TRADITIONAL OR ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING? - In "The Rattle of Pebbles" [THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, April 27, 2000], Jason Epstein predicts that in the next decades the book publishing industry as we know it will be "altered almost beyond recognition." In his vision of the future the "obstacles imposed between readers and writers by traditional publishing technologies ... will wither away." The entire article is available online at http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/WWWarchdisplay.cgi?20000427055F.

The New York Review of Books [ISSN: 0028-7504] is published by The New York Review of Books, 1755 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10019-3780 USA; Web: http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/subscriptions.html. Annual subscriptions are $58/US, $78/Canada, $88/all other countries.

John Cole, director of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, argues for a collaboration between digital technology and the book community ["Printed Knowledge: Myth of the Dying Book," CIVILIZATION, THE MAGAZINE OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, April/May 2000]. While he believes that the traditional book will remain a staple in many fields (fiction, poetry, humanities, arts), Cole sees new technologies creating opportunities for new kinds of books. The article is one of several exploring the issue's theme of "The Knowledge Age." The issue is available on the Web (until the next issue is published) at http://www.civmag.com/.

Civilization [ISSN: 1077-9795] is published bimonthly under a licensing agreement with the U.S. Library of Congress. Annual subscriptions are available for $20 US from Civilization, P. O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA; tel: 800-829-0427;
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(These two articles are from CIT - INFOBITS Apr 00 No. 22)

READING BOOK PUBLISHING'S FUTURE - Several online book publishers have recently sprung into existence, and their appearance has some questioning whether the future of publishing may lie on the Internet. To date, iUniverse has published 1,500 titles, charging authors a single upfront fee of $99 to publish a manuscript in digital or print format. Barnes & Noble holds a 49 percent share of the online publisher, and iUniverse also has a partnership with the Ingram Book Group and its subsidiary Lightning Print (LPI). LPI provides iUniverse with a print- on-demand system that enables iUniverse to print manuscripts much faster and cheaper than previously possible. Using the system, iUniverse can fulfill new requests within 48 hours and print a run of hard copies within 30 days. The print-on-demand system allows iUniverse to earn profits on print runs as small as 100 copies and also, because the company does not lose large amounts of money if a title is not well received, to scout for undiscovered writing talent and consequently publish a more diverse array of manuscripts. (Red Herring, May 2000 Ð Edupage 17 Apr 00)