What do books weigh? 15 pounds. The photo has all the books and one CD (it came with the book) that I collected at the Book Expo America at the Javits Center this past week. The weight doesn’t take into account the additional five pounds of miscellaneous stuff I carried around for three days. Read my post here about BEA.

I love the feel of books. There is a certain pleasure in holding them, feeling the covers, carrying their weight in my hands. I also know that is ending. After carrying around all the weight of the books I couldn’t help but think how nice it would have been if the publishers could have just downloaded copies of their books into the electronic device of my choice. Or, I could have scanned them to request review copies. When I went to the Small Business expo at the Javits center the exhibitors had scanners. Instead of taking your card they scanned your badge and immediately collected the information. So at the next book expo I could request a review copy of a book, the publisher would scan the book(s) and my info and we would be done. My back would feel better and the load I carried around at the expo would have been lighter.

Book lovers across the world bemoan the loss of books. I know they do. There is a lot to think about when giving up publishing hard copies of books. There are the people that manufacture them. The editors, the designers, the artists who create books. What happens to them? How do they translate the change in their worlds? There is the ink, and the paper, the stores that house them where do they go for business? When I go into a bookstore I see books I may not have thought of buying. Will that spontaneous buying be lost if we go completely digital? We may lose something but what might we gain? It will take a whole change of mind for me to conceive of being totally digital.

I am not sure of the answer to what the future holds for the book world. In the meantime, I will make room for the fifteen pounds of books I brought home. And maybe think about digital to save space and paper.

Please help with a book project for a client by filling out this survey. What is death? http://bit.ly/9K3JQr