Preparing for the Industry’s Future

John Morse conveyed the message that print and digital can exist side-byside. “Online and print feed off of each other,” he said, citing Merriam-Webster’s decision in 1996 to offer its best-selling product, the “Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary,” online for free. Revenue for the print version of the dictionary has increased each year thereafter. “We learned that [consumers] want print, but they don’t want just print,” said Morse, “[and] electronic use does not necessarily endanger print sales.” Michael Cairns advised traditional publishers to be aware of what services self-publishers such as Lulu.com and AuthorHouse are offering to their authors. “Lulu.com could be considered the germination of a trade/consumer publishing platform,” he said. “Publishers should see what they’re doing.”

Book Distribution Strategies
The implications of digital-distribution models for authors, publishers and booksellers took center stage at a Tuesdayafternoon discussion moderated by Book Business columnist Eugene Schwartz. Schwartz was joined by new Book Business contributor Thomas Woll, president of Cross River Publishing Consultants, and Andrew Weinstein, vice president and general manager of retail solutions at Ingram Digital.

Woll began his presentation by stressing that print distribution models now in place should remain stable for the foreseeable future. The big shifts, he said, will come in digital delivery. “The shift in the paradigm … has been in delivery systems,” he said. “We’re going from the print or electronic fi le into reading devices, and I think the next logical step for the reading devices will be happening, which is the cell phone.”

E-book sales increased from $5.8 million in 2002 to $20 million in 2006, Woll noted. “E-book content—which for years and years … has been fl at, waiting for a delivery system to happen—is now going to really rapidly expand over the next fi ve years,” he said, adding that the habits of the emerging young demographic will only strengthen this trend.