Mar 10, 10 Here’s a QuickStart for this site: The column on the left lists the industries which I believe comprise publishing today. Below are some of the influences that are changing publishing, and the impact of those changes. Click on a topic, whether it’s your sector or just a topic that interests you, and you’ll begin your exploration of the future of publishing....
------------------------------------------
Most of us think of publishing in a very traditional way. The Oxford English Dictionary (and you don’t get much more traditional than that!) defines publishing as “The action or business of issuing a book or books.” It also recognizes “publish” as a verb, but then goes on to reference various acts of committing words to paper, such as a will, or a declaration of war.
Princeton Wordnet is equally old-fashioned, defining publishing as “the business of issuing printed matter for sale or distribution.”
Infoplease simply directs us to “see: book publishing”.
I’ve always taken a much broader view of publishing, subscribing instead to another of Oxford’s definitions: “To make publicly or generally known; to declare or report openly or publicly; to announce; to tell or noise abroad; also, to propagate, disseminate (a creed or system).” As someone who has worked as a book publisher and as a journalist, it always struck me that the point of the exercise was not to just write things down, or typeset them, or print them, but to get the word out: to do everything possible to make the information generally known.
The same holds true for a Web site (whether a commercial site, a blog, or any other), and also for many other creative endeavors. If you fail to bring the work to the attention of the public then you have failed as a “publisher” regardless of the quality of the material on the site, or its social or political relevance. An unread book is just a piece of a dead tree; an unseen Web site is just so many bits and bytes, signifying nothing. A song unheard might as well not exist at all.
So the august Oxford English Dictionary also tells us that publishing is “to make publicly or generally known.” It doesn’t tell us what it is that should be made publicly or generally known. So it’s time for us to make a leap of imagination.
As mentioned above, most of us grew up thinking of books as thesine qua non of publishing. We also usually acknowledged newspapers and magazines, journals, reports and the like. We did not acknowledge television, or radio, photographs or telephones. And yet why not? Each of these media contains information. Most contain creative work. All of them seek a wider audience from the creator(s) of the work being broadcast. What disqualifies these media from publishing? As long and hard as I think of it, I can’t find a reason to exclude them.
In this age of “new media” what basis can we find to exclude blogs, computer games and email? Each contains information and/or creative content, and each seeks to succeed by reaching out to a wider audience, to be made publicly or generally known.
And so this Website, “TheFutureofPublishing.com”, casts a very wide net. As I write this evening, I’ve defined thirty different “industries” that I consider a part of the publishing spectrum. I examine each of those industries, look briefly at their history, and then focus on the changes that are taking place that will impact their future. Many are intertwined, for example the paper industry and the newspaper industry, and I explore those interrelationships.
But I’ve found that just focusing on the “publishing industries” is insufficient to illuminate the real future of publishing. So many outside influences impact publishing’s outcome. Developments in computer hardware have a profound effect on Web publishing and our ability to read comfortably on computer monitors. The youth demographic is having an enormous impact on how traditional print-based media is consumed. Various levels of government around the world are legislating improved access to media, and at the same time demanding that electronic media be made accessible to the disabled.
And so I’ve defined some twenty “influences” that are having an impact on the future of publishing. In some cases the impact is subtle and long-term; in other cases profound and immediate.
Between these industries and these influences, I hope that a picture will emerge that will help you understand where publishing, in its broadest sense, is headed.
------------------------------------------
I am not a seer. I don't possess the knowledge required to offer a definitive picture of the future. And so from the very beginning of this project I decided to include as many relevant primary sources as I possibly could. Of course it’s the beauty of the Internet that most of these sources are online and available to all of us. You’ll find as you peruse this site that there are a plethora of sources referenced. Some are noted in the body of my essays. Many appear in a separate section at the end of my essays. I always explain why I think the source is significant, although ultimately you must be the judge.
The purpose is clear: don’t take my word for anything. If you’ve got the time please return to these primary sources, digest them, and form your own opinion.
------------------------------------------
A word about copyright: If a primary source is available freely online, I list the URL. Many sources require purchases or subscriptions or your first-born child. That is their right. In these cases I offer a review of the source, always respecting “fair use,” and point to the URL with the limitations noted. Should any copyright holder feel that I am in contravention of their rights, please notify me, and the situation will be rectified as soon as possible. As an author and publisher, I do respect copyright.
You will note also in the section on copyright that I decided to make this Website accessible via a Creative Commons license.
The license which I’m granting for my work on this entire site is as follows:
Attribution Non-commercial (by-nc)
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge yours and also be non-commercial, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses .
------------------------------------------
Acknowledgements
This project began some nine years ago when I was the Program Director for (the now defunct) Seybold Seminars. I thought that exploring the current state of publishing and its future was a worthwhile endeavor for the Seybold organization. I received tremendous support from Seybold’s then president, Gene Gable, and the vice president of content, Craig Cline (sadly now deceased). I also received support from many of the Seybold editors; I think in particular of George Alexander. Gene was able to find sufficient funding for the project, which allowed me to bring in outside researchers. John Sugnet supervised the design of the very effective slides for my initial presentation, made at Seybold San Francisco, 1999. (It went over like a lead balloon!)
The site itself would not exist without the enormous efforts of Elia Kanaki (www.rossul.com) and Evan Thomson (www.evanwords.com): they made it possible for me to clarify my muddled thinking on how to turn what was once to be a book into a living, breathing site: without their insight and hard work, you would find nothing here.I am thoroughly indebted to each of them for their support, and dedicate this site to the entire team.
------------------------------------------
I hope this provides a simple explanation to the approach I have taken on this Web site and towards exploring the future of publishing. I welcome your comments.