I’m always amused when people suggest ebooks are a problem for books and reading and authors, when in reality they are only a problem for the current business set up of bookstores, publishers, distributors and other businesses in the trade.

IN any case I’m intrigued by McSweeney’s effort in this regard. A nice initiative that I’m looking forward to reading through.

It’s worth considering the flip side of some of their wholly positive indicators later on in the article.

Even with the rise of e-books, and the struggles of some bookstore chains, all the anecdotal evidence we knew pointed to the book industry being on solid footing. But we wanted proof, so back in May of 2010, amidst some of the most dour prognostications about the state of the industry, we asked fifteen or so young researchers to look into the health of the book. Their findings provide proof that not only are books very much alive, but that reading is in exceptionally good shape—and that the book-publishing industry, while undergoing some significant changes, is, on the whole, in good health.

via McSweeneys Internet Tendency: The State of Publishing..