You Cannot Wait To Read This Book
I've got an entire bookcase full of unread books. I call it The Queue. It's not that I'm not excited about the novels and stories waiting there, just that, for me, walking into a bookstore is like going grocery shopping on an empty stomach; I leave with way more than I can consume. You're hanging out on a site with the word "lit" right there in its title, so I'd bet money you've got a similar shelf of unread treasures in your house.
Argentinean publisher and bookstore Eterna Cadencia is not okay with letting talented new authors wait on our shelves. “Books are very patient objects," says the independent book maker's video. "We buy them, and then they wait for us to read them. Days, months, even years. That’s OK for books, but not for new authors. If people don’t read their first books, they’ll never make it to a second.”
To instill a proper sense of urgency in readers, Eterna Cadencia printed its new anthology of first-time Latin authors using an ink that disappears within two months once the book has been exposed to air and light. El Libro Que No Puede Esperar (The Book That Can't Wait in English) was distributed in plastic bags, and its first-edition sold out in one day. The formula of the magic ink, developed with help from Draftfcb, is a well-guarded secret (which we can only assume means it's made from writers' tears, whiskey, and the blood of innocents) but thanks to the success of this anthology, the publisher plans to use it to give other books a use-by date.
Would you buy a book that only lasted two months?
News by Kimberly Turner
Kimberly Turner is an internet entrepreneur, DJ, editor, beekeeper, linguist, traveler, and writer. This either makes her exceptionally well-rounded or slightly crazy; it’s hard to say which. She spent a decade as a journalist and magazine editor in Australia and the U.S. and is now working (very, very slowly) on her first novel. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two cats, ten fish, and roughly 60,000 bees.
To leave a comment
Comments
I think that's just about the most retarded thing I've ever seen. I buy it and I can't read it again and again? Pfft.
It's a stupid, gimmicky idea.
If I was in that area, I'd buy it. I'd probably have tons of time and copy it to a more durable print.
I'd be less inclined to remove it from its plastic, as it feels more like a collectible than something meant to be consumed. In this way these new authors who must be read still won't be read. I'd probably buy it as a novelty if they also gave me a free digital edition that I could ignore as well.
Yes, well my boyfriend says advertising works on me - and in this case, i's true. I'd buy it and read the crap out of it!
I'd probably buy it, but I do agree that it sucks that the stories will go *poof*. I like his reasoning and his intentions.
As a collector, though, I would be tempted to buy at least one copy I refused to open. I don't know...
Not in a million years. Not if my Mom and bff and I authored a book together would I buy a copy with this ink.