This article over on The Bookseller website is really interesting to me and I certainly hope it’s not a harbinger of things to come. Some literary bigwigs are frothing at the mouth about it though, so perhaps it will come to nothing in the end.

Let me sum up: Basically, The Wylie Agency has decided to develop a digital-only branch of their publishing house. They’ve signed an exclusive, two-year deal with Amazon to pimp their stuff.

Think about that a minute. Let this sink in: Authors will write novels and those novels can only be read by purchasing a Kindle from Amazon (currently priced at $189 for the basic model and $379 with all the bells and whistles) and then downloading the book from Amazon’s store (current novel price ranges from $9.99 to $12.99). Seriously? I mean, I know if there’s a way around that by cheating somehow, someone will find it and exploit it. BUT you shouldn’t have to break the law in order to avoid paying OVER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS MINIMUM to read a book! OH MY GOD! What kind of a dystopian, backwoods bullshit is this??

I get the appeal. I do. Print is a dying industry and it’s expensive and can be bulky and a pain in the ass to store and transport and if a digital reader can give you an entire library in the palm of your hand –why wouldn’t you jump for joy!? When we order letterhead for our office it ends up costing us an arm and a leg and that’s to say nothing of all the trees we use up in the process. Then we have to store it properly and take care that it’s not too hot or too cold or too moist or too dry — lest we end up with wrinkled, crinkled, useless letterhead. It’s an expensive hassle. And that’s just in my teeny little 10 person office.

BUT WE DO IT ANYWAY. Cause you have to. And look, we’re talking about books here. BOOKS! Books — you don’t have to. You shouldn’t! I love the idea of the Kindle and I’ll probably end up with one eventually, but I hate to think of us going down that particular rabbit hole. It scares me.

I love a good book. I love the feel of the spine against my fingers. I love turning the pages in anticipation, love the feel of the thin sheets between my thumb and forefinger. I love to bury my face in an old book, to breathe in its heady aroma. I love libraries with stacks and stacks and row upon row of booky goodness. I like to walk down the aisles at Powell’s and caress the books as I go.

Can I walk into a Kindle? Can I run my hands across the backs? Can I smell an old favorite in a Kindle??? How the hell am I supposed to do that with a Kindle? You tell me that much right here and now. Yes, I will probably get one. NO, I don’t want that to mean you take away my current option. Why can’t I have both? A kindle, light and sexy for the plane. A big, fat, epic book for my bed and bunny slippers, hair up in curlers?

We’ll see. There’s a lot of missing details in that article and I’ve got some questions begging for answers. I’m going to be watching this to see where we go. I know a lot of publishers and authors are pissed right off, so maybe there’s hope yet. Maybe. I’ll keep you posted!