Still More On The Changing Times

I've been coming across so many pieces on the changing face of the publishing/book world. After the articles in these three posts, there is this from The Washington Post: At Publishers' Convention, Is The Writing On The Wall? Excerpts:

"If you read a book on paper, you're going to be definitely stamped as retro," Shatzkin said. "This is not going to be a fashionable thing to do."

What advice would the venture guy have for Borders, then?

"Shut it down in an efficient fashion," came the prompt reply.

"When we talk about others failing, we're talking about the music industry," the moderator said helpfully. This allowed Anderson to make a point about a misunderstanding that "drives me berserk." The music industry, broadly defined -- which includes bands, fans, concerts, recordings, iPods, etc. -- is thriving, he said. It is only the major labels, with their foolish attempt to cling to the CD model, that crashed.

"We don't need those jerks," Anderson said.

A message for publishers, perhaps?

Not necessarily. The analogy, in Anderson's view, is not precise. For one thing, the physical book is a far better product than the CD. For another, well, traditional publishing has been very, very good to him.

"There are many kingdoms now," he said. And if an author can't find a publisher to work with, "the Twitter to Amazon link is now a viable career."

The increasingly unavoidable social networking sites created the biggest digital buzz at this year's BEA. And small wonder: Word of mouth has long been the holy grail of book marketing, and now it's digitally enhanced.

The point is, digitization creates "this incredible opportunity between readers and writers," Carlton said. We're entering a golden age in which the genius of "Gutenberg and Zuckerberg" -- the latter would be Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook -- are being combined. Friends will hand-sell books to each other online! Meanwhile, the gloomy cloud of what Carlton called "FUD," or "fear, uncertainty and doom," that has pervaded the publishing industry is starting to lift.

It's not lifting for brick-and-mortar booksellers, though.

A few yards away in the New Media Zone, Bill Reed, the co-owner of Misty Valley Books in Chester, Vt., was taking the latest Kindle for a spin. Lynne Reed, his wife and bookstore partner, stood nearby and contemplated the future.

"I think the publishing industry will have to change, but it's still a viable industry," she said. "Whereas bookselling -- nah. In 20 years, there won't be bookstores. Science fiction is coming true. You'll go into a house and you won't see any books."