The future of publishing

05.12.11 | Emma Goode

This year's SYP conference posed a key question for every young publisher: what challenges and opportunities will face publishers in the digital future?

Vintage editor Kay Peddle opened the debate on a positive note: the book is not dead. Throughout history there have been numerous 'threats' to publishing that have turned into opportunities, she argued. Publishing is an agile industry, but publishers need to maintain a strong relationship with authors to prevent them turning to self-publishing and promotion or going straight to companies like Amazon.

Peddle explained some of the ways Vintage have turned technology into opportunities: Brain Shots, a series of 10,000-word non-fiction e-books that 'capture the essence of an idea', and its new fictional equivalent, Storycuts. Vintage's e-magazine, Night and Day, their podcasts, and apps such as the Primrose Bakery app also allow them to extend their brand and reach out to new markets.

In the future, she believes publishers will need to focus on their role as 'curators', adding value to content, as well as exploring new formats and investing in multimedia platform developments. We will also see more hardbacks being published, as treasured objects to hand down or give as gifts, while paperbacks will be largely subsumed by e-books.

Alastair Horne, innovations manager of Cambridge University Press, pointed out that academic publishers have had the advantage of moving to digital earlier; with 85% of journals now digital, he believes they have already reached the 'tipping point'. Print has become a 'niche' format, much like vinyl, and the same could happen in trade publishing. He agreed with Peddle that digital is an opportunity for publishers: no longer bound by the book as a physical object, they will be free to experiment, while Amazon and Apple provide an instant means of content delivery.

Amazon and Apple are also the biggest threat to publishers, however. His amusing comparison of publishing to 'the Austro-Hungarian empire pre-1914' worked surprisingly well: Amazon is Germany (aggressive, expansionary), Apple is Russia (has its own empire but also looking to expand—and about to undergo a major leadership change!) and Google is Britain (aloof, unsure how much it wants to get involved). Publishers need to stop any of these three big powers from becoming dominant. There are two key things they can do to survive: maintain diversity in the supply chain, and re-arm, finding a direct route to market rather than relying on Apple and Amazon.

Chris Meade, director of the Institute for the Future of the Book, began with the message that, as young publishers, we need to find new ways of looking at what we are passionate about, as authors and readers don't necessarily need publishers anymore.

In five years' time we will find 'geniuses' who can make entirely new products, rather than simply converting books into something else; engaging with 'big ideas' and creative thinkers is what publishers ought to be doing now. In 10 years, we will have a much broader idea of what publishing is.

The floor was then opened to questions and debate (though a rather congenial debate, since the panelists seemed mostly in agreement!). Peddle disagreed with Meade that publishers won't be necessary in the future, as they play a key role in providing reliable, quality content. Horne, however, said too many publishers are offering poor-quality e-books that undermine their status as gatekeepers. Publishers must work harder to prove they can provide the value Peddle believes they do. Moreover, just having the 'stamp of quality' is pointless if publishers don't work harder to get their products out there. Meade pointed out that consumers now also turn to other places—friends, or the BBC—as 'trusted sources'.

One audience member suggested the problem might be that most of the people who go into publishing have a nostalgic attachment to physical books. All the panelists agreed that it is stories, not books, that we should focus on, and the different, innovative ways in which we can deliver these stories.

As Horne aptly put it, "books are important, but they're not as good as reading".

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