The future of publishing is being shaped by mobile and social

The way to do this, he says, is through better curation of metadata, not just about products, but about authors. “Connect the dots for your customers,” said Petway. “Push information to people who care about it,” he continued, noting the work of Small Demons in “linking the printed item to all the stuff discussed in it.”

He also emphasized a focus on high-value customers: “ In an e-commerce world, the heaviest social media users are 3 or 4 times more valuable, and iPad users are 10 times more valuable than other customers.”

“Stay close to high-value customers,” he emphasized. “Find technological ways to monitor what’s going on with your brand.”

Ultimately, said Petway, publishers need to find ways to make it as easy as possible to purchase their products. “If you make it too difficult, customers will go elsewhere,” he said, offering the example of someone who finds inferior—but free and easily accessible—instructional content on YouTube.