| Summary: | The Internet is forcing traditional print publishers to innovate or die, and the same could be true of the written word itself. The information technology revolution has triggered an explosion in textual content. More people are participating in more conversations, sharing more opinions, learning more, and learning more rapidly than anybody could have imagined only a few decades ago. The acts of thinking, writing, and to a certain degree publishing have become indistinguishable, and charging a fee for editorial content is becoming an increasingly tricky proposition. For many magazine and newspaper publishers, the aim now is to transition into a more Web-focused business model rapidly. For book publishers, the goal is to make an industry founded on a 15th-century technology viable in the 21st century, which means reinventing the concept of the book for the digital era. Recent data reveal just how resistant publishers are to today's trends, however.
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