4 Responses so far

1. 1. Murphy Jacobs on Mar 16th, 2010 at 5:14 pm

   Ya know, even buggy whips and corsets didn’t completely die out — they just found new markets.

2. 2. Mahesh Raj Mohan on Mar 16th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

   Yup, well said. The sky’s been falling forever for some folks.

3. 3. Scott Marlowe on Mar 17th, 2010 at 5:08 am

   Has it been dying for all that time or just changing?

4. 4. Steven Saus on Mar 17th, 2010 at 1:16 pm

   I’d alter the phrase with Scott’s observation in mind:

   “Publishing is dead! Long live publishing!”

   I understand that the move from smaller bookstores to mall-megachains and bookclubs really changed a lot about the way the industry did business in the 1980’s to early 1990’s (including the rise of publishing conglomerates).

   Likewise, I’m certain that the rise of Amazon and online booksellers has changed the business of selling books in the late 1990’s to 2008.

   With what seems to finally be traction in the ebook market, I’m fairly certain the business of selling books will transform once again. The original statement (that publishing is dying) makes the mistake of equating “publishing business” to “the WAY publishing did business in time period X”.