The Future of Publishing’s History

I am not the greatest fan of the publishing industry. The first paperback book, a massive innovation in the industry, was published this week in 1935, and sometimes it seems that was the last innovation the industry has seen. As a published author, the lead times in the industry are seriously frustrating and the processes archaic. But, hey, I suppose I shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds me (well, part feeds me – in a world dominated by the increasing valuation of intellectual capital and decreasing value of manual labour and intermediation, the publishing industry, with their paltry standard 12-15% of wholesale price paid in royalties stands as a bastion of anochronism).

But, today, I read of something that inspires some hope in me that the wonderful people of the publishing industry do have an eye on the future. Faber are going to be publishing out of print books on a once-off, on-demand basis. They have started with a limited catalog, but the concept itself could (and should) easily be extended to all books everywhere. With digital printing and even e-books, it should be very little extra work to take any book anywhere and reproduce it. Check out the announcement and details here. A nice idea, and one that I hope is copied, and inspires further innovation.

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