I came across this article on the Publishing Industry in the New York Magazine. Have We Reached the End of Publishing as We Know It? It's a long article that covers a lot of territory. Interesting, I thought, in its various aspects and inside look through editors and agents and publishers. Terry
Outstanding article. I believe we are seeing the tidal surge of a publishing industry hurricane. Widespread change will leave some more successful than ever before, while others, those who choose to hide behind improvised levees that cannot hope to hold back change, they will end up as broken rubble in the post-storm scenery. In every disaster, there is opportunity.
Good article, thanks for sharing. I do have one thing to say about it. I don't think the kindle (or rather, e-books in general) will take over normal publishing. I download several books (Most of them free domain, but also a few copyrighted books >.<) a month but I only buy the ones I like. Even though I use a Nintendo DS + R4 to read e-books at the gym everyday, I'd much prefer to lay in the couch and read a real book. Bought e-books also have a tendency to have DRM which I hate. And worst of all, hard drives crash. I backup regularly but still one time I lost both the back up and the original, losing dozens of ebooks in the process. Thankfully I had a full shelve of books waiting for me. I'll be checking out that Gargoyles book.
I read that one too. It's a good article. The demise of the book and publishing has been a topic of contention for a really long time. At the end of the day the industry will change, like all businesses do, and they'll either have to roll with it or fall by the wayside. Either way, the book is not dead and I personally don't believe that ebooks will ever replace the tactile experience of reading. That said, there may be a place for ebooks alongside traditional print. (I'm currently reading one in spare moments snatched at work - just don't tell my boss! Certainly less conspicuous then a chunky tome.) Personally, I think POD will eventually be the solution to the pulping problem and availability (see blackwell's espresso POD machine) For further reading there's a good post on Adrian Hon's blog about it. Quite long though. http://mssv.net/2007/07/23/the-death-of-book-publishers/
After reading the whole thing I have to say that This sums up the entire issue. Yes there are wholesalers like Amazon.com that are cutting into profits and trying to "take over the publishing world" In the end it did not say anything truly prophetic or enlightening as to the future of things, just nay speak and doom ringing of the current trends.
