Colin Robinson in LRB on The Future of Publishing

Olga brought this essay to my attention. It serves, basically, as a synthesis of all of our biggest fears about the future of publishing and, for me, one sincere hope. Also, a decent overview, if, I hope, a bit over-pessimistic.

Quote: "Perhaps the problem has to do with more than just the way in which words are transmitted. People bowl alone, shop online, abandon cinemas for DVDs, and chat to each other electronically rather than go to a bar. In an increasingly self-centred society a premium is placed on being heard rather than listening, being seen rather than watching, and on being read rather than reading." And this has been my complaint on a near-constant basis for years.

Quote: "The future of much of the industry will be dominated by electronic distribution, internet marketing to niche audiences, and reading by print-on-demand or hand-held electronic devices. There is opportunity as well as challenge in this model. The roles of editor and publicist, people who can guide the potential reader through the cacophony of background noise to words they’ll want to read, will become ever more important." And this has been my more-recent contention. There is an opportunity as well to challenge this model for small presses.

Parenthetical Quote: "(Wikipedia, meanwhile, is planning to produce a print edition of its most popular entries, with the aim, it says, of proving wrong those ‘who say that printed encyclopedias are a thing of the past in the internet age’.)" What the fuck?