Tiny Books Fit in One Hand. Will They Change the Way We Read? (nytimes.com) 141
Several readers have shared a report about publishing industry's new gamble to drive people to buy physical copies of books: making the books much tinier. From the report: As a physical object and a feat of technology, the printed book is hard to improve upon. Apart from minor cosmetic tweaks, the form has barely evolved since the codex first arose as an appealing alternative to scrolls around 2,000 years ago. So when Julie Strauss-Gabel, the president and publisher of Dutton Books for Young Readers, discovered "dwarsliggers" -- tiny, pocket-size, horizontal flipbacks that have become a wildly popular print format in the Netherlands -- it felt like a revelation. "I saw it and I was like, boom," she said. "I started a mission to figure out how we could do that here." This month, Dutton, which is part of Penguin Random House, began releasing its first batch of mini books, with four reissued novels by the best-selling young-adult novelist John Green. The tiny editions are the size of a cellphone and no thicker than your thumb, with paper as thin as onion skin. They can be read with one hand -- the text flows horizontally, and you can flip the pages upward, like swiping a smartphone. It's a bold experiment that, if successful, could reshape the publishing landscape and perhaps even change the way people read. Next year, Penguin Young Readers plans to release more minis, and if readers find the format appealing, other publishers may follow suit.
I read too quickly for this (Score:3)
Put it to market and see what happens. Just because I don't like the idea and won't get a benefit doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
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Apparently these problems can be overcome as the dwarsliggers are reportedly "wildly popular" in the Netherlands.
I must say though I have never seen one in Belgium, where I spend half of the year. Perhaps I am not observant enough.
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http://www.ccsu.edu/wmln/rank.... [ccsu.edu]
Re: I read too quickly for this (Score:1)
Entering "dwarsligger" into YouTube yields a 9 year old promotional video. This NYT article sounds like a Submarine [paulgraham.com].
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Re: I read too quickly for this (Score:1)
Being Dutch and living in Switzerland, I think the Dutch read faster than the swiss, if only because all TV is in the original language with subtitles.
So all Dutch get several hours of training per week if not let day in trying to read / reading so fast they don't miss the scene.
Here in Zurich, just proposing a movie in the original language if in a purely Swiss group is often met with: I don't want to read, I want to watch a movie...
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"Hell, i"m wondering how small the damned text would be on these.....getting hard enough to read regular type without having to whip out the 'readers'....lol"
Exactly, books where you cannot change the font-size is so 20th century.
Re: I read too quickly for this (Score:2)
Exactly, books where you cannot change the font-size is so 20th century.
Must suck not to have elbows.
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"Apparently these problems can be overcome as the dwarsliggers are reportedly "wildly popular" in the Netherlands."
Students use it for cheating if they haven't read the book.
I'm an old fart, I read 1-2 books a day (retired) for me kindle unlimited is the way to go.
Re:I read too quickly for this (Score:5, Informative)
I'm from Holland and I've never even seen one.
The people claiming they are "wildly popular" are the people trying to sell them. So they have a self-interest in exaggerating.
I have a Dutch friend. I sent her a link to this story, and she said she has never seen one, or even heard of them before, although she also admits she would have no interest in the titles currently published in this format (mostly chick-fiction (trashy novels)).
Now back to my e-reader...
Indeed. I see no advantage of this format over etext, and several obvious disadvantages.
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The problem with books is not the physical size, it's the fact that we already spend far too long looking at screens and then looking at small print in a book for another hour or two just isn't that appealing.
I've been using more audiobooks lately for this reason. I usually want to give my eyes a rest.
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Honestly find it relaxing on my eyes to read a book over a display.
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Aging doesn't make this sound appealing. I've lived with being slightly short sighted my whole life, but now I'm at the age where the reverse is starting to kick in too. I can't see anything closer than about 6 inches to my eye clearly, which isn't a problem but it will get worse. I'll stick to books I can ready without a magnifying glass or reading glasses, thank you.
