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New book: Japan’s post-disaster future

This sort of thing is going to revolutionize publishing, I bet: Foreign Policy has a new book out on the effects of the tsunami and nuclear mess on Japan.  Proceeds go to charity so click away. One effect of this e-publishing, I suspect, is that the hurdle for dead paper books is going to get ...

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This sort of thing is going to revolutionize publishing, I bet: Foreign Policy has a new book out on the effects of the tsunami and nuclear mess on Japan.  Proceeds go to charity so click away.

One effect of this e-publishing, I suspect, is that the hurdle for dead paper books is going to get higher. On the other hand, the price of books in general should come down, because it is so damn cheap to e-publish, with almost no manufacturing, delivery or stocking costs, with pesky personnel needing health care and managing at all three levels. I suspect we will go from a two-tier industry (hardcover and paperback) to a three-tier industry.

But one big change: The e-book can be moved out so damn fast, almost to the point that it is competing with magazines. 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com.

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