In the last year I have written often about disintermediation. It is a force that is affecting numerous industries. Residential real estate, as I have written here, is one of those businesses. Any business that has historically inserted itself between buyer and seller and has also kept market information to itself is a business that sooner or later will have to redefine itself in this Internet age. As mentioned in this column, both the stock brokerage and travel agent business have been substantially changed due to the disintermediating power of the Internet. …

What is the future of the book and the book publishing industry?  That was the question that was in my mind while attending the Book Expo America convention this past week end.  In a business that is mature, flat to down in unit sales, and seems to dearly hold on to past business practices, what might be the road map for success over the next twenty years? 

First, let’s take a look at other content businesses, what has happened to them in this digital age, and what that might indicate for the book business.

Music is relevant in that the music business …

One of the many unique aspects of the time in which we live is that it is no longer unusual to have more than one career in a lifetime.  Since the beginning of the Information Age 30 years ago it has been increasingly common for adults to have two or even three careers during their lifetimes.  Historically this is absolutely understandable.

Three hundred years ago one usually did the same work that one’s parents did, and usually in the same place. One hundred years ago, in the middle of the Industrial Age when new careers or jobs were being constantly created, …

There have been many posts on the subject of disintermediation in this blog. For those new to evolution shift, please check out this post and this post. I firmly believe that we are living in one of those short periods of time when the world gets rearranged in large part due to historically powerful agents of disintermediation. Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455 changed the world so much that fifty years later it had become a different place. The Internet is doing that right now. I believe that we are in an age of disintermediation. …