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"I've been using more audiobooks lately for this reason. I usually want to give my eyes a rest."
Don't close your eyes though, you're in the car right now.
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As the majority of the population advances into their 50s and 60's someone thinks tiny books with tiny type is a good idea.
Facepalm!
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But you're not appreciating the innovation:
the text flows horizontally
I mean, with an idea like that, it'll revolutionize reading in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets!
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But you're not appreciating the innovation:
the text flows horizontally
I mean, with an idea like that, it'll revolutionize reading in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets!
Bad news for the Japanese. These books won't work as well for Japanese readers- and they're typically the ones most into miniaturizing things.
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Bad news for the Japanese
Wrong. Joke or not, the Japanese text follows the same lines as the English text, except all "characters" are turned 90 degrees clockwise. Thus they turn the book 90 deg CW to read the text (from right to left, top to bottom).
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"As the majority of the population advances into their 50s and 60's someone thinks tiny books with tiny type is a good idea."
Indeed.
When I don't have my glasses, I just use "End Of The World" font on my kindle.
And also, when I was in high-school we used Reklam books, which were really tiny with very thin pages and very cheap.
After one school-year, you just threw it away.
But good enough to use in school and read on the train.
They had book-vending machines in 1912 already.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: I read too quickly for this (Score:2)
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I would be constantly turning the page. I don't see the benefit for most people. Onionskin is not easy to turn, tears too easily... so many problems with this.
Put it to market and see what happens. Just because I don't like the idea and won't get a benefit doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
For myself, not seeing a back light and I doubt they sit open on a desk without using a hand to hold them open.
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I would be constantly turning the page. I don't see the benefit for most people. Onionskin is not easy to turn, tears too easily... so many problems with this.
Put it to market and see what happens. Just because I don't like the idea and won't get a benefit doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
I'm wondering about the longevity of the books. If the paper is thin then they would be much more susceptible to tearing, smudging, stains, etc. The ubiquitous paperback can last for decades and usually makes its way to libraries, shared reading shelves at work, etc. I'm willing to bet that, while this new book format is popular, it isn't as robust as the average paperback format. Of course, authors would love this because they would make more money on reprints.
Re: I read too quickly for this (Score:2)
does it come with magnifying glasses? (Score:4, Informative)
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It's New York Times.
Can't read it if you've exceeded your 10 free visits for the month.
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[they] have removed nearly all white space (you know, the huge gaps of white space that tends to be on books on the edges).
That's not what I see in the animation in TFA. Each open pair of pages looks about like a single page of a conventional book. I can't see any particular advantage, except for books you might want to carry in the pocket like a guide book.
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Magnifiers... I sure wish Slashdot would allow better font size control on mobile phones, because it is just a tiny bit too small for me to read comfortably... so I zoom and then scroll left and right constantly which gets old and so I dont read much on my phone from here.
Oh, and I should have put the Dune link about the built-in magnifier on this thread. :)
http://technovelgy.com/ct/cont... [technovelgy.com]
"The Orange Catholic bible is a syncretic work created far into our future, but also well into the past in Dune. This p
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Will they change the way we read. (Score:2)
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Dude, could you post a TL;DR to summarize that wall of text?
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New? (Score:2)
They can be read with one hand -- the text flows horizontally, and you can flip the pages upward, like swiping a smartphone.
Not at all like a regular book, which can be read with one hand, the text flows vertically, and you can flip the pages sideways, like swiping a smartphone. Oh, wait...
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Exactly. I have read over a thousand books on my smartphone, held vertically, using volume buttons to flip pages. Very tiny text on the screen too.
No. (Score:2)
eBooks will change the way we store books, but tiny little books won't do much of anything, if pocket Bibles/Korans/Wildlife Guides/etc haven't already.
Alas, as long as people cater to quaint historical customs like making books out of paper, not much will change in the big picture....
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Alas, as long as people cater to quaint historical customs like making books out of paper, not much will change in the big picture....
