Ebook Boundaries: The Risk of Transfiguration a Digital Book into a Non-Book

The study tests the hypothesis that ebooks reduce the characteristics of “book” as a communication medium, thus becoming “non-books”. Two hypotheses have been tested: for the preconditions for the failure of the commercial (paid) ebook, and for the preconditions for an end to the ebook in the sense of “book” as a scientific category. Symptoms of the failure of commercial ebooks are as follows: lack of growth on the ebook market, transformation of the book from a commodity into a service, availability for free, as well as resistance by parents and readers. Key reasons for the said resistance are compromised knowledge and learning, and the infringement of readers’ rights. Furthermore, the study establishes the reason for the failure of the ebook in the sense of “book” as a category, which lies in the possibility for manipulation of both its form and content. The conclusion is that investment policies should be targeted at print book publishing while design innovations should be oriented towards physical books and incorporated into paper and print.