Book Publishing: New Environments Call for New Operating Models

Abstract

The book publishing industry has seen a remarkable degree of change over the past 5 years including the emergence of Amazon and internet bookselling as a major distribution channel, the simultaneous decline of brick and mortar retailers, the growth of digital delivery as a viable alternative to the printed text, on-demand and short run digital printing as a financially credible book manufacturing technology, and custom publishing to name just a few of the environmental factors influencing the landscape faced by book publishers. The author argues that these and others factors require that publishers review their traditional infrastructure and operating protocols for opportunities to shed non-core activities and free up capital for investment in the primary mission of all book publishers—content creation.