Printed books have been with us since the time of the Pharoah's, and our friend Gutenberg made it practical to publish printed books in large quantity. Despite the coming of electrification of "media" printed books are still widely sold and used, and there are bookstore chains around the world still selling printed books. But will this always be the case? This month's 5across (PBS's MediaShift program with Mark Glaser) is titled "Beyond the Book" and focuses the discussion on the future of publishing, the format of published works, the 80000 pound Gorilla that is amazon.com, the business of self publishing, and the role of social media in authors getting published.
The Kindle is extremely popular and as I noted before, amazon.com (the seller of the Kindle) is moving to being a full service publishing house. Is it the be-all-end-all of electronic book publishing? Current electronic book formats replicate printed books, but is that the best format for an electronic book?
Amazon, because they're obviously moving towards becoming the be-all-end-all of all businesses - is that good or bad. They're heading towards having a monopoly position in publishing, right? Good, bad?
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