@MikeShatzkinSpeeches
On this page are links to a number of speeches, reports, and articles that Mike Shatzkin has delivered since 1995. Most of them contain predictions for the future of publishing in the era of digital change and are presented here as they were delivered then. We also have a couple of pieces from Mike's father, Leonard Shatzkin, who was a highly respected publishing veteran for 25 years after World War II and then a consultant and industry observor for the next two decades until his death in 2002.2012
Remaking an Industry: What publishers need to be thinking about in 2012
"Mike Shatzkin at DBW2012 View more presentations from The Idea Logical Company To kick off the 3rd annual Digital Book World extravaganza, I wanted to do a quick review of what I think are the things publishers need to be thinking about in 2012. This is a checklist; I’m not going to take much time [...]..."
2010
Making Information Pay 2010: Points of No Return
"We have a program packed with information which we always strive for here at Making Information Pay. This conference, as usual, is about what’s changing in our publishing world right now and how we should address it. Before I walk us through this morning’s program, I want to give you two snapshots of the future, first as I see it and then as it was reflected in the answers you and others gave to the survey that tied into this year’s event."
2009
VIDEO: Planning for a Long Career in an Industry That's Changing
"Mike's speech to a packed house at Hachette, as part of a lunchtime lecture series known as The Publishing Point. Delivering what proved to be a thought-provoking and farsighted view of the future of the book industry, Mike had some clear advice for those planning a long career in publishing: the companies that will succeed will be those that focus on building compelling content for well-defined “vertical communities.”..."
Stay Ahead of the Shift: What Publishers Can Do to Flourish in a Community-Centric Web World
"Speech given at BEA 2009. Focusing on the changes that will take place in publishing in the next 20 years. With a look back to the last 20 years, we are able to look forward and predict not only how publishing will be in the future, but also how information will be shared."
Will You Recognize the Industry in 10 Years?
"There is no doubt that the industry is in a period of significant transition. What can we expect 10 to 15 years from now?... Ten years from now, there will still be more books sold that were printed centrally and warehoused for sale than all other ways combined, but the end of that era will be in sight."
2008
A New Project: "StartwithXML, Why and How"
"We have turned our attention to a problem we believe will occupy just about all publishers in the years to come, the opportunities and challenges presented by an XML workflow that starts with the author, or even before there is an author. Why should you care? Because the world we live in is changing, and XML is the key to mastering the change..."
Where the Web Is Taking Us: The Inevitable Future and the Publisher's Role In It
"The basic premise under which we're operating here, I'll summarize for those of you have never heard or read my work before, is that horizontal, format-specific media entities are oh, so 20th century, and won't work very deep into the 21st. The reason for that is the web, which almost forces vertical organization. Horizontal presentations across subject matter -- like CBS, Random House, or The New York Times -- were the products of a capital-intensive, limited-distribution universe..."
The Future of Books for Publishers and Booksellers
"There is a big picture and a long arc within which our day-to-day activities are taking place. The 20th century consumer media were horizontal in their subject matter -- that is, very broad -- and format-specific. In the States, that means entities like CBS or NBC in television, The New York Times, or Random House. All of these companies provide content across the full range of human subject interests, but they pretty much stick to their formats: broadcast, newspapers, and books, respectively..."
The Digital State of Play in the US
"...in the 21st century, the net is flipping this on us. The net tends to self-organize us by subject niche, so the eyeballs and human bandwidth are linked to the niches, which are vertical, not horizontal. And because web interaction is about file exchanges, format specificity is meaningless. The file can hold text, art or photographs or other graphics, animation, moving images, sound, games, or code that helps us combine, sort, or tag things..."
Keynote Remarks: Publishing in the Digital Age
"We're going to start with a view of what digital technology could mean to the overall world of communication over the next decade or two. What the history of the Internet seems to be telling us so far is that we will see a growth in niche organization -- what people like to call "community" on the web -- and a corresponding decline in horizontal media, which is much more threatening to magazines, newspapers, and broadcast than it is to us in the book business. But it will change us too..."