I love nothing more than browsing through the shelves in a book shop. Wandering around the different sections, running my hand across the display tables, waiting for something – whether it’s an intriguing title or dramatic cover art – to catch my eye.
Nothing beats the feeling of beginning a new book; holding the pristine novel in my hands, crisp and unknown, the words lining the pages waiting to be read.
However, there is no denying that e-books are an increasingly huge market. They are much cheaper to produce and provide endless opportunities to self-publish.
But will they result in the end of paper publishing?
This week we saw the news that Amazon – sales and publishing giant – is passing the 20% VAT charge for e-book sales on to the publisher, despite the fact that it actually pays a much lower percentage due to its Luxembourg tax status.
Amazon has played a huge part in making e-publishing the phenomenon that it is today, and I plan to use the website as a platform to publish my own novel. But I would hate to see traditional publishing suffer for the rise and rise of the e-book.
Because nothing will ever beat the feeling of reading a real, live book.