The evolution of the publishing industry

A very interesting read. Here, Penguin Random House COO talks about what has changed in the publishing industry and what has remained the same.

Amazon U-turns

When you put this into context, it really is quite mind blowing for the publishing industry. Read all about Amazon's first bricks and mortar book store here!

Digital library lending

Interesting to see that Americans still like to borrow a printed book from a library, rather than a digital version. I have to admit to carrying my Kindle Fire HD everywhere I go now. It takes the boredom out of waiting rooms, that's for sure. I still have boxes of paperbacks to read though. I will never get bored of the feel of a real book.

Here's the stats from the Publishers Weekly survey: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/68811-new-study-finds-low-levels-of-digital-library-borrowing.html

Beautiful libraries

Check out these beautiful libraries around the world!

http://www.garymclaren.com/20-beautiful-libraries-of-the-world/

Like Gary Mclaren, I spent a huge proportion of my childhood and teen years in our local library and in the school library. I would often have 10 books on the go at once. Ah, Life was so much simpler then...

eBooks in the Year 1999

I did work experience at a couple of publishing houses in 1999 and, sorting through some old boxes, have just come across a handful of the notes I made:

One of the books in one of the house's online catalogs was about the death of privacy in the 21st Century - and how true this has turned out to be with wire tapping, mobile phone tracking and misuse of our data and records constantly in the news today.

Back then, internet e-commerce was just beginning. One of the houses was already selling eBooks and wanted to sell through their own website rather than using multiple partners. They were developing a place for their customers to "hang out" online and pondering whether free e-content over the Web would hurt their book business. Initial sales showed this wasn't the case...

I've been on their website this morning to see how things have moved on and it appears they've branched out into IT courses and certificates, as well as conferences, and definitely found their niche market with their technical books and manuals. Also linking with another online company offering technology and business training.

So they swam, while others sank!