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The New Publishing



us, Evolution, lead us,
Up the future's endless stair;
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
For stagnation is despair.
C.S. Lewis, ``Evolutionary Hymn''




From here on this report focusses on publishers who charge a monthly fee and who distribute their titles on demand over the phone. The criteria for judging subscription publishers will be capital, reputation, and performance. Capital acquires new product and its amount and liquidity determines credit, which determines how much expansion there can be, and how fast it can take place. Reputation and performance assure subscribers of quality and selection, and attract and retain new authors and subscribers.

Marketing will also be important. At 3,500 new books a month and climbing, major book chains and convenience outlets (convenience stores, drugstores, supermarkets) now keep new fiction less than 6 weeks. Soon paperback fiction may be monthly--the equivalent of one-shot magazines; eventually turnover may be weekly.

To pervert Toffler's prediction in Future Shock [50], in a decade we will be living in a world of future schlock; 1,000 new books a day is possible, that is only a factor of 8 from today. Counting all nations, we already produce over 1,000 new books a day.



 
next up previous contents
Next: Mapmakers, Ferrets, and Filters Up: The New Publishing Technology's Previous: The Frailties of Print
Gregory J. E. Rawlins
7/25/1998