One of our biggest themes here at Wheeler Centre Dailies in recent times has been the future of the book. JE Fishman at The Nervous Breakdown has given readers his take on the topic - and Fishman’s future isn’t as grim as Guy Rundle fears. The article is worth a read in its entirety, but here are the bare bones:
- Superstores will disappear.
- Independent bookstores will survive.
- Publishers will learn to sell direct to consumers again.
- E-books will dominate the market.
- Hardcovers will become instant collectors’ items.
- Print on Demand may replace offset printing, but it won’t matter.
- Publishers will publish more titles, not fewer.
- E-books will carry advertising.
- Better royalties will replace advances.
- Agents will have their own imprints.
- There won’t just be one way (or two).
- Writers organizations will stop discriminating against authors who bootstrap.
- Book clubs will rise again.
- Marketers will rescue book publishing.
- Storytelling will be reinvented.