Books used to bring people so much joy, especially watching kids carrying their school bags filled to the brim with books. Printed books were also the go-to material if you wanted to stay ahead of the class. You were also considered “cool” or “smart” if you were seen reading a book in a corner of your favorite coffee shop or at the park on a sunny summer afternoon.

But that was then. Things have changed. It’s rare to see someone reading a book while walking down the hall. You hardly see a kid riding the school bus with a stack of books underneath their seat. Staying ahead of the class nowadays means going online for research instead of reading books. This begs the question: is the print book dying?

How the book came to be

Printed books have been around for as long as anyone can recall. People have been writing for centuries, although the “book” as we came to know it only appeared some time between the 2nd and 4th centuries. What started as long scrolls became a codex, or what we know today as a book. Books were more portable than scrolls, making it the best medium for printing.

But it wasn’t limited to information. Entertainment was also made easier for those who loved reading. Thanks to books, people no longer needed huge bags to carry their scrolls. All they needed was something small to put the book in and they could read stories on the go. The book ruled for over one thousand years, and it was the go-to format if you wanted to put a lot of information into something that can be put on the table or in a bag.

The advent of the Internet and mobile devices

The Internet is probably the best thing that happened to society. Information is easily accessible from virtually anywhere in the globe at any time of the day. If you need to do research about anything, you can usually find that information on the internet.

But the internet offered so much more than just being a virtual library for information. People soon realised that you can use the internet for entertainment in the form of reading, although it was still limited because no one wanted to carry their computers around with them. This started the decline of the print book.

With the introduction of mobile devices, print books seemingly became obsolete. E-books are now the hottest thing in print. People wanted more portability, and print books no longer offered the kind of portability that people were expecting. Everyone wanted to carry more books, but no one wanted to contend with the weight associated with it.

Is the print book dying? Not quite, because people do still love the experience of turning those pages. People still go to libraries and book shops, because not all books are in e-book form. There are certain books that are hard to put into an e-book form, mainly because they are really old. Although it is easier and cheaper to release books only in e-format, there will still be a place for print so, as an author, don't discount the possibility.