Shannon Turlington

I have been following all of the conversations about the future of publishing, particularly with regard to e-books, going on over the past few months with interest. I thought I’d share some of the more interesting conversations I’ve found, as well as some of my still-nascent thoughts on the whole kerfuffle.

I have a bit of an inside view of publishing — 10 years out of date, but it’s not an industry that changes very quickly — and it’s not a positive one. I love books and writers, but publishing, as it exists today, seems like a necessary evil. It is too big, too cumbersome, too costly and too reluctant to change. Their business practices, which didn’t make any sense years ago, seem woefully out of date, wasteful and expensive today. The industry is ready for upstarts with new ideas to come in and turn things upside down.

When the world is changing around you, you either adapt or die. I don’t know what the answer is, but I know someone will come up with it. And that’s likely who we’ll be buying books from in the future.

Please to read more on this:

• Why do consumers think book prices are too high? (Stormwolf.com)
• Common misconceptions about publishing (Charlie’s Diary)
• Beyond Borders: Big waste in the book industry (Earth & Industry)
• Lulu Blog: Adventures in Self-Publishing (Lulu.com)
• 15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing (Mashable)
• Richard Nash: Book Publishing 10 Years into the Future (Galleycat)