The Decline of Physical Books and the Rise of Pretty Covers – Cheryl

As someone who has physical books stashed all over the world but who has also been coaxed into using an eReader for its cost-efficiency (if you were someone who read 20-30 books a year and had to buy every one at $20+ this could stack up quickly) and convenience (it's hard to move with boxes and boxes full of books worth their weight in postage prices), I wonder how book designers might embrace rather than resist the move to digital books. 

I fully understand the appeal of a book as a physical object: I thought it was ingenious the way Chip Kidd's designs played with the 3-dimensionality of a physical object to not only catch the eye but also capture the essence of the stories the books contain. I'm the last person in the world who would champion a complete move from brick and mortar bookshops to the cold impersonal un-tactile realm of the internet, but it seems like these book cover designers largely see the move to digital as a threat and I wonder if there's more they could be doing to bring these ideas and interactivity to digital books since even when I'm picking out books to read on Libby, I'm still most certainly judging them by their little thumbnail covers. 

Meanwhile, I'm selfishly pleased that current readership trends point to compulsive book-buyers like me having more beautiful objects to line our shelves with. One motivation that pushes me towards digital is actually the environmental consideration of mass-produced hard-copy books: is it responsible to be churning them out year-upon-year just because they boast a better profit margin for publishers when the same text could be read much more sustainably digitally? Having physical books that are more expensive but also more durable would justify their production—to my conscience anyway—and could be a way for them to continue to exist as a collectible/relic of the past even as physical books seem to be moving towards obsoletion.

(I've also just realised these two pieces were published over 10 years ago now—I wonder what the situation is like right now?)