Although many people insist that publishing is dying off, quite the opposite is true. The future of publishing is entering a new golden era that will make publishing available to more people. Content is thriving more now than ever before. Despite the growing pains that accompany any major transition, publishers will be in a strong position in 2014 and beyond.
I recently attended Le Web in Paris, where the theme of the conference was innovation in the next decade. It got me to thinking about where we go with publishing. Even on Google, you won’t be able to find an article on publishing trends from the 1440s, the decade after Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type printing to Europe. But if you did, it would probably focus more on the gloomy outlook for the illuminated manuscript industry than on the then-unfolding print revolution, which launched cascading innovations that would change everything and usher in the Age of Enlightenment.
