Technological changes in publishing were again a focus at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair. Fair-wide there was a great deal of discussion regarding e-books and new technologies. A blog comment on the Frankfurt Book Fair site gives some indication of the complexities and new challenges that publishers, and indeed everyone in the publishing sphere, are facing . . .

‘. . . each action by hardware companies, software companies, media companies, artists, writers, publishers, and retailers affects the landscape  . . . the number of these actors operating on the landscape, and their degree of interdependence has grown. So not only will things continue to change, the rate of change itself is likely to increase . . . we’re in a state of permanent accelerated transition where the model is continuous rapid reinvention. Publishing will never be stable again.’

It’s an exciting time to be in the world of book publishing!

This article from the website of the New Zealand Society of Authors reflects on The Future of the Book conference held in Auckland in June. It gives four authors’ perspectives on some of those rapid leaps forward in digital publishing. 

http://www.authors.org.nz/webfiles/NZSocietyofAuthors/files/Future_of_the_Book.pdf