2010 and Beyond: Predictions for ebooks and publishing
The past 10 years have seen a lot of changes in the publishing world. The biggest change of them all is ebooks. 10 years ago ebooks were a still a novelty enjoyed by mostly techies/geeks and were a popular product for online multi-level marketing schemes where ebook topics dealt mostly with get-quick-rich marketing methods and the like. The ebooks were of poor quality and filled with grammar/spelling errors. This probably did more to damage the reputation of ebooks than anything else.
Fast forward to 2009 and ebooks are becoming much more mainstream (still a small segment of the publishing industry, but growing) and publishers are now scrambling to figure out how to deal with this new form of consuming our favorite literary works. Add to that the family of ebook readers from Sony, Amazon and now Barnes & Noble, I think it’s safe to say that ebooks aren’t going anywhere.
What will the next decade bring? While I can’t predict the future with 100% accuracy (if I could, I’d be living the high life by playing the stock market). I am going to roll the dice and list what I think we’ll see over the next 10 years. Only time will tell if any of my predictions will pan out.
1. The publishing industry: I think the worse is yet to come for large publishing houses. They’ll continue to resist ebooks and struggle to realize that digital content is not going to spell doom for them. Publishers will impose strict DRM, try to keep ebook prices high despite market pressure for low pressure and this will result in a spike of piracy. In other words, I believe the large publishers will repeat the same mistakes the music industry has made (and is still making) with disasterous consequences.
2. Indie authors: These authors who strike out on their own will become the new face of publishing over the next 10 years. They realize that ebooks provide an opportunity to distribute their books/short fiction to a wider audience than ever before – with very low investment.
3. eReaders: I find this the most exciting topic to ponder for the new decade ahead. I think that as technology improves and as ebooks gain in popularity, the devices we read ebooks on will become more sophisticated and improve the reading experience in innumerable ways.
I always like New Year’s Day because I feel it represents a new beginning, a fresh start. I can put the past year behind me, at least all the negatives, and push forward with a renewed spirit. But New Year’s Day 2010 will be different because it’ll mark a new decade with an entirely new cultural shift taking place.
What do you predict for the new decade for your self and society as a whole? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.
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Read More: eBooks, Misc., Self-Publishing, Technology
