Friday, June 6, 2008

Grateful Dead as a model for the publishing industry in the digital age

Paul Krugman is one of my favorite editorial writers in the New York Times. Today he wrote a very interesting column on the future of the publishing industry in the digital age ('Bits, Bands and Books.')

Krugman's advice to publishers: take an example from the Grateful Dead. In other words he offers a strategy of "giving intellectual property away so that people will buy your paraphernalia", or if you translate it to publishing terminology - "books may end up serving mainly as promotional material for authors' other activities, such as live reading with paid admission".

Too futuristic? maybe. Interesting and worth thinking about? Definitely!


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hello there! I'm really glad to 'find' eco-libris (of which I read in the Going Places magazine by Malaysia Airlines). I've started 'paying back' what I owe nature for the books I've read, and more to come! Cheers! Regards, Susan (Malaysia)