Independent Thinking on Publishing's Future
Introduction Change has always made the publishing industry a little uneasy. It survived the shift from print to digital, the existential threat of self-publishing, and the chaos of social media marketing. Now, we’re staring down the barrel of generative AI, and the mood is a mixed bag of apocalyptic panic and breathless opportunity. If you … Read more
Introduction American publishing is not shrinking in dollar terms: publishers’ revenue reached $33.4 billion in 2025. What is in decline is the old model, as consolidation, Amazon’s power, the attention economy and low author incomes reshape who gets published and who gets read. Key points The question of whether American publishing is in decline is … Read more
Introduction The PDF has been academic publishing’s default format for three decades, but it was built for paper, not for phones, screen readers or AI. This article asks whether HTML and XML will finally replace it, and why the honest answer is “not entirely, and not soon”. Key points The Portable Document Format (PDF) has … Read more
Introduction Discussing Donald Trump and the publishing industry is like watching a financial thriller with a side of constitutional drama. He’s been simultaneously a boon to book sales and a potential disaster for the bedrock principles that publishing stands on: free expression, open discourse, and a stable, predictable economic environment. The sheer volume of books … Read more
Introduction This article set out what we expected publishing to look like in 2026: AI built into editorial work, audio as the main growth format, more direct selling, and a shift towards open, scholar-led academic publishing. We have since added notes on what the year has shown so far, using the latest available figures. Key … Read more