No matter how the dispute between publisher Hachette and online mage-retailer Amazon resolves itself, the one thing that can be assured is that the publishing industry is changing. Amazon might hope to accelerate and seize control of the changes through pricing, but the book industry was changing even before Amazon started picking fights, warns The Guardian:
Even before the latest dispute, publishers were thinking about how to reinvent themselves, from developing their own digital content to trying to build a direct relationship with readers by hosting author events and using social media. The world’s biggest publisher, Penguin Random House, recently launched a social network site for readers, allowing people to showcase their favourite books and buy them from independent stores.