You would prefer that all books be virtual, which will mean they will likely be served up by a handful of vendors in the proverbial "cloud". Unfortunately, much like many Netflix fans can attest, content can be added and erased on a whim, based on popularity. And that's before we even start addressing the other obvious issues attacking free speech.
Sorry, but I prefer a hell of a lot more effort in between free speech and censorship. The one good thing about book burnings is it takes real effort to police
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I would? Tell me more about...me.
I own several hundred ebooks. None of them are stored in the "cloud". Either on my desktop, my wife's desktop, or my laptop. And copied to my reader as needed....
As to why I own several hundred ebooks...well, I also own several thousand paper books. And don't really have storage space for more. It's a generous description to say
Re: No. (Score:2)
Re: No. (Score:2)
Digital copies of books are more easily proliferated and even more "impossible" to be eradicated.
Fortunately digital degrades gracefully - those stick figures painted on the walks of caves? They used to be jpegs and bitmaps.
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Alas, as long as people cater to quaint historical customs like making books out of paper, not much will change in the big picture....
I quite like physical media. We're leaving a permanent record for distant generations to look back on us and understand us. Once everything goes digital a lot of that will be lost- or at least more prone to being wiped out or deteriorated or not known how to access.
If we have another dark ages- everything digitally stored could be lost if we have to build up society from scratch again.
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Sic semper tyrannis (Score:5, Funny)
Politician: "What good are tiny, one-hand books?"
Printer engineer: "Senator, in 20 years, you will be having an impulse to censor them."
here's an idea... (Score:2)
how about an electronic version of a book that I can read on my phone screen? I'm going to make a million bucks!
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Popular? (Score:2)
"dwarsliggers" -- tiny, pocket-size, horizontal flipbacks that have become a wildly popular print format in the Netherlands
Wildly popular? I've never seen these "in the wild', only a couple in bookstores. And online bookstores seem to push these.
I like the name though. Dwars means across, and dwarsligger means either a crosstie (supporting train tracks) or an obstinate or obstructive person.
At least move away from trade paperbacks (Score:2)
I find it frustrating how many books I can only find as trade paperbacks rather than mass market paperbacks. They are less convenient and more expensive. The ability to shove a book in my back pocket is a big factor in whether I have it with me. Front pocket might be a nice improvement, I'd have to try it out, although the thin paper makes it sound like it will be sold at a premium.
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I find it frustrating how many books I can only find as trade paperbacks rather than mass market paperbacks. They are less convenient and more expensive.
And that answers why they do trade paperbacks more often. More expensive so they make more money. It also looks more "premium" so people will assume it is a better read. (even though that is rubbish and you shouldn't judge the book by it's cover: it's all part of the marketing).
What you read matters (Score:2)
It's not surprising they're starting with novelty books. We're not encouraging reading books that thought leaders read and write. Just another way to get the latest rendition of the manic pixie archetype.
The only issue with eReaders is that you're essentially renting the books. If ownership were protected then they would be more compelling.
Owning physical books is more of a thing for show. And with young people having less and less space, it makes sense they'd want smaller books so they can show off the
The only real advantages of non eBooks (Score:3)
are:
1) It's less messy than having authors sign tablets.
2) When the power fails for a few days, paper books still work if you have sunlight, or a lamp or flashlight.
3) You probably don't want to swat bugs with a tablet or phone.
4) You can't store as much booty in a hallowed out tablet.
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You can't lose access to them because of a software glitch or the eBook distribution company going out of business.
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You can't lose access to them because of a software glitch or the eBook distribution company going out of business.
Overdrive from my local library works pretty well. I also borrow real paper books from my library.
My days of dropping tons of money on paper books are long gone. Unless it's a signed first edition hardcover...
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I'm not saying ebooks per se don't have advantages. What I'm saying is that the advantages of paper books aren't confined to the trivial examples you listed.
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are:
1) It's less messy than having authors sign tablets.
