Spent the day at Publishing Scotland’s annual conference.
A lot of the keynotes were on the changing world of book publishing. It’s a classic example of the value chain changing (think iTunes) and an industry being stranded somewhere it does not wish to be.
The trap is there in every industry - you produce a good or service; you take a pride in what you have created; it is bought in large amounts; then in your busy-ness you lose sight of what the customer is actually buying and confuse the good or service with the benefit the customer is paying for.
To give an obvious example: no one buys 6mm drill bits. They buy the ability to make 6mm holes.
Books are just another distribution channel for content - not necessarily an end in themselves.
There is a value to the content - however distributed, and, there is a value to the experience of reading a book. To make money publishers need to work out what they are selling and to whom - and price according to the customers perception of value. And yes, they can publish in many more ways than ink on paper!
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