Many observers estimate that we’ll see $1 billion in book sales on the Web in the next 3-to-5 years. Of course, if it is $1 billion in three years, it may be $3 billion in five years

…we must recognize that we are now in a period of transition. The potential to shift away from printed books will be more obvious when publishers start selling enhanced electronic versions of current books on the Internet. As we will see in a moment, movement in that direction will accelerate in the next few months. The shift will get further impetus a year or two from now when the first book simulators hit the market

…oh, what a year 1995 has been.

This morning I want to discuss what I think are the three most important, useful, and actionable truths about new technology and New Media that have been clearly revealed in the past twelve months as far as book publishers are concerned. All were, at best, obscure matters of conjecture 12 months ago.

In our country, leaving aside the copies going to libraries, 70 % of books reach their readers through bookstores. There is no doubt that the well-being of book publishing in America – for the author, for the publisher and for the general public – rests solidly on the shoulders of our retail bookstore network. The health of those shoulders – the health of the retail bookstore – is very important to the health of every aspect of American publishing, to the author, the publisher, and the general public

The Vista Publishing Perspectives report entitled “Profiting from Future Customers” states that an additional turn adds the same profit for a bookseller as 15 additional points of discount. In his speeches at the Conferences presenting the report (in London on June 5 and in New York on June 26), Mike Shatzkin put the equivalent to a turn of *7* additional points. For both calculations, he had relied on his father and master publishing mathematician, Leonard Shatzkin. The difference in the calculations and the way to do them is explained here by Leonard Shatzkin.