by Vanessa Di Gregorio --- The book world as we know it is dying. ...Or so some people say. If you work in publishing, or at a bookstore or library, chances are you’ve heard your days are numbered. There’s this obsession with whether or not the publishing industry as a whole will move forward into an age of technology and ebooks and whatnot, or whether we’ll stubbornly cling to the old ways of print books, claiming that nothing is wrong and believing that everything will just work out the way it always has. Didn’t the publishing industry cry and bemoan its fate when trade paperbacks hit the shelves? How could books possibly survive in three different formats? And now, trade paperback AND mass market books still exist alongside hardcovers (though perhaps not for much longer). Didn't people cry out in fear when Amazon and the big national book chains came around, demanding bigger discounts? Independent bookstores began to disappear, unable to keep up with the excessive discounting - and some were sure that it would spell out the end of the independent bookstore. But look - there are still quite a few indies hanging around, surviving through it all. And now we have ebooks and e-readers threatening the livelihoods of independent bookstores again! And then there are the self-publishing platforms that threaten to destroy big, traditional publishing houses! ...Or maybe not, depending on who you listen to.
Death of an Industry?
Death of an Industry?
Death of an Industry?
by Vanessa Di Gregorio --- The book world as we know it is dying. ...Or so some people say. If you work in publishing, or at a bookstore or library, chances are you’ve heard your days are numbered. There’s this obsession with whether or not the publishing industry as a whole will move forward into an age of technology and ebooks and whatnot, or whether we’ll stubbornly cling to the old ways of print books, claiming that nothing is wrong and believing that everything will just work out the way it always has. Didn’t the publishing industry cry and bemoan its fate when trade paperbacks hit the shelves? How could books possibly survive in three different formats? And now, trade paperback AND mass market books still exist alongside hardcovers (though perhaps not for much longer). Didn't people cry out in fear when Amazon and the big national book chains came around, demanding bigger discounts? Independent bookstores began to disappear, unable to keep up with the excessive discounting - and some were sure that it would spell out the end of the independent bookstore. But look - there are still quite a few indies hanging around, surviving through it all. And now we have ebooks and e-readers threatening the livelihoods of independent bookstores again! And then there are the self-publishing platforms that threaten to destroy big, traditional publishing houses! ...Or maybe not, depending on who you listen to.