by Paul Rance

Created on: July 27, 2010

Adapt or die is a good adage to take notice of if you are a publisher.

The Convenience of the Net

Though traditional publishing is never likely to end, it does face new competition because of the internet, and because of internet-based companies like Amazon and their Kindle reading device.

A lot of people will never get the same satisfaction of reading text from a screen, as they would having a book in their hands, but if you can't find, say, a classic book you want to read, then sites like

Project Gutenberg will, maybe, have that book online. So, sometimes it comes down to a question of convenience, and the net does often win over the traditional book form in that way. You can download books in electronic form, and there are so many outlets out there, that you can find what you're looking for relatively quickly.

What we will probably see, from traditional book publishing companies, is that these companies will continue to publish books as they always have, but they will adapt to the new technologies, and so maximize their earnings. Publishers are businesses, so it's doubtful if there will be such a sentimental attachment to the past that publishers will not want to make money from new ways of publishing.

Easier to Self Publish

It is now easier to publish one's own work - whether via an ebook, on a website, or just on a free blog. A couple of decades ago, if you were self publishing your work, then you would have had to have paid to have printed or photocopied, for example, a single poem on a sheet of paper. Now you can publish something similar for free.

More Choice

The changes will benefit the consumer, not just because of choice, but publishers will probably try and undercut each other more and more. Newspapers realized the importance of the internet quite early, putting up countless free articles to entice people to buy the printed version of their publication. With the inception of the net, newspapers could also compete with television and radio to an extent, in getting stories out more quickly. Some newspapers are now charging people to read previously free content. Only time will tell if that's going to work.

Not everything the internet has brought to society has been beneficial, but the possibilities for reputable publishers, and for those who want to publish their writing, poetry, music, art, etc., it has been an undeniable boon. There is a lack of quality control, but that is compensated by the amount of choice for anyone who loves to read.

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