2) When the power fails for a few days, paper books still work if you have sunlight, or a lamp or flashlight.
3) You probably don't want to swat bugs with a tablet or phone.
4) You can't store as much booty in a hallowed out tablet.
1) Get it e-signed
2) Battery Life is very long in a kindle
3) In the future you'll be able to roll a kindle up like a magazine and swat bugs with it.
4) BOOTY!
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Everything old is new again (Score:5, Informative)
This was done previous with Armed_Services_Editions [wikipedia.org], meant to provide compact books for soldiers in WWII.
An interesting idea but I don't see this enticing many people away from the traditional paperback form factor which is already a nice size.
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This was done previous with Armed_Services_Editions [wikipedia.org], meant to provide compact books for soldiers in WWII.
I wish I had mod points. My GrandFather used to tell me about reading these when he was in the service. It helped him get through the hard times.
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This was done previous with Armed_Services_Editions [wikipedia.org], meant to provide compact books for soldiers in WWII.
An interesting idea but I don't see this enticing many people away from the traditional paperback form factor which is already a nice size.
The only real improvement would be if you could make the paper thinner without significantly weakening it or making it hard to turn pages.
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Yeah; and as usual the Chinese took the idea and made it their own - with the added twist of invoking Henry Ford: "you can have our tiny little book in any color you wish, as long as it's red"
Well duh (Score:2)
Sweet! Another form factor! (Score:1)
Another form factor that doesn't fit any traditional slot or pocket in my laptop bag, day pack, or pockets. I'll pass and keep the thing that brought that into my handy all-in-one device already. This is a gimmick from a publisher who isn't killing enough trees to support their legacy business.
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At least if it is for people with tiny hands our President might start to read something.
Great for the Beach (Score:2)
perfect for traveling i'd think, for camping, rvs, or any time weight and bulk are issues. i often have several hardcovers stuffed in a beach bag and they do crowd things. i'd grab these instead for sure.
- js.
Re-inventing the book isn't the solution (Score:2)
In a sense using a scrolling model kinda reverts us to something modern books replaced around 2,000 years ago.
Solomon was right: History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
new form factor to increase cost (Score:4, Informative)
"The mini versions of Mr. Green’s novels — “Looking for Alaska,” “An Abundance of Katherines,” “Paper Towns” and “The Fault in Our Stars” — will be sold for $12 each,"
Take 'The Fault in Our Stars' which they are offering in this tiny less-expensive-to-make format for $12!! What a deal! The hardback is currently about $12, the paperback about $7.50 and the kindle format is $10. So basically a hardback price with a paperback production cost.
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Don't look for sensibility when it comes to book pricing. Not that long ago distributors tried charging more for an eBook then a paperback, because you know.. greed. And if not for a silent revolt by readers refusing to buy something less for more, they probably still would.
They obviously still are, the post you replied to had an example of a book where the paperback is $7.50 and the Kindle format is $10.00.
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They don't make the books one by one. It's probably a smaller run size, which drives up the production costs per book.
John Green is also a huge draw for the intended crowd, and they are probably trying to capitalize on that.
Plus, the increased price probably includes an increased margin for the MSRP, to drive adoption and sales from distributors.
It's probably a bit more complicated than your simple math.
What else fits in one hand? My phone (Score:2)
Seriously, why do I need hardcopy when I can read eBooks on my oversized iPhone with Kobo? It's always on me, and I've been reading my books this way for years. My iPhone 8 Plus screen is about what I'd have in a paperback (which, by the way, isn't much different from the OP's flip book idea)
No. (Score:4, Informative)
From Wikipedia: [wikipedia.org]
A mass-market paperback is a small, usually non-illustrated, inexpensive bookbinding format. This includes the U.K. A-format books of 110 mm x 178 mm (4.3 in x 7.0 in) and the U.S. "pocketbook" format books of a similar size.
