The Transformation of the Book Publishing Industry


The book publishing industry is in the cusps of a revolution. But some say that it is also undergoing a process of undesirable change. With self publishing becoming a fad that’s too rampant to ignore and with the rise of eBook readers and eBooks for that matter, the screening process has become shorter and easier to get around. This means that there are more books out there that have rehashed plots, topics and old knowledge. This also means that there are thousands of books being published with a minimum of criteria – that they have words and that they have a catchy title.

Knowing about the evolution of the book publishing industry is about knowing its most salient point – sales. Even a terribly written literary garbage that gets snapped up by the reading public is bound to make every writer laughing all the way to the bank. The media is increasingly becoming irrelevant. Whether it’s hard back, paper back or in electronic format, a book sold is a book sold. So what do people like? Amazingly, people usually like themselves. Self improvement, relationships and the ill luck and the subsequent triumph of a character that is personally identifiable with the reader are all good sellers.

Unfortunately, if there’s one thing that the book publishing industry cannot print, it has to be money itself. That’s why they’re extremely picky about what they are going to publish. But with ebooks and ereaders around, that may soon change the ballgame. With ebooks, the risk is considerably lesser since they are easily duplicated and transmitted with the minimum of cost. Time will only tell, whether this is good or not.