Why Publishing Can Not Be Saved (as it is)

Here's a pretty interesting article from Richard Eoin Nash, founder of Soft Skull Press. Certainly poses more questions than answers, but the basic jist is that in order for publishing to continue it needs to become more like a conversation and less like a conveyor belt.

Here's a snippet.

"The question increasingly arises in today’s media: can publishing be saved? No. It cannot and should not. There are plenty of non-profit publishers that exist to create and distribute the un-economic content. For-profit publishing should not be saved — it should figure out new business models, ones that offer services that both readers and writers want and are happy to pay for. We cannot wait for a deus ex machina to descend. (In other words, neither MySpace, nor Twitter, nor price-fixing, nor some new piracy-inducing extension of copyright law will save publishing — we simply need to start doing business better.)"

I would be rather interested in hearing you all think about this as I am looking more and more to engage with our customers on an individual level.