The Changing World of Publishing

Many people in the world genuinely love books. I happen to be one of those people, and it’s an exciting and scary time to be a lover of books. Not everyone on the street knows this yet, but there is a fairly tectonic shift going on in the world of publishing. Bookstores, the traditional means of distribution for a long, long time, seem to be in a lot of trouble. The latest statistics show that the supposed digital revolution of ebooks is happening more quickly than anyone expected. The sales of ebooks are skyrocketing while print sales are significantly down. I don’t think print books are going to die out anytime soon, but even still, it seems as though the landscape is changing rapidly. Think about how the mp3 changed the music industry. When is the last time you bought a CD from a record store? Again, as a book lover, I hope bookstores stick around for a long, long time. But everyone in the industry is learning very quickly that they are going to have to adapt to survive in whatever this transition is.

If you’re like me and interested in this changing world, give a listen to this interview with Seth Godin, a brilliant man who I believe is on the leading edge of this shift. He’s a very insightful man.