Interesting discussion of publishing's future...

...is here. It's a bit jargon-y, but still worth it. And the comments beneath it are particularly good and insightful.



I myself have no clear idea what's next for publishing, but I can't help but think that the current system--dominated by expensive middlemen and reliant on the blockbuster model--can't continue indefinitely. There are limits to consolidation. I don't think e-books will ever be able to overcome the totemistic attraction of bound material, at least in the next couple of decades--until pedagogy shifts decisively into other technologies. If I had to put money down on something, I think that insta-book kiosks printing books with a photocopy-like technology and drawing on a massive internal library, will be the next winner. It simply makes too much sense to cut the costs of hauling all that paper around. But I predict the industry will make a big mistake with this, by not passing the full savings on to the consumer; they will try to keep the majority of that for themselves, instead of using the savings to fix the pricing problem.



Anyway, it's interesting. The first thing I'd tell a young writer to do is get a blog, and attach it to a website holding bigger projects. The first stage of one's career used to be about attracting the attention of someone in the book industry (and all that entailed, like moving to NYC, toiling at magazines and/or freelancing, getting invited to the right parties). Now, it's about attracting and keeping a demonstrable audience, then selling that to a publisher. The change is good for humorous writing, I think--humorists are not generally great networkers, but humorous writing does attract audiences. It's exciting times!