The Campaign for Real Books

It was sure to happen sooner or later – there is a Campaign for Real Books (www.campaignforrealbooks.org). I won’t recap everything the website says, as you can read it yourself. But the general gist of the statement from the anonymous founder(s?) seems to be that while Cambo doesn’t want to put a stop to ebooks, it wants to ensure the persistence of paper books.

The organisation hasn’t set the world alight yet, or apparently sparked any comment that I can find (wot? it’s not a hoax is it? it doesn’t seem to be), but they’re aiming for big things – the salvation of independent bookshops and libraries, along with the printed page.

So, would you join?

Being a jobbing editor I will go wherever the buying public leads. But without rehearsing the endless contemporary arguments for and against ebooks, on balance I like paper books and hope they continue to exist. I also like 10% discounts, and I certainly like independent bookshops, which obviously can’t survive without physical books. When I move house in a few weeks we’re going to have a local indie, and I intend to frequent it.

On the other hand, naming an organisation after the Campaign for Real Ale does, even to me in my early thirties, make it seem like it’s something for old people in sandals. If Cambo turns out to have a fusty image – so far it’s got a total of one webpage, so I can’t really judge – it could shoot itself in the foot by itself generating the notion that paper books are an anachronism being defended by an old guard, when I don’t know of anyone who actually thinks that (yet).

IMO the people who determine whether paper books can survive into the future won’t be the ones who can remember a time before ebooks, because one way or another we’re all biased. It will be down to the generations who grew up with both, and can compare them on an even footing.

Lately I’ve seen reports on research that suggests contemporary kids still rate printed books, but would they rate them enough to actually protest if they started dying out as Cambo predicts, now or in decades’ time? The ultimate decision on format survival will be theirs.