Around the Word: Major Publishing Trends for 2013

With explosive developments in technology, readers and writers are struggling to re-construct an understanding of how to “be” readers and writers as the industry moves away from traditional publishing formats.

Here are some snapshots of major publishing industry trends of 2013 that are forecasted to continue:

 • The Multimedia Wave. Book publishers are investing more time, energy, and resources in designing applications for e-books, given the dramatically increased use of tablets for reading. Conventional publishing protocols—designing book covers, re-printing new editions, choosing bookstores and other channels of distribution—have been neglected in favor of making online readability more interactive with music, pictures, search features, and other multimedia tools.

In a Guardian article, Victoria Barnsley of HarperCollins UK says, “We can’t think of ourselves as book publishers anymore. We have to see ourselves as multimedia content producers.”

 • The Return of the Subscription Model. With growth in piracy arising from free-floating creative content in the Internet universe, many magazine publications are looking to protect their content by reviving the subscription model. Readers will have to subscribe to the magazine and select an option for "digital issues"—at an additional cost—before they can access content on their tablet or smartphone.

In May 2011, the New York Times published an article about the digital birth of the New Yorker on the iPad. New Yorker editor David Remnick excitedly explained, “If you are going to get thousands of readers that you didn’t have before, or maybe even hundreds of thousands of readers, you’d be foolish to complain about the work that went into coming up with something they found compelling on the iPad. It is a very big opportunity for a magazine like the New Yorker to find whole new audiences.”

 • The Rise of Self-Powered Curation. Social media presence and prowess is one of the key features of the modern man’s (and modern company's) identity. The integration of Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Twitter into our digital behavior suggests that users are interested in personalizing the presentation and experience of content online.

Many apps (like Pocket, InstaPaper, Readability, Read It Later, etc.) allow users to find, download, and save online content to read later, offline. While such online-bookmarking tools, the idea of self-powered curation is sure to change reading habits and expectations.

Around The Word

The accidental ghostwriter. It has been revealed that an anonymous article posted in one of the journals edited by Charles Dickens about the rights of the working class was written by the man himself. The article, published in 1863 in the weekly magazine All the Year Round, was analyzed by Dickens Journals Online, which is working on digitizing all of the critic’s works. They were given the mystery article and a list of six writers, ultimately deciding that the writing was most similar to Dickens’ himself.

It’s the end of libraries as we know it, but the computers feel fine. Along with the whole of Dickens’ work being digitized, there are many other initiatives to digitize literary archives, for preservation’s sake. Stalin’s personal collection has started to be scanned by the Yale University Press, and the University of Texas began a collaboration years ago to preserve documents and testimonies from the Rwandan genocide, along with various other historical moments. Insert clichéd "those who do not remember history" quote here.

The words behind the man. From June 8 until September 23, the Morgan Library and Museum will host “Churchill: The Power of Words,” an exhibit devoted to words, letters, and speeches from the wartime leader. Over sixty documents, including doctors' notes, postcards, and family letters, will show insight into Churchill’s thought process. The exhibit even includes an old report card, describing Churchill as “a constant trouble to everybody.” 


All Mom left me was her diamond tennis bracelet and her 50 Shades of Grey e-book. Over at NPR, Amanda Katz asks the question, “Will your children inherit your e-books?” With the entire industry converting for the digital age, what will happen to the dear tradition of classic books being passed from generation to generation? Will we soon bequeath only our Amazon account password to our grandkids? And will the change make priceless physical books even more priceless? Let us know in the comments what you think will happen with your generational bookshelf.