eBooks: The war will be won by dollars

Another volley in the culture wars between physical books and eBooks: Jason Merkoski, formerly one of the leaders of the Amazon team that built the Kindle, has published a somewhat regretful memoir and diatribe titled Burning the Page: The eBook Revolution and the Future of Reading.

In it, Merkoski bemoans the "pact with the devil" that Amazon and other retailers struck when they began pimping eBooks. He also asserts - I think correctly - that in the future, physical books will become a rarefied boutique item. "Print books will be as rare as vinyl LPs," Merkoski predicts. "You'll still be able to find them in artsy hipster stores, but that's about it."

Merkoski is also brutally realistic in his assertion that this particular culture war is being won by the people in suits bearing spreadsheets. Those people lack the sentimental attachment to books that the other side (the "eccentric book-lovers with beards and cats") feels so keenly. But the suits are the ones in control of the big retailers, and they follow the money, and the money is going to eBooks.

Horrifying though it may sound to a lot of book lovers and literature fans, that is what it all comes down to: Money. People are buying eBooks by the bucketful. In 2010, eBook sales represented 6.7 percent of book sales; by 2011, that number had jumped to 16 percent. eBook sales are roaring, and if this trend continues, eBook sales will overtake physical book sales within a few short years.

For those who want to preserve physical books for as long as possible, the take-away here is clear: Don't waste your time arguing online or bemoaning the fate of the world. If you love books, then you need to start buying more of them. It's only going to count if you buy new books. Buying used books, borrowing books from friends, and checking them out from the library won't help the cause. Money talks, and in fact, it's the only thing the suits staring at spreadsheets will heed.

Image courtesy Flickr/Mark Faviell Photos