Future Tense event: Will Amazon lead us to the golden age of books?

Will Amazon Lead Us to the Golden Age of Books? A Future Tense Event.

Will Amazon Lead Us to the Golden Age of Books? A Future Tense Event.

Future Tense
The Citizen's Guide to the Future
Oct. 20 2014 1:51 PM

Will Amazon Lead Us to the Golden Age of Books? A Future Tense Event.

86436723-online-retail-giant-amazon-com-ceo-jeff-bezos-unveils
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos at a Kindle event in 2009.

Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

We've been saying that Amazon has revolutionized books ever since the company first enabled us to order a book late at night in our PJs ... and at a discount. But Amazon’s impact is increasingly being felt not only by readers, but by authors, publishers, and editors as well. Once merely an online book retailer, Amazon is arguably becoming the most influential arbiter of publishable content, and a threat to the traditional author-publisher-reader intermediation. There is no disputing that Amazon will play an outsize role in shaping the future of books, but only time will tell whether its endgame is a desirable destination for book culture.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Future Tense and New America NYC will host a group of diverse stakeholders—an author, publisher, bookstore owner, and technology journalist—for a conversation about the future of books. The event will be held at New America NYC, at 199 Lafayette St., Suite 3B, and will begin at 6:30 p.m. For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website.

Advertisement

Participants

Hugh Howey
Author, the WOOL series

Manoush Zomorodi
Host and managing editor, New Tech City, WNYC

Lucas Wittmann
Executive editor and associate publisher, Regan Arts

Sarah McNally
Owner, McNally Jackson Books

Nick Thompson
Editor, NewYorker.com

Future Tense is a partnership of SlateNew America, and Arizona State University.