Electronic publications, or e-pubs, is the form of reading that’s taking over the book world as we speak. What plays a big part in this uprise is Amazon’s e-reader, Kindle. The original Kindle was released in 2007, designed with the purpose of not needing a computer and to be able to take it everywhere and anywhere you go. There were other e-readers out there, but the Kindle was user friendly and offered a wide range of books. Since the initial release, there have been eleven other generations and have yet to be surpassed by a competitor. E-books had a long history before Kindle came to the scene, dating back to the 70’s. Michael Hart is credited with the invention of e-books because of Project Gutenberg, which digitalized famous documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. There have been few e-readers since then, but the Kindle is what made the form of reading popular.
There are a few reasons why e-pubs are controversial, one of which is because of health issues. There have been studies that have found that the light from the screen can interfere with sleep, which can lead to health risks. Others say it can worsen your mental health. There are also a lot of purists who believe the physical feel and traditional experience of a book you can go out and buy is better than relying on technology. A problem for the business part of books is that PDFs of releases are extremely easy to steal and find on the internet for free.