more money. It also looks more "premium" so people will assume it is a better read. (even though that is rubbish and you shouldn't judge the book by it's cover: it's all part of the marketing).
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
At least if it is for people with tiny hands our President might start to read something.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
http://technovelgy.com/ct/cont...
"Before I go, I've a gift for you, something I came across in packing." He put an object on the table between them -- black, oblong, no larger than the end of Paul's thumb.
Paul looked at it. Yueh noted how the boy did not reach for it, and thought: How cautious he is.
"It's a very old Orange Catholic Bible made for space travelers. Not a filmbook, but actually printed on filament paper. It has its own magnifier and electrostatic charge system."
He picked it up, demonstrated. "The book is held closed by the charge, which forces against spring-locked covers. You press the edge -- thus, and the pages you've selected repel each other and the book opens."
"It's so small."
"But it has eighteen hundred pages. You press the edge -- thus, and so . . . and the charge moves ahead one page at a time as you read. Never touch the actual pages with your fingers. The filament tissue is too delicate." He closed the book, handed it to Paul. "Try it."
From Dune, by Frank Herbert.
Published by Putnam in 1965
Additional resources -
Actually, (sorry,) just thought of something. Why not write it on a continuous scroll, doing away with the problem of words being at or near the binding? Then you just slowly wind it around and... but what would you do with the part you already READ?
I suppose you could just make it so you can tear off the part you've already read, and throw it away.
Of course, that would be kinda wasteful. Maybe the paper could be thin but have a second use before being tossed out.
Actually, come to think of it, the answer is already here, and we've been wiping our asses with it the whole time!
Just print books onto rolls of toilet paper! You tear off part, read it, and then when you're done, you can wipe your ass with it! Or blow your nose into it... or whatever you do with it. Then you know as long as you've got toilet paper, you have reading material for the bathroom, AND vice-versa!
Is anyone already doing this?!? If not, they should be!
This seems like a brilliant if potentially doomed idea... when someone comes along and invents a new way to clean your butthole involving a little shelf and three seashells sitting on it, there goes the market for toilet-books.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
I'm so glad the other trivial problems with books are now all solved.
By which I mean
(1) Books not laying flat and open on a tabletop at the page one wishes to read while doing other things with the hands, and
(2) bad binding that comes apart or crumbles after a couple of months and/or a couple of readings (library books).
Look, I absolutely love paper books, and prefer them to reading on a screen. But with the above in mind, it's touch and go.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.