Happy 2008!
I’ve been tied up with a lot of issues at work and I’ve been working on a new website (i’ll speak about it later) lately so I haven’t had much time to blog.
Nevertheless … I am happy to hear that GM has picked up on blogging with a site called GM Next and powered by Wordpress too! I’ve always enjoyed checking out Dell’s Ideastorm and watching what features they end up implementing in their products so I am interested in seeing how GM will interact with the ideas or suggestions that users will provide.
Just as a note: I really like the photo on the GM Next site. But that’s just the photographer in me speaking.
I also noticed that Publishers Weekly posted 15 Trends To Watch for 2008. Sorry folks, but if you are merely watching then you’ll be left behind in the dust. Publishers should have seen these trends early last year if not earlier. Particularly with #4 although not necessarily “acquiring websites”. It would be more like signing a contract with a blogger to create a book of a particular value–think of Seth Godin’s books.
Of all of the trends listed, I can understand that the whole ebook transition will be painful for many publishing houses because the production process is for the most part out-of-date and PDFs are no longer considered as highly valued as they were before. Nowadays, XML is the key term for the future. Unfortunately the investment required for XML is massive and the return for ebooks has yet to truly solidify.
For designers, I think ebooks will force a revolution — not in terms of design itself, but the technical and workflow process. Unfortunately designers and production artists will be required to learn how to convert those production files into XML.
Thank goodness for Quark and InDesign eh?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve got to disagree with all those who tout ebook development. I think the battle for reading pleasure–between the printed page and a computer screen of one form or another will continue.
Thanks for dropping by Jack
Why do you feel that it has to be a battle? Personally, I don’t regard books in print and ebooks to be the same thing. Nevertheless I believe that one day, you will have a piece of paper that feels and smells organic but technically is not real paper at all and actually transmits electronic data.
I believe the form of printed books will always continue but it will become an aspect of publishing, similar to how film gradually finds its own fit within the field of photography. Only silly photographers would claim that film is obsolete. Same goes for the printed book.