LJNDawson.com, Consulting to the Book Publishing Industry
Book Publishing Industry Consultant

Never Gonna Happen, My Friend

Henry Blodget's got a piece in Silicon Alley Insider - yes, THAT Henry Blodget - looking at the book industry. Because he knows so much about it, he's got a lot of insight that those of us who've been in the business for decades are obviously too benighted to apprehend:

How can publishers fix their business? Not by killing more trees. By radically retooling the business model.

Ebooks, people! Ebooks are going to save the industry. If publishers would only sell a few hardcovers and do the rest of their inventory as ebooks (forget about paperbacks - ebooks will replace them!), then we can spike sales and...Oh, hell.

This is what I hate: when people who know nothing about the business and its supply chain come in with their "obvious" solutions. Because everybody in the business is "is obsessed with maintaining the status quo--which means print units and revenue." I call bullshit. Publishers are NOT obsessed with print. They don't have some kind of fanatical dedication to print. They'd LOVE to cut costs and sell mostly downloadable product.

But people don't want to read that way.

Tim O'Reilly has some great responses to this post, in the comments section of the article (about 2/3 of the way down the page - there's no direct link).
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