The Future of Book Publishing

Last week I was invited to attend a fascinating presentation about technology trends, delivered to a group of hospitality industry technology professionals by Peter Leyden, who is the former managing editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Boom, a History of the Future 1980-2020. As an author and publisher, two main themes stood out to me:

1.    The tablet computer changes everything.

2.    The use of video will continue to grow rapidly.

During his presentation, Leyden cited the huge growth in sales of ebooks and the next big trends in book publishing: apps and multi-media ebooks with images, audio, and video integrated into the text. 

I have been writing a lot about ebooks lately, with good reason. Consider these recent developments:

• Publisher's Weekly just reported yet another month of falling sales of printed books and surging sales of ebooks.

• In January of 2011, Forrester Research predicted that by 2015, 82 million U.S. consumers (one-third of U.S. online consumers) will be using a tablet computer. Some analysts say that projection is too conservative.

• Right now, the Apple iPad owns the tablet market, but a number of new competitors will soon appear. Last week, CNET reported that Amazon is planning to release its own Android-based tablet PC by the Fall of 2011. Think about what a game changer that could be.

• Here's a quote from a recent press release from Barnes & Noble. Notice how they refer to NOOK Color as a "tablet" and mention apps before books.

"Barnes & Noble continues to make its bestselling, critically acclaimed NOOK Color Reader's Tablet even better, delivering customers a wide array of high-quality apps, books, interactive children's books, magazines and more. The company announced it doubled its number of NOOK Apps since recently introducing a broad collection of popular apps."

• Ebook publisher Smashwords recently announced that their ebooks are now available to the app marketplace through ScrollMotion, which is developing applications for mobile platforms including Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and WebOS.

As authors and publishers, we need to capitalize on these trends by making our books available on tablets like the iPad and looking for ways to integrate multi-media features and create apps. The future is here!

Related Articles

Sales of Ebooks and Reading Devices Soar 

6 Reasons Why You Need to Publish Ebooks

How to Publish an Ebook for Multiple Platforms

Quick Start Guide to Marketing Your Kindle eBooks Like a Pro!

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. For more book marketing tips, get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebooks, subscribe to her blog, follow BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook.

Posted June 27, 2011

Comments

[John Dwyer]

Thanks for this great post Dana. This is a message I see repeated on every book blog I follow - ebooks are here and are the future. In addition to a printed book, any author must now have an ebook version as well. I use Smashwords to gain access to B&N and other outlets but I go myown way for the Kindle. The Kindle version of my book High Road To Tibet is outselling the paperback by 10 to 1. The writing is on the wall people!

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks John. Very interesting to know your ebook is selling so much higher than the paperback. Do you think it's the price? Continued success to you!

[Jake Grayston]

I know for myself, the main reason I prefer e-books are that I can get them immediately. As soon as I have heard about a book, I can check the reviews, maybe even an excerpt, and if I think I like it can purchase it on the spot and start reading it within a few minutes. I think I am a pretty average consumer, so this probably is the driving force for this trend.

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks Jake. I agree that speed and free samples are some of the driving forces behind the popularity of ebooks. It's just so easy to click that button and have the ebook delivered instantly!