In the digital era, reading travels a two-way street.  Indeed, in the view of cutting-edge media theorists, a blurry, disintegrating dividing line is all that keeps the traffic apart Urban dwellers recognize the challenge.  Bicyclists and drivers must learn to share the road, and that’s not always easy.  The same applies for authors and readers, […]

Consider the evolutionary track taken by the Book Industry Study Group. Founded in 1975 by the Book Manufacturers Institute, BISG has endured a tsunami of change in publishing over three decades. In 2016, a much different place from the days before e-commerce and smartphones, BISG has emerged into a digital world. To continue to survive, […]

The future of reading lies in many hands: In the small hands of children who read today on printed books and digital tablets alike. And it lies in the professional hands of publishers who must anticipate changes in business models and technology even as they adapt to them. Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi is a strong […]

The American Library Association is calling attention to book banning again this week. The titles pulled off library shelves last year ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. “Topping the list for 2015 was Looking for Alaska by John Green, which was cited for offensive language, and for being a little too sexually explicit for […]

Freshman year at college is a time for excitement and anxiety. From coursework to chilling out, not to mention texts from helicopter parents, students quickly discover what high school never prepared them for. On campus, the rigid hierarchy of class year reigns. A freshman student must wait his or her turn to make the team […]

As fall begins, the Frankfurt Book Fair looms, coming to the German financial capital October 19 through 23. Traditional expectations for industry trade shows face unprecedented challenges in 2016, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. The Frankfurt Book Fair organizers, he says, have managed to keep the show fresh and attractive by moving outside […]

Peer review – the rigorous examination of research prior to its publication – boasts a particularly long and noble tradition. For centuries, reviewers labored anonymously. Now, a new generation of scholars, spurred by the digital transformation of publishing, are developing new forms of peer review that are more open, transparent, and equitable. As the global […]

This presidential election year, stagnant wages and growing income inequality are issues that concern voters and candidates on the left and on the right. In publishing, based on the mixed results of a Publishers Weekly survey released this week, those concerns could surface at the next editorial meeting. “In 2015, men earned an average of […]

“Making Information Pay” is an annual occasion for the Book Industry Study Group to explore the latest issues in publishing, and for attendees to learn how the latest technologies can drive success. For 2016, the program looked beyond “Making a Profit” to address the challenge of “Making a Difference.” The publishing and book selling industry […]

Old habits are hard to break. Just ask the Big 5 trade book publishers who just can’t seem to walk away from a business dependence on print books. Sales reports and reader surveys agree that readers continue to enjoy print book over e-books. The reasons for that preference, though, aren’t as obvious as some accounts […]