In the May edition of The Briefing Tony Payne gives us a brief insight into Sherman Young’s book on the death of books. Ok, so everyone is writing about e-books replacing (or not replacing) books. What’s different here is that Sherman wrote a book (which is available in the traditional physical form) about how to judge books by their inner beauty – their contents, their story, their argument, the conversation between the author and the reader; rather than their physical (or non-physical) form.

You can read the article for free here.

Tony uses it as an opportunity to remind us (Christians) of the role physical books can play in the lives of others. That is, while we may read non-stop online and buy less books for ourselves, it may be worth buying a physical book to give to our friends. Of course, once we remember to try it out, we might be able to remind our customers to do the same.

Personal goal for this week: Give away a (short readable) book to a friend who might benefit from reading it.

CBAA has made available all of the registration information for the 2010 National Trade Show. Click here. to find out all of the details. Don’t miss out on the huge early bird discounts, retailers and wholesalers alike can register today!

Matt Hunt makes coffee at the Orange Regional Trade Show:

More photos from can be found on the CBAA facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=221324476624&view=all.

The Christian Bookselling Association has announced the resignation of its President Chris Donaldson. Josh Olson has been elected by his fellow council members as the interim President until the next AGM.

Further details can be found on the CBAA website.

With all the hype about Apple’s iPad, take a look at the recent comments from Sony about the future of book-reading:

The humble book has but 5 years before it’s surpassed by the digital versions according to Sony as it reaches out to Apple to welcome the company’s move into the ebook reader market with the launch of the Apple iPad.

“The introduction of another mobile device, which includes digital reading as part of its functionality, is a good thing for the digital book business,” Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division told Pocket-lint.

Although many journalists have been quick to question how ebook readers will stand up against the onslaught of marketing and interest in the Apple iPad and its new iBook store, Sony thinks the move is a good thing from the Curpertino based company.

“Mobile devices with reading capabilities will play a key role in the paradigm shift from analogue to digital content. At Sony, we’re focused on devices optimised for digital reading and believe that digital books sales will surpass print sales within five years, if not sooner.”

With Sony hoping the traditional book will be dead in 5 years, how long before e-ink is replaced?

27 January 2010 22:39 GMT / By Stuart Miles

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/31099/sony-welcomes-apple-ibook-store