Reading Response to “Why the book’s future never happened”

There is a never ending discussion that has been around for a few years now. Many people who are writers or wish to become writers have heard the topic at least a few times. This topic is on the future of books and why traditional publishing may be a thing of the past. Many people feel that you shouldn’t agree on publishing digitally because it ruins the whole outlook of reading. While others feel like digital publishing is “the now” and having it as an option for readers opens up a whole new world and audience for writers. Some authors dreaded ebooks with all of their might while others were excited to see their stories on a different platform.

So why is it that hypertext fiction isn’t popular especially in this day and age?

Paul LaFrage talks about how the popularity of hypertext fiction just didn’t grow on people as many thought it would. It has a fan base but there is a certain style to it that needs to be changed. An example of this is the look of a hypertext fiction and how the audience sees it and reads it. Passages are short and at times not supportive. They can also be monotone which can bore the reader.

Granted, people have change how people view and read hypertext fiction since the late 1980s. With all the changes though, why hasn’t it caught on? LaFrage’s opinion is that no one has truly mastered the craft of hypertext ficiton and that no one is truly ready for it. We live in a world were people still love to buy both physical and digital copies of books. Having to read and interact with a story that isn’t a video game isn’t something we are ready for yet because when we read a story, we expect the story to do the picking for us and not us pick the story.

In many ways I agree with LaFrage. He makes a good point stating that the world just isn’t ready for Hypertext fiction. In terms of how stories are written and presented, it’s hard wrap your head aroudn the fact that there are other platforms to read a story that we haven’t truly debated over. Authors are just starting to get us to the idea of ebooks. It has proved to be a very powerful way to reach out to different audiences. If interactive stories and hypertext fiction start getting a name for itself in terms of being part of this group that showcases novels in a different form. I feel like if given the time and attention, hypertext fiction can prove it’s worth. If it gets very popular I’m sure the next debate would be to see if authors should make their novels into hypertext ficiton. We might not get to that point for years to come much like the ebook debate, but hypertext ficiton isn’t something we should just push to the curb. It is something you should keep tabs on because you just never know.