Changing Technology- Impact on Books

Changing Technology- Impact on Books

The socio-cultural diversity of India and the youth population which contribute nearly 2/3^rd of total population are driving the publishing industry in India. The millennia-old tradition of written texts, vigorous event-based promotions of the reading culture, the sudden spurt in national and state-level literature festivals and competitive pricing are keeping the industry on the move, drawing new segments of readers.

At present, the country supports at least 60,000 big and small publishers who print approximately 100,000 titles in English and in 28 regional languages every year. Indian publishing industry is registering a growth rate of 15 percent annually and is estimated at nearly $2 billion. India presents a unique scenario in the publishing growth story like its syncretic culture that allows both the old and the new to co-exist. With the advent of technology, digital publishing complements conventional publishing. In India and world at large presently, publishing industry is not only facing challenges from technological changes but also due to rampant piracy, undercutting in prices and discounts in books.

The mental model we share of the publishing industry is no longer useful. Most of us think of the publishing industry’s product as “books”. That’s like thinking that Amazon sells two products, bits and cardboard boxes. Amazon ships stuff in cardboard boxes. It’s what’s inside the box that you are buying. Likewise, it’s the information contained in the bits that you are buying when you buy a digital product from Amazon.

Physical books are never really the publishing industry’s product. It is always the stories, ideas, and information contained in the books.

Publishing industry has travelled a long way since its start long back in 3000 BC with the duplication of images.  . The written word—incised in clay, inked with a quill, printed on presses or transmitted as electronic bits in ebooks—has always been at the heart of capturing and disseminating human knowledge.

With the advent of technology, at first glance, the publishing industry seem to suffer the same jolting upheaval as the music industry experienced. But, this supposed jolt for Music Industry, is a smooth transition for Publishing industry.

Now that there are competing digital containers for almost everything that has traditionally been delivered via physical books. With technology, the publishing industries are moving to the digital world at vastly different rates and to very different digital containers: ebooks, apps, and the web. 

In my terminology,

·         an app is a digital container that promotes user interaction with content rather than linear reading;

·         an ebook is a self-contained reading unit mostly without external links;

·         and the defining feature of the web is external linking.

Though the book format is changed, the power of word remain the same or may actually increased. With 15 percent to 25 percent of book sales shifting to digital format by 2015, the book industry is heading into wholly new territory.

Authors, publishers, distributors and retailers all will need to rethink their business models and their relationships with one another. They will have to address several critical challenges: pricing policies that secure the industry’s changing profit pools, redefined distribution networks that preserve format diversity and the reallocation of value among industry participants. This new format will trigger a profound change in the publishing ecosystem and spark new trends in content creation itself.

Database packaging publishing industries like dictionaries, encyclopedias, Narrative publishing industries like fiction, non-fiction writings,  Learning publishing industries, like textbooks, Illustration publishing industries like comics, coffee table books etc. all are going through a transition phase. The digital transition is the most important issue facing the publishing industry. It overshadows and transforms everything else.

“Books constitute capital. A book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.”