Do Authors Dream of Electric Book Signings? Kindlegraph Hopes So

As ebook sales continue to trounce those of print books, and now with the demise of Borders, surely it's only a matter of days until someone -- probably a guest poster on this very blog -- declares the death of the physical book. (They'd be wrong, of course -- moronically so -- to the point where you might ask who on earth is responsible for approving guest posters on TechCrunch, and whether they have so much as a microgram of shame or professional pride. But it'd certainly make for a pseudo-controversial, traffic-grabbing post.) Still, the fact remains that there are certain aspects of physical books that ebooks will struggle to replicate. The buzz of starting a conversation with an attractive stranger who's reading your favourite book. The joy of a beautifully designed cover. The voyeuristic thrill of examining a friend's bookshelves. Paper cuts. For authors -- and for readers, too, I suspect -- another significant pleasure afforded by physical books is the book signing; an opportunity for writers to meet (and thank) the people who let them keep doing the job they love, and for readers to interact with their favourite authors, and complain about the unsatisfactory endings of their best-known books. Yes, Charlotte Bront�, I'm talking to you.

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