Latest News from Publishers Weekly - new trends to watch out for in 2008

I can't let this top news story go. It's just out today in the latest edition of Publishers Weekly.

Mike Shatzkin (pictured right), founder and CEO of the Idea Logical Company predicts today in Publishers Weekly, the newest publishing trends to watch out for in 2008.

If you're an internet-savvy author, this may just be your year. Shatzkin suggests that major changes to how new books are being published, have diligently and subtly been taking place.

To sum up the article, here's what Shatzkin says in point form:

1. The acceptance and demand for e-books will increase. Shatzkin forecasts Amazon's Kindle leading the way. Meanwhile the Palm will stay highly popular and the Sony Reader will continue to sell well although Shatzkin predicts that Kindle will eventually outshine all by the end of the year. Kindle pricing will drive the market.
2. Sale of books in electronic form to public libraries will continue to grow. See already Ingram’s, MyiLibrary, Follett, NetLibrary and Overdrive.
3. This will be the Year of the Author. Initiatives like the speakers bureaus at HarperCollins and Random House, the Authonomy Web site now being developed by HarperCollins UK and Google’s Knols initiative to create an “authored” Wikipedia all reflect the growing understanding of what publishing “brands” really matter (and they aren’t HarperCollins or Random House).
4. Publishers will acquire specialised web sites to advertise content for books, target specific audiences and heighten the value of a web site.
5. Thanks to innovators like Apple and lulu.com, Christmas 2008 will see sales of customised books encouraged by the Internet and the Print-on-demand technology. Consumers will make enough purchases on author-generated books that are fast highlighting the consciousness, to provide a real challenge to mainstream publishing.
6. Santzkin also predicts that Apple will team up with Ingram to turn the iPhone and iPod into a major e-book readership.
7. XML will no longer be considered optional.
8. B&N will provide the most effective sophistication to lengthen its lead over Borders and other booksellers.
9. In America, the lack of a competitive supply-chain infrastructure will continue to hurt Borders in sales and profits. There will be a change of ownership control and a new plan to ressurect America's No.2 bookseller.
10. There will be an increased activity of publishers selling to consumers directly from their web sites, particularly apparent for digital downloads with other combinations offere.
11. With the growing need for literary agents to provide editing, marketing and detailed management, smaller agencies will no longer be able to incur costs and agents will start to experience the same kind of consolidation that has engulfed the publishing industry resulting in conglomerates.
12. Publishers will rethink the traditional sales conference and move towards a more advanced approach.
13. With a fast-growing ageing population, large-print titles will increase substantially and some publishers will produce a hardcover edition for paperbacks and a large-print title for every edition. There will even be sub-sections in bookstores specificallyl for these categories.
14. Publishers will push harder to try to publicize books through the Internet and the print and broadcast media will start to suffer as a result of these; especially for specific subjects.
15. Shatzkin also sees 2008 as the Year of Experimentation, where publishers will experience promoting books through different widgets and even cell phones.

Read the full article here.