MLR > The Future Of Books Related To The Law?

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The Future Of Books Related To The Law? / Michigan Law Review / April 2010 / 108 (6): 823-846 / Eugene Volokh

Foreword

People have been reading books for over 500 years, in more or less the same format. Book technology has changed in some measure during that time. Fonts have become more readable. Books have become more affordable. Still, the general form of the book has remained much the same.

But the arrival of e-readers, such as the Kindle 2 and the Sony eBook, offers the possibility of a major change. First, people may shift to reading existing books on those e-readers. Second, the shift may lead them to change the way they use books, for instance by letting people have many reference works at their fingertips. Third, the shift may change the content of books. And, fourth, the shift may change who publishes books, and sometimes which books are published.

[Sections]

I. Why Legal Books Are Likely To Go Electronic

II. What Manufacturers And Publishers Need To Do To Facilitate A Shift To Electronic Reading

A. Technological Barriers

B. Cost

1. Copyright Law, Books, and e-Books
2. Used Books, Especially Textbooks
3. Libraries

III. How E-Readers Can Change The Content of Legal Books

A. Size
B. Malleability
C. Interactivity

IV. Beyond The Current Publication System

A. Scholarly Books

1. The Authors’ Problem

a. Expense Limits Readership
b. Expense Limiting Book Topics

2. Publishers’ Diminishing Value Added

3. An Alternate Publishing Scheme: Law Journals Moving Into Book Publishing

a. Selection And Signaling
b. Marketing

4. Other Alternatives

B. Textbooks

Conclusion

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