I don’t have a Kindle but I noticed that people were complaining so much about the absence of page numbers on early versions that Amazon has restored page numbers in the latest Kindle software. This adherence to tradition (in which I include prudish Professors and Editors who demand precise page references in Bibliographies) destroys a unique advantage of eBooks that could make them more than just a fragile, signal-jamming replacement for old fashioned pulp.
Suspense requires randomization. If you are reading my paper-bound novel and I want to maximize your suspense I am constrained by your ability to infer, based on how many pages are left, the likelihood that the story is going to play out as staged or whether there will be another twist in the plot. It is impossible for me to convince you of a “false ending” if you are on page 200 out of 400. The bastard publisher has spoiled it for me because 1) he has, without my permission, smeared page numbers all over my handiwork, and 2) refused to add bulk by randomly insert blank pages at the end to help me fool you.
Now Kindle, and eBook readers in general allow me to shuck that constraint. I can end the novel at any point and you would never know that the end is right around the corner. I could make it 1 page long. Imagine the effect of that! I could make it grind to a halt on page 200 only to surprise you with a development completely out of the blue that takes another 200 pages to resolve.
But no, you can’t handle the suspense. You call yourself a reader but you are really just a page counter. You begged for your time-marking crutch and Amazon obliged. Your loss, my novel goes back in the drawer.
P.S. Emir Kamenica gets some of the blame for this post.
Q.S. Quote from my buddy Dave: The key is to have a useful term–for example, I have stopped using the term “page number” and now use the term “oprah” to refer to the location in printed matter. I encourage you to start using this in the classroom. “All right, please turn to Oprah 31”)
91 comments
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March 9, 2011 at 3:05 pm
MMP
the kindle always shows you what %of the book you have left, and the number of screens you’ve read and the number left. the reason it’s not like a book is since the number of screens depends on the font size which you get to set.
that said this is why i try to avoid movie run times before i got to see them. and why the 30mins or 1 hr of tv is a little too predictable.
March 9, 2011 at 3:10 pm
MMP
indeed if kindle switched to page numbers from its current %ge, it would be BETTER than books for your suspense effects. with a book, the relative position in a physical book gives it away to a first order without even page numbers. in a kindle book, if only saw the page number and the total number of pages was not known, i’d have no idea how far into the book i was…
March 9, 2011 at 3:12 pm
jeff
they should add white noise to the percentages/page-numbers
March 9, 2011 at 3:23 pm
P
What did Emir have to do with this?
March 9, 2011 at 4:26 pm
jeff
blame for the post, not for the kindle (as far as I know.) I clarified.
March 9, 2011 at 4:51 pm
wellplacedadjective
or a viewing option w/o numbers or percentages? [this seems feasible..?]
opt out >> white noise?
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Desiboy
Last week was the first published post using Delicious to mangae links for my Sunday links post. a0I used a javascript from Delicious to insert a certain set of tagged links and their notes.
March 9, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Nick
Add a 100 page appendix to the end. Possibly taken from your favorite copyright-expired book.
December 1, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Olivier
Ah ok. There’s no easy way to pull this off, so I’m going to mark this as reviewed/resolved for now. But I’ll make a manetl note to keep it in mind if and when we revisit how pagination works.If anyone else is looking for this, please do comment here!
March 10, 2011 at 10:45 am
Page Numbers Are For Wussies « Cheap Talk « eyes open
[…] Cheap Talk argues that Amazon’s decision to reinsert page numbers into e-books might be good news for editors & luddites, but bad news for writers. […]
March 10, 2011 at 11:00 am
Page Numbers Are For Wussies « Cheap Talk « This is something that happens.
[…] Page Numbers Are For Wussies « Cheap Talk. Categories: Uncategorized LikeBe the first to like this post. Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) […]
March 10, 2011 at 11:49 am
Linda
Page numbers may reduce suspense in novels, but they are incredibly useful for non-fiction – including student essays!
March 10, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Marijane White
How do you cite something in a book if you don’t know what page it’s on?
March 10, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Lauren
Page numbers are rather superfluous for determining how much you have remaining in a book; kindle books have a progress bar, and in dead tree format you just compare the thickness of the pages in your left hand versus the thickness of pages in your right.
If you really want your readers in suspense, serialize.
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hutch
to me, the main benefit is to know when the chapter i’m reading ends. maybe its a psychological thing, but i hate to stop reading in the middle of a chapter, no matter if its fiction or non-fiction. if i just new how many pages until the end of the current chapter, i’d be happy.
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