Facing Decline in Book Sales, Publishers Unveil Disappearing Ink - East Idaho News
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Facing Decline in Book Sales, Publishers Unveil Disappearing Ink

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E 111211 Book?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1340881117857Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Ebooks continue to gain in popularity while old fashioned books with covers and pages are losing readers.

The decline of traditional books is happening everywhere, including Latin America, where sales of new Spanish authors have dropped 37 percent over the past 20 years.

Hoping to revive interest in books, Argentinean independent publishers Eterna Cadencia are creating a sense of urgency with something called “The Book That Can’t Wait.”  And they mean that literally: The print is done in a special ink that evaporates two months after the pages are exposed to light and air.

Thus, buyers of these books are on a tight deadline to finish the stories by new Latin authors or else they’ll vanish.

While forcing people to read books in this way might not exactly please consumers, the publishers believe this will help expose the public to fresh talent.

Otherwise, the publishers warn, “if people don’t read their first books, they’ll never make it to a second.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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