Evrybody’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Dose E-books

The International Space Station Expands Again Credit: STS-133 Shuttle Crew, NASA

This Sunday night. I had a chance to watch 60 Minutes and listen to Christopher Hitchens philosophize about life and general and his desperate fight with cancer. I even stayed tuned until Andy Rooney came on a screen, which is something I don’t always do. And guess what; he was talking about e-books. Here’s a link to  the transcript.

In short, Mr. Rooney was drawing on the fact that e-books are now outselling tree books. He even considered the possibility “that e-readers will eventually make books extinct”, a fact which the CBS writer apparently finds revolting. Despite this worst case scenario, Rooney adeptly comes to the conclusion that all is not lost, for there will always be a need for authors.

No matter what you think of Andy Rooney’s broadcast appearances, the WWII veteran writer has an engaging style that should be closely studied by anybody attempting to break into the mass media. His use of short concise sentences combined with an excellent flow of content is a landmark style for this popular author. This successful method works great for print, as well as his TV appearances.  Prospective authors should take note, even if e-publishing is your ultimate goal. And if you can’t take watching him talk, there are always transcripts.