I guess there are always pathfinders.

I remember getting my first Mac and laser printer in 1984. Suddenly all those one page brochures and leaflets that were printed by printers via advertising agencies became the domain of people with a Mac. That impact has lasted through to now where a large majority of people in the graphic industry use Macs. This changed a paragdigm. Jobs did it again with iTunes. Back then nobody bitched about postscript being an enabling language, they just used the machines.

Yes its a different world now but someone had to provide a solution that worked seemlessly for the user. Like the Mac and the laser printer. There are many lasr printers now and lots of programs to use them. MacDraw and MacPaint are no more. Pagemaker is hanging on. iTunes will not be the only format forever but without the paradign shift would I be driving to work listening to a podcast from London about publishing here in Australia?

While iTunes is talked about being a virtual monopoly MySpace should be seen as more of a threat to publishers. Given that companies like Lulu and Booksurge can produce physical books they can be marketed directly to the world by the author and delived as an eBook or as hard copy. At least publishers are in the game with iTunes but maybe not for long. Most minor bands and artists in the world have MySpace accounts and sell their tracks from there. No record companies involved. Their community of fans visit their MySpace every day to check if anything is new. A whole new paradigm.

So … yes there are two ways to go but I believe the trend will be that most of the publishing market will go direct from the artist to the consumer with “bestsellers” being picked up by traditional companies who have the bookshops and record stores.

Cheers
Paul Niedderer pubbys.com

pubbys.com