Book Publishers Don't Get The Internet Either

Say That Again

from the no-surprise-there dept

It appears that the folks in the book publishing business haven’t quite learned from any of the various mistakes made by their colleagues in the music and movie industries. Rather than recognizing how technology can be an opportunity, they’re freaking out about how it’s going to hurt their business. Constitutional Code notes that a publisher is warning other publishers to stay away from Google’s plan to digitize books, noting that: “We are being given an opportunity to undermine our industry. It may not seem inherently scary at the moment. But my concern is what this will lead to in 10 years. We are opening a Pandora’s Box, and we have no idea where it will lead. We just don’t know, once they have this material, what they will do with it.” Of course, what he doesn’t seem to recognize is that if they don’t embrace this, people will simply route around them. The real threat isn’t from embracing the technology and moving on to new business models — but in fighting the technology and losing complete control over where things go.