Charlie Stross has a very interesting post on the history of ebooks. Stross, of course, is a well known Science Fiction author who earns his living writing books so he’s very familiar with the publishing industry and its history. The post is mainly the text of a speech he gave at the CREATe conference, a UK research council made up of academics from 7 universities intended to help the UK “creative” industries adapt and thrive in the digital age.
Stross traces the history of ebooks, the reaction to them by the publishing industry, and their effect on authors. Most Irreal readers will be familiar with some of the story but Stross fills in the gaps and brings all the pieces together. It’s an informative post and well worth a read.