MANCHESTER — The arrival of Internet-based, digital technology has overturned the playbook of numerous industries, and books and book publishing have not been exempt.
As book publishers struggle to control costs, new inventions, like Amazon Book's Kindle device, which made its debut in 2007 and allows a reader to download a book onto an electronic tablet, cast into question the long term survival of the traditional book format itself.
Into this scenario has stepped a local author turned self-publisher, with a novel idea that could point the way for books to compete with their digital counterparts, while finally giving writers a larger share of the revenue stream from their work. As for book publishers — well, that could be another story.
Tom Pope, of Pawlet, isn't trying to sell you a book so much as he wants to lease one to you, he said.
Pope has written a novel, "The Trouble with Wisdom," that represents not only the story one person's spiritual journey across two continents, but also ushers in a new way of thinking about what is involved with owning a book.
For an initial cost of $5, less than the cost of printing a book, a reader can acquire Pope's novel, either at a bookstore or online at his Web site, http://The TroublewithWisdom.com. When that reader finishes the book, the idea is they will pass it on to an acquaintance they think will enjoy
To support the book, those following readers will have to do the right thing by the honor system, but it's a gamble Pope thinks has a reasonable chance of success.
"I'm trusting in the basic goodness and decency of the reader to realize something is not for nothing and that you'd pay something, what you thought it was worth," he said. "Then that reader would become a distributor, who would then pass it on."
About 70 books have been sold since its release on Aug. 21, he said.
By the time the book becomes too tattered to pass on it will be discarded, and by then the book will also contain an interesting record, he said.
Inside of each book is a page where each owner, or leaseholder, will write their name and address. There will be a record of where the book went and who read it, and that will be posted on the Web site so owners can see where their copies went. The final reader is asked to return the card, he said.
Readers will also be encouraged to post blog entries on his Web site and discuss the book as well, he said.
"I'm making the book as interactive as possible, through the blog, through the reader's list and communication between readers," he said. "It's an experiment."
It will also be an experiment to see if the economics of book publishing can be turned on its head. At present, a writer, particularly one who is not established, gets only a small fraction from the sale of a new book, which today typically ranges between $20 to $30. Under his new format, a writer would recoup a much larger share, once the printing and publishing expenses are paid off, assuming the follow up readers pay their share, he said.
It will take at least four to five handoffs to get to a break-even point, he said.
"This is a chance for (the writer) to do their best work and get it out there in a different way, and the marketplace will still work," he said. "If the book is lousy, you won't get too many handoffs."
But if the concept is a success, and copied by other writers, then the traditional book publisher is the one who stands to lose out.
Book publishers are having to cope with the same uncertainties many businesses are in a changing economic environment, said Chris Morrow, the general manager of the Northshire Book Store, where Pope's book is currently being printed on the store's print-on-demand machine.
Publishers are being forced to cut back on employees and watch their costs more carefully, which include such things as sending authors out on wideranging book tours to market and publicize their books, he said.
"The business model is being challenged on several fronts, across the spectrum," Morrow said. "Everyone is re-evaluating the business and where it is all going."
Time will tell if Pope's new approach will work, he said.
"I think it's viable — it's like a lot things happening in the book world right now — it's an experiment," he said. "The thing I like about this experiment is that it's creating a strong bond between the author and the reader."
In a time of flux in the book publishing world, experiments in new ways of getting books to readers are likely to continue. To the best of his knowledge, Pope's idea of "leasing" a self-published books was the first of its kind, Morrow said.
The marketplace will ultimately determine what works and what doesn't, he said.
But in an ever-digital world, Pope's model does have one attractive feature, Morrow said — it's still a old-fashioned, recognizable book.
"That's one of the reasons I wanted to support it," he said.
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