Social Media and the Publishing Industry Today

Another trend related to social media and the take-over of technology is self-publishing. Many authors are choosing to by-pass traditional means of publishing in favor of self-publishing, a trend that publishers need to be aware of. Jill Schwartzman, Executive Editor at Dutton, discussed the ways that traditional publishing houses can use this trend to find content. She explained how she has found and traditionally published originally self-published eBooks that have gone on to become successful, but again, she cautions publishing a book that has merely generated a large audience. Like Fershleiser, she stressed the need to find high-quality content that will spark interest over a long period of time, and not just content that has been popular for a week or two but will quickly fade into obscurity after the initial hype.

Bottom line, there are definitely ways to take advantage of this new digital age. Publishers need to be creative about it (and smart), but taking the time to look into the ways that social media can create new, interesting content will be beneficial.