1 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
write reviews, fostering online communities where readers can share opinions
about books. Reader reviews are taking the place of those in newspapers and
magazines as these print media shrink in size or disappear. Professional critics
and scholars have joined the move to the Internet; the poet Robert Pinsky, for
example, serves as poetry editor for online magazine Slate.
Readers also discuss books in online venues such as blogs, podcasts, and
fan sites in addition to the traditional settings of libraries, schools, bookstores,
and homes. Writers also use weblogs, personal websites, and networking sites
to market and share their works with readers. Less-established writers increas-
ingly self-publish their work as computers and the Internet make it easier and
less expensive to offer books online or to print them on demand. Writers with
large readerships and best sellers in traditional print format have also embraced
new technologies. In 2000 horror-fiction writer Stephen King began publishing
his novel The Plant in five-thousand-word installments available for download
on his website, asking readers to pay a dollar for each. Although he ended the
experiment after four installments when the rate of paying readers fell below 75
percent, it suggested that writers did not need publishers, booksellers, or even
physical books to attract readers.
In 2003 the Internet search-engine firm Google announced plans to digitize
twenty million books, creating a searchable online library that would allow readers
to preview, scan, and purchase books. Despite a legion of legal actions brought
against the firm by publishers, writers, and other copyright holders, its plans are
moving forward. An October 2008 settlement, amended in November 2009, lim-
its Google to out-of-print books from English-speaking countries, restricts the
ways in which the company can earn revenue from scanning and digitizing books,
and requires a “Book Rights Registry” to seek out copyright holders. The latter
can choose to make their entire books available for free or to restrict the number
of pages readers can view.
More-recent inventions make it no longer necessary to have a computer
to read electronic works, known as “eBooks.” With portable electronic devices,
such as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, and Barnes & Noble’s nook, that are
roughly the size of a trade paperback and lighter than the average one, consumers
can download and read hundreds of books; a virtual library can be carried in a
backpack, briefcase, or purse. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s eBooks
represent the fastest-growing category in publishing. Their popularity may affect
the pricing of traditional books, because many eBooks cost less than half the price
of their paper counterparts. Pressured by customers to lower prices and worried
about their profits, publishers delayed the release of digital versions of anticipated
best sellers.