Reflections on the Book Biz

Book lovers might be interested in this look back at the publishing business from Publishers Weekly‘s editorial director Jim Milliot, who is retiring at the end of this year. Publishers Weekly is the principal publication for the publishing and bookselling business. In reflecting on his 44 years in the publishing and book business, Jim focuses on technology and consolidation as the two developments that have had the most impact on the business.

Ever since I joined PW in April 1993, my objective has been to write and publish articles that would help everyone in the publishing industry succeed. Leveling the playing field by providing information to help smaller companies and startups compete with entrenched players has been a guiding principle….

Technology has transformed publishing in every conceivable way, from how books are acquired to how they are printed, marketed, discovered, and sold….the industry has weathered the digital revolution better than most media businesses. E-books now augment print books, rather than replacing them as had once been widely prophesied. The sales surge for downloadable audiobooks seems likely to continue, especially since the newest tech trend, AI, will allow many more stories to be converted to audio editions using synthetic narration. And online retailing has made books easier to purchase than ever….

The second ongoing trend is consolidation. I had a front-row seat to watch an industry once characterized by hundreds of independent presses, many family owned, give way to the rise of corporate publishing. So, too, bookselling was transformed from those thousands of indie booksellers I found in the ABTD [American Book Trade Directory] to a retail space that was dominated by the bookstore chains….

It was also during the 1990s, of course, that Amazon was born. There is no doubt that Amazon has had the biggest impact, for good and bad, on publishing and bookselling over the course of my career….

Though, if I have learned anything since 1979, it is that publishing is full of committed people who truly care about what they are doing and believe in the power of books….

Read the entire article online here, or in pdf.