Stephen King's decision to skip the e-book format gets renewed attention

Stephen King said his new novel, 'Joyland,' will be released in paper format only. 'Let people ... go to an actual bookstore,' said King.

Stephen King's new novel 'Joyland' centers on a teenage carnival worker who learns about a never-solved murder case.

Legendary author Stephen King’s decision not to released his new novel “Joyland” in e-book format is getting renewed attention as the book's June 4 publication date draws near.

“I have no plans for a digital version," King told the Wall Street Journal about his "Joyland." "Maybe at some point, but in the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.”

King has already made a name for himself as a maverick where e-books are concerned. In 2000 he made headlines when he released a shorter work titled “Riding the Bullet” in e-book format only, making "Riding the Bullet" the world's first mass-market electronic book.

“Joyland” follows a 1970s college student who is employed at a carnival in North Carolina one summer and finds out about a murder that occurred several years ago and was never solved.

The book’s tagline on the front cover, “Who dares enter the funhouse of fear?,” is reminiscent of some of King’s early horror works.

“Joyland” is being published by Titan Books imprint Hard Case Crime.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Stephen King's decision to skip the e-book format gets renewed attention
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0520/Stephen-King-s-decision-to-skip-the-e-book-format-gets-renewed-attention
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe