Thursday, November 18, 2010

On The Certain Economics Of Relegating Paper Books To The Margins Of The Business

A "must read" analysis from James McQuivey | Forrester Blogs: "Time to get my hands a bit dirty. Last week I posted an eBook forecast with a brief explanation of why the book business may complete its digital revolution more quickly than other media businesses have. Turns out this assertion was more difficult to hear than I anticipated and I got some very insistent (and worth reading) comments. The discussion that ensued both on the blog and outside of it was very complex, this is not a simple matter. However, there are parts of it that are very simple that I have to clarify, even though it means rolling up my sleeves a bit. Allow me to draw into this discussion John Thompson of Cambridge University who gave a very worthwhile interview to the Brooklyn Rail this month to discuss his recently published analysis of the book industry, Merchants of Culture. ... "

Ironically, Merchants of Culture seems not to be available as an ebook. At least not from Amazon.