The Internet has introduced many new ways of doing a thousand different things. We have electronic mail, electronic shopping malls, and electronic rooms that exist for the sole purpose of meeting new people. New, fast, and easy are the buzzwords of the day, and they apply to everything from finding the perfect hand bag to finding true love. The Internet is like one big mail order catalogue, but our desire for instant gratification demands more, more, more, now, now, now. The faster, the better, and while you may be willing to wait out overnight delivery for that rare pink alligator-skin suitcase with matching shoes, overnight just isn't fast enough for something that you can get in twenty minutes from your local store--like, say, the newest Stephen King book. Someone put two and two together, and electronic publishing was born.

In this age of continuously changing technology, we have begun to take the phrase "Out with the old, in with the new" quite literally. Advances frequently render their predecessors obsolete, and we have come to accept this naturally and without too much complaint. 8-tracks were replaced by cassette tapes, which are being edged out by clearer, longer-lasting compact disks-such changes are inevitable and usually beneficial. Taking this into consideration, it is not that surprising that many predict that electronic books will take the place of printed books in a matter of years.

Are e-books, then, the future of publishing?

Yes, but not in the way that some predict. Electronic and paper publishing both have their disadvantages, but by combining the two media, we are able to get the best of both worlds, opening many new doors for readers and writers alike. The future of publishing is not the death of print books in favor of e-books. Rather, it is the coexistence of the two to provide a more varied and daring approach to literature.

E-books today face many problems. Some of these are only growing pains as the kinks in the technology are worked out. Issues of compatibility, reader comfort, portability, the development of file formats, and the design of viewers make people question the viability of the idea. However, these are technical problems, and the speed at which technology progresses today makes solving such issues largely a matter of time. E-publishing as an industry has many more difficult challenges to overcome. The question of quality control is a tricky one, because the many safeguards that are inherent in the traditional publishing process simply don't exist in the e-publishing process.

Writing is an art. Publishing is an industry, and industries make money. Traditional paper publishing requires that the publishing company invest a great deal in each novel that it publishes, and each individual work must be successful to cover the costs of its productions. It is therefore in the best interests of paper publishers to make sure that the work they put out is what the public wants. This is a restriction that e-publishing doesn't share. What keeps an e-publisher from posting every book that is sent to him, knowing that every book he provides is more potential profit?

Integrity and love of the craft are the immediate answers, of course, but not constant ones. As long as e-books face the degree of skepticism they do now, these will probably be enough. However, once the market takes off (and let us assume for the sake of argument that it will), what is to stop less virtuous souls from jumping on the bandwagon to make a few bucks?

Such an occurrence in the world of paper publishing is highly unlikely. Paper publishing involves a multitude of up front costs for each book before the book ever makes it into the hands of a bookseller who may or may not decide it will sell. From the time a manuscript is first submitted it is under constant evaluation, and if at any point it looks like the book won't make it on the market, the publisher will cut their losses, and the book will either remain unpublished, or no further printings will be issued. Authors and editors know this and work hard to make sure their works make the grade.

The first step in the editing process is the submission of a manuscript. This process sounds simple, but it is usually accomplished through a long cycle of submission, rejection, and revision. Thus, a manuscript has already seen significant work before it even reaches the editor who finally agrees to take it on. Once it has passed through a rigorous editing process, it is proofread and type set. The cover art and book jacket is designed, and a publicist comes in to come up with the best way to pitch the book to retailers. The number of copies the publisher believes booksellers will buy determines the number of copies in the first printing. Only after all this has been done does the book finally go to the printer. All of the costs involved in this process are incurred before there is any tangible evidence of the book's worth. Also, many booksellers are able to return unsold copies of the book for cost, so the risk for the publisher does not end once bookstores have begun ordering.

Let's now parallel this process in e-publishing. If we were to follow this general outline, we have to take some different things into consideration. Printing is no longer an issue, since the books are now contained in electronic files. Instead, the question now becomes storage for the files, and some form of encryption or security to keep people from simply downloading the books without paying for them. Usually, this involves developing an encrypted file format and a special application or hardware viewer designed to decode and display the file. A secure system has to be set up for accepting and verifying credit transactions, and a web designer has to be hired to maintain the virtual bookstore's homepage. However, if you consider these costs in relation to the number of books published, there is a clear difference between e-publishing and paper publishing. Once an e-publisher has developed a platform and a process for converting and uploading e-books, their costs become static. After the initial investment in staff and equipment, e-publishers incur mostly maintenance costs. A cookie-cutter format can be developed, eliminating the need for typesetters and layout artists. E-publishers need not generate millions of copies of books hoping that enough of them will sell to cover costs. Each copy that is made has already been sold, and the copying process is not much more difficult than copying a file from a hard drive to a floppy disk.

E-publishers, then, don't need to invest heavily in a book to publish it. This is what some people find so exciting about e-books. Topics that are deemed too 'risky' to make it through the paper publishing process now have an alternative. New writers often find it difficult to pitch a first novel, because they are untried and untested, and a greater risk for publishers. They must convince the publisher that they can be great, if only given the chance. E-publishers can be more daring when considering manuscripts, because their costs are not significantly increased by adding the book to their inventory.

However, this very advantage is what makes the prospect of electronic publishing as an industry in and of itself daunting. It is far too easy for e-publishers to cut costs at the expense of providing quality material. The only limits on the number of books an e-publishers can provide are space and bandwidth. It would be far too easy for the market to become stuffed with e-books from would-be authors if e-publishers are not possessed of some sense of responsibility for the craft. It would be simple for those who believe that everyone should be given a chance regardless of ability, originality, or message to start publishing every work that is submitted to them, without taking it through the editing process that is so critical to traditional publishers. Doing so might actually reduce their costs, since editorial and screening staff wouldn't be required. It is an unfortunate fact that for every book that succeeds in publishing, there are a thousand others that won't. Editors and publishers stand between those books and the readers, and we put our faith in them to pass along the ones that we really want to see. Sifting through the tower of manuscripts that make up an editor's slush pile must truly be a daunting task--one that would dampen even the most avid reader's enthusiasm. With e-publishing there is the risk that the editorial line of defense will break down, and readers themselves will be forced to wade through the thousand failures to find the one jewel.

Of course, the major question in paper publishing is, how many jewels slip through the cracks along with the failures, simply because the editor wasn't willing to take the substantial risk for it? The most promising forum for e-publishing comes from within established publishing houses. It is in this case possible to get the benefits of e-publishing with less risk of poor quality material. If an editor in a traditional publishing house comes across a manuscript that he or she feels is good and deserves to be published, but believes that the book would not sell well enough to justify the publisher's investment, he or she could refer the author to the publishing house's electronic publishing department. This gives new authors and controversial subjects exposure and a way to test the water. If the book did well in the electronic market, the publisher might be more willing to take the plunge for the author's next book. Also, in smaller publications such as magazines, authors may be asked to cut out pieces of their work deemed nonessential for the purposes of cutting back printing costs. I once had four of eight pages cut out of a story I submitted to the school literary magazine. Other changes were made as well which I gave my permission for, but wasn't happy about. I would have preferred to see the story published in its entirety, but the costs involved made it impossible. E-zines, magazines published electronically, are able to work without such length restrictions.

E-publishing is an exciting new front in the publishing industry, and it is full of possibilities. Unfortunately, if the possibilities are not pursued responsibly, the market will rapidly lose its audience as virtual stores are glutted with poorly written, poorly edited work. As a stand-alone industry, e-publishing will probably never replace paper books. However, working in concert with traditional publishers, e-publishing can make up for some of paper publishing's most resented shortcomings.