I'm talking about movies.

Used to be the only place you could enjoy one was on a big screen in your local theatre located somewhere downtown and it used to be those local theatres were opulent palaces with balconies and chandeliers.

Then came the television. Eventually, someone smart realized you could broadcast movies on those as well.

Of course the purists cried, "Movies can't be enjoyed on a tiny screen." The picture was fuzzy. The sound was tinny. "This is not the way movies were meant to be enjoyed."

But television, and watching movies on television, only became more popular over time despite the obvious and quite noticeable drawbacks and limitations in the technology. And then the purists cried, "Watching movies at home will kill the theatrical movie business."

They did. They really did.

But even though the glowing box in the living room may have cannibalized some of the theatrical movie business because of its ease of use, people are still going out to the movies in droves. In fact, the theatrical movie business makes more money (in total dollars, not unadjusted gross) now than ever before.

And those who once fought the proliferation of the easy-to-use, access-friendly television because they feared it would cannibalize their business soon found ways to create even more monetization streams through home video and licensing. In fact, the marriage of movies and this new home technology is so lucrative, many theatrical releases often find their way to profitability through home video.

While this is a gross oversimplification of the facts, there is no doubt that television, the divisive consumer-technology which even decades later is still inferior to the in-theatre movie going experience, is a very successful medium for movie makers.

People don't care that the image is smaller or the sound not as full because even on the small screen, if the story is good people find themselves absorbed into it. Consumers get lost in the experience and the actual medium fades away.

Kinda like what happens when you read an eBook.

Reading on the Kindle is a very similar parallel. On screen, the fonts are the same from book to book, the presentation very similar. All you have are words. And if those words are strung together in an interesting way, getting lost in the story is no different than reading an old fashioned book made from dead trees.

Even though the screen is black and white and the page refreshes are something you have to get used to. But in the end, the result is the same, the medium of presentation soon fades away and a good book is a good book is a good book.

And this is a format that translates even more purely than movies to television because with text only you never lose the aspect of cinematography.

So again, why do people fear the eBook? Why do they fear the eReader?

Because that's what people do. Whenever there is a new technology, it is human nature for those who make their living with the old technology to decry that with it comes the end of civilization as we know it.

Remember what happened with mp3's? With the iPod? While the overall sale of the physical medium may have suffered, in the last 10 years the growth of digital music has exploded. The same can, of course, be said about downloadable movies and television. From these emerging markets have grown full industries.

And still people go to the movies in theatres. People still watch television shows on TV.

People still buy music on vinyl--and while this can be described as a "specialty market". It is also one indentified with the more discerning consumer. One who still likes the sound, and arguably the warmth, of vinyl and the way the format physically feels and looks.

So I propose to you that eBooks will not be the death of the publishing industry--an industry that has changed very little in over a century, which is quite a run I do say. But eBooks and eBook readers are not going away. They will only get better and easier to use and most importantly, cheaper.

Just like television.

So, it all started with a few simple tweets about my position on ebooks and ebook readers in general and what it all means to the future of publishing. 

You can follow my tweets at Twitter.com/MYN

• How is $9.99 "predatory pricing" when there is no warehousing, transport or print costs involved with ebooks?http://bit.ly/5FmdVt
• @jchutchins But isn't indie anything is always threatened by virtue of its unprotected nature? It's by innovation that indie survives.
• @jchutchins Last tweet was about overall nature of being "indie" anything at retail level, bookstore, record store, boutique...
• @eagleapex Anyone can put a book up for sale on Kindle store for free and become an "indie" ebook publisher (and by extension, marketer)
• @jchutchins 'Zactly. I feel bad for indie bookstores but you can't fight the rising tide. It's all about the consumer and their wants.
• The book industry is now at same place music was in 1999, fearful of digital . 10 yrs later, 1 billion legal songs sold in 2008 alone
• At any time I'd rather make less profit per unit if you can make unit more affordable, easier to get and then make it all up in volume
• Last word on this. All I'm saying is that $9.99 is a psychological price point that will sell more books/yield more profit than $12 or $14
• And how come there aren't more people into "saving the planet" or "going green" enthusiastically supporting ebooks?
• I think this is most exciting time in publishing history b/c not only can digital artists change the game but also rewrite the rules
• @shawnhutchison The coveting of physical medium is a fetish that will vanish as the younger demographic conditioned not to need it grows
• For example: How many of you still get all of your photos printed out? Especially the digital ones. Or do you just keep 'em on a hard drive?
• I'm one of those guys who thinks vinyl sounds superior to CD's but I buy all my music digitally b/c of ease of use and portability.
• And I think, like vinyl, physical books will always have a place and will be rendered more special and cooler than they are now... but...
• but... if you're an author and you don't embrace digital soon you might as well take your eventual place on the scrapheap of history.
• @shawnhutchison The most important consideration a music artist should have in design of CD artwork is how good it looks as a thumbnail
• The difference between an artist and a craftsman is that a craftsman feeds his family
• What do most people do on their computer screens? Not browse... but READ. We are all conditioned to reading on screens all day long.
• When you read on a Kindle, the device fades away quickly. It is just you and those glorious words. That's the relationship which matters
• The iPod changed the game when it became affordable enough for teens and their content became readily accessible. Remember that.
• Kids these days have far less of a relationship with "paper" (or analog) than any generation before and that trend will continue.
• @jakebible You actually don't own the book in physical format. You own the right to keep that book in its present form.
• I, like many of you, own too many "analog" books which fill my shelves and take up too much room though I know I will never read them again.
• @jakebible Not a fan of the "used" book or CD market because the artist never, ever gets paid on sale of "used" merchandise.
• @jakebible I agree. Ebooks have a very long way to go but the dawn of this age should be exciting to all authors, mainstream and indie.
• @elanaroth I'm talking about teens. When teens start to covet e-readers then watch out... and then kids will want them too.
• @elanaroth Agreed. As soon as e-reader is a fashion accessory which their idols will be seen with, teens will flock.
• @zackmann Good question but aren't you just a little bit appalled at all the healthy trees cut down to make those fucking Twiilight books?
• @elanaroth I have to think children's books will be one of the last genres to give up paper. I'd hate to imagine no analog kids books
• Though can you imagine how excited kids could get over an interactive version of Goodnight Moon or Cat in the Hat (on a color device)?
• In future I see kid-centric ebook readers w/ high quality color screens where you can touch a word or sentence and have it read back to you
• @remdotco I'm talking about devices and interactive content specifically created for kids ... the evolutionary extension of the Leap Frog.
• But can you imagine a digital Speak and Spell tablet for kids that also hosts animated/interactive ebooks with an emphasis on learning?
• All I'm saying is Victory belongs to those who find new ways to fight