That gives an area of 30 square inches. From TFA:
Picador released mini books by Denis Johnson, Jeffrey Eugenides, Hermann Hesse and Marilynne Robinson -- the tiny editions are 5 13/16 inches tall by 3 11/16 inches wide -- to celebrate the imprintâ(TM)s 20th anniversary.
That is 21.4 square inches. So it's 1/3 smaller than a current small paperback. Possibly useful, but not revolutionary.
What's old is new again (Score:3)
Bold experiment at least 70 years old. I grew up in the 80s with one of these in the house:
https://www.amazon.com/Christi... [amazon.com]
I'm sure there's examples going back to the middle ages and probably even ancient Greece if they survived that long.
This is a bad idea for 2 reasons (Score:2)
2) Young people don't buy physical media of any kind.
So the smaller books would require younger and better eyes to read them but young people don't buy physical media. Not going to work.
Onion-skin thin pages tear like Kleenex (Score:2)
When you have pages that thin, you can tear them too easily. And you can forget taking any notes in them with pencils/pens/highlighters.
If anything, these type of books are much more about disposability than longevity.
Horizontal? (Score:2)
Ah, by "the text flows horizontally" you mean it's printed in landscape mode. Got it.
Seems dumb (Score:2)
If I read at home I prefer the larger form factor of a book. If I read on the go, thereâ(TM)s no way Iâ(TM)ll have a book with me anyway. Iâ(TM)ll just use kindle.
From the looks of it (Score:2)
they are about the size of a paperback. All they've done is turn it sideways.
What else can we fuck up? (Score:2)
I'm confused. Exactly which problem with books do these new high-tech horizontal books solve? Is there someone out there who is having a problem with a normal book?
If publishers want to do something useful, they could start by publishing the regular pocket-book editions of really good books instead of forcing the over-priced, over-sized "trade paperback" onto us for any title that has even a tiny bit of prestige. When I was in college, I could find very nice editions of Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, Nabok
I hope these do get into the American market (Score:1)
From what I saw in the video portion the text size is comparable to paperbacks now. And I think that format would make them easier to read when sitting down, like on public transportation or a waiting room.
The size makes them fit into a jacket pocket or purse. And there's something so nice about having an actual book in your hand.
The downside is that publishers will price them so high that no one will buy them and then declare that they're a failure because sales are low.
I'm still salty about ebooks costing
1965 Dune, once again predicts the future (Score:3)
http://technovelgy.com/ct/cont... [technovelgy.com]
"Before I go, I've a gift for you, something I came across in packing." He put an object on the table between them -- black, oblong, no larger than the end of Paul's thumb.
Paul looked at it. Yueh noted how the boy did not reach for it, and thought: How cautious he is.
"It's a very old Orange Catholic Bible made for space travelers. Not a filmbook, but actually printed on filament paper. It has its own magnifier and electrostatic charge system."
He picked it up, demonstrated. "The book is held closed by the charge, which forces against spring-locked covers. You press the edge -- thus, and the pages you've selected repel each other and the book opens."
"It's so small."
"But it has eighteen hundred pages. You press the edge -- thus, and so . . . and the charge moves ahead one page at a time as you read. Never touch the actual pages with your fingers. The filament tissue is too delicate." He closed the book, handed it to Paul. "Try it."
From Dune, by Frank Herbert.
Published by Putnam in 1965
Additional resources -
Good lord, man! (Score:2)
You've invented the mass-market paperback!
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Comment removed (Score:3)
I know - how about an app! (Score:2)
It would be called "Kindle" and you could use it to read most books on a smartphone. With its settable font and type size and its white-on-black mode, it's a lot more readable than most people think.
Other book problems solved? (Score:3)
I'm so glad the other trivial problems with books are now all solved.
By which I mean
(1) Books not laying flat and open on a tabletop at the page one wishes to read while doing other things with the hands, and
(2) bad binding that comes apart or crumbles after a couple of months and/or a couple of readings (library books).
Look, I absolutely love paper books, and prefer them to reading on a screen. But with the above in mind, it's touch and go.