Katharina Hagena on writing and reading e-books

The first e-book hits the market in Germany today. The author, Katharina Hagena, reflects in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on how the e-book reading device will change reading and writing habits: "Clearly the medium you choose to write with will influence what you write. And probably a new medium for reading books will change people's reading habits. But will a new reading medium change our writing? After all, reading itself doesn't change. ... Reading, like writing, remains non-simultaneous, linear and analogue. ... E-books will shake up the publishing industry, the book market and sooner or later the authors. Perhaps publishers will soon be unable to protect our tender artists' souls. If copyrights become frayed and threadbare, the Internet offers - albeit in an imperfect way - the possibility of entirely circumventing the publisher. More and more writers' unions will gradually attempt to establish fees for downloading texts. ... Every reading is a live concert, every reader has his original. The e-book by contrast - at least in its current version - is only a substitute for the book. If that weren't the case it would have another name. As long as the e-book tries to be a real book, so long as it pretends it really is a book, I'm not particularly worried about the future of the book."

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