Publishing

This month in my entertainment business media publishing and distribution class we are learning about how the traditional publishing model of having an agent and publishing company is rapidly giving way to this new form of publishing and distribution method; in which an artist has evolved into a self-publisher and co-marketer. Meaning they own all of the rights to their work. My overall goal for this class was to understand the importance of self-publishing and how to market your content to make it seem like you have received a traditional publishing deal.  

I have learned that through the progress of technology the book publishing and distribution has gone through three types of waves. The first being the agricultural phase where books were produced and bound by hand, making every form of individual work, including copying, unique. The second wave is where publishing and distribution were accomplished by the help of machinery; and through the process of assembly lines they were able to make the content cheaper and more assessable. The third wave shocked the publishing and distribution industry because though the advancements in technology we no longer needed to relay on physical copies of books, we can now buy and store them in the cloud on portable devices such as a Kindle or iPhone. Making information more assessable and cheaper every day. 

Overall, I am excited to see where the future of the publishing and distribution industries lie. If the third wave is currently known as this information age what will happen in the upcoming forth wave? How will we approach publishing a few more years down the line? I can see interactive books using different means of multi mediums taking us to a whole new level in how we read a book, by continuing to draw us farther into the story with a new type of emotional connection.