publishing industry going down?

[andiwm2003]

hi,

my GF wrote a book and therefore she knows a bit about the publishing industry. now she tells me the publishing houses are all in trouble, lay off people and some publishers are going under.

friend who wrote books don't even know if they get their advances and forget about investments in promoting new books.

what is going on? people are buying books and read as far as I can see. Why is this industry hurting?

 

[teflon]

hi,

my GF wrote a book and therefore she knows a bit about the publishing industry. now she tells me the publishing houses are all in trouble, lay off people and some publishers are going under.

friend who wrote books don't even know if they get their advances and forget about investments in promoting new books.

what is going on? people are buying books and read as far as I can see. Why is this industry hurting?

First of all, pretty much all industries are hurting right now with the economy the way it is. Secondly, just because people seems to buy books and read doesn't mean that the number is not decreasing. I can say people seems to be buying CDs and DVDs and go to the movie theatre all the time too, but their revenues are decreasing every year. It's not just books, magazines (whether it'd be tabloids or legitimate news magazines), newspapers sales are all going down. Anything that is physical, whether it be CDs, books or newspapers are all decreasing in sales. Why? Because the digital age is here. People rather just read news articles online then read the newspaper. Read gossip online rather than buy a tabloid. You can read books online too, or buy e-books. Doesn't mean everyone is going to do it, doesn't mean all books that you want are going to be online or in e-book format, but it is having an impact on the book industry.
Also, in general, less people are reading books with every generation, period. There are more entertainment, other ways to pass the type. My parents read more than me, and I'm probably going to read more than my kids will. Nowadays, most young people rather go out with their friends or sit home and watch a movie then read books. If they want to gain knowledge, they can flip on the discovery channel. They can watch documentaries. Most popular fictions are being made into movies. The need to read, for knowledge or for entertainment, is decreasing.

 

[rdowns]

As already mentioned, more and more people are turning to digital means for their books, newspapers and magazines.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Borders go out of business in 2009. B&N seems to be doing better than them.