Today's Retail Scene: Are You Prepared to Compete?

The success of rich media efforts, including YouTube channels demonstrating animation and photography techniques viewed by half a million people, have helped spur the creation of FORCE, which will provide a way for Focal Press to provide multimedia, social networking and e-products directly to consumers. Add to this the explosive increase in e-book sales, which Donohue says is growing annually by double digits companywide.

“Our customers are really changing their behavior,” he says. “I don’t think the death of the [print] book is going to happen in the next five years …, but I think this technology is certainly changing, and publishers have to think about how they are going to distribute their content. … I don’t see how you think you’re going to survive unless you look at how you’re going to distribute in the next two to three years.”