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

Ready, Set, Read. Only have five minutes while you wait for the next train to come? Ten minutes as you wait for your significant other to finish getting ready? A trio of Dutch publishers have released the Delay App, which lets readers enter how much time they have and then spits out a selection of stories and novel excerpts that can be read in said timeframe. The selections are a mix between classic and modern, and the app has become extremely popular, introducing readers to a variety of writing they might not have seen otherwise.

To My Speechwriter, With Love. Over at Vital Speeches of the Day, David Murray has a moving piece about JFK's speechwriter Ted Sorenson, and the incredibly strong bond he had with the president. The same love is being shown for “Chelsea punk” turned political speechwriter Joe Resnek, who went from stealing candy to writing speeches for White House chiefs of staff, thanks to his dedication and headstrong attitude. He’s even become a regular at the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue basketball court.

The eBible. Starting July 16, the Hotel Indigo in Newcastle, England, will replace all 148 nightstand copies of the Bible with a Kindle—one that has the good book already downloaded. Any other religious book can be downloaded on the house, but commercial novels will be charged to the guest’s bill. You’ll have to read fast, because the books you download will stay with the Kindle when you check out.

A Desk With a View. Janet Groth, who worked as a receptionist on the eighteenth floor of The New Yorker for twenty-one years, has published a memoir: The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker. The tell-all details all her years spent with a bird’s-eye view of the office, a few sordid affairs with some of the magazine’s contributors, and why she never made the jump from secretary to writer. Although at times she certainly felt mistreated, the perks definitely made up for it. As Groth says, “It is not clear to me who was exploiting whom.”