Category: Future of Reading

Books, E-books, E-readers, future of books, Future of Reading, Rachel Gardner

Storytelling and saving the Grandkids

Mona Alvarado Frazier
(Mute the Jukebox below)

A post by Rachelle Gardner came through my blog box this morning. It was so cute I couldn’t resist talking about it some more. Rachelle asked “Do we miss the days when a book was just a book?” The responses came fast and furious this morning. The comments could be divided among the ‘real’ book camp , the ‘convenience’ contingent, and the ‘I love both worlds,’ group.

This had me thinking ten years into the future-hopefully when I become a grandma, or ‘Nana’ as my kids call their grandmothers-will my grandkids read/hear mainly e-books? Will they want to sit with me on the couch or their bed while I read them a story from an old print book? Will they ooh and ahh over colorful but one dimensional illustrations? Will their chubby toddler fingers have the dexterity to turn a page instead of swipe?

My teens/young adult kids speculate e-books will reign. All of them spend 95% of their reading time on iPhones, computers, and Kindles. This is where they get their world news, local news, community and social news (Twitter & FB). All of their friends in the 16-25 age range have similar reading habits.The only paper magazines they read are skateboard and music mag’s and that’s because they aren’t in an e-version yet. My college kid can’t wait for e-textbooks and neither can I since this translates to a more affordable cost for a book he won’t keep.

Although my kids read a lot of paper books growing up, they don’t seem to have an issue with joining the e-book world. So I have to speculate that they will read to their children from e-readers. In the next ten years the e-book will probably evolve to 3-D holographic illustrations, making it exciting, but eventually dulling the imagination.

They will tell their kids, my grandkids, how they had to dust the bookshelves for Nana and how she used to collect book markers. They will have to explain those too. But for now, I just hope my grandkids will love the written word and enjoy storytelling.

I still have my Companion Library of Classics that my mom bought in 1967, 44 years ago. They are in fairly good shape and I suppose they can last another ten years. Now, I must sign off, I have to go box them and a few other favorites up and save them for my future grandkids.

Now which favorites make it into the box? Which books would you choose to save for your grandkids or great grandkids?

2011 Best of Writing, E-books, Elements of Style, Future of Reading, Social Media platform, Strunk and White, Writing

2011 Best of Writing Articles and a Rap on Writing

Mona Alvarado Frazier

The year is coming to a close and with it another chapter in the book of my writing life. The generosity of writer’s, agents, and publisher’s who blog have helped me shorten my learning curve and fuel my desire to continue writing into 2012.
  
To help prepare one in the endeavor of becoming a writer I’ve done a little research on the best articles on writing and publishing. In the writing world the ongoing debate of e-books versus traditional publishing, the future of reading, and building social media platforms seemed to dominate the writer’s landscape. With all of that information it’s easy to get overwhelmed. 


To quickly get a ‘lay of the land’ here are two links to the best of 2011 articles on writing. And for those who need tough love and ongoing assistance follow The Evil Editor. This site focuses on queries, synopses, and the beginning pages of a story. If you are a non-techie but want to learn and improve in social media, podcasting, and other tech advice for authors, go to Author Media.


Writer’s Digest assembled The 18 Most Popular Articles on Writing. They culled through 1,300 articles and found the most widely read articles on fiction and non-fiction writing tips, agenting, publishing, and writing query letters.


From Jane Friedman we have the 12 Must Read Articles of 2011.


For those who are visual and auditory learners, this post ends with a refresher on Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. In rap. (Turn off the juke box at the bottom unless you want a real music experience).

I hope you feel prepared to march forward and give your computer chair a twirl, hover your fingers over the keyboard, and begin writing on January 1, 2012. (Even if it’s at 11:00 p.m.).