In a New York Times article (registration required, annoyingly) - Digital Publishing Is Scrambling the Industry’s Rules - there is some good food for thought.

The article looks at what has happened to the music industry over recent times and talks about the future of publishing - will it head in the same way.

the fear that the publishing industry could be subject to the same upheaval that has plagued the music industry, where digitalization has started to displace the traditional artistic and economic model of the record album with 99-cent song downloads and personalized playlists.
Total album sales are down 19 percent since 2001, while CD sales have dropped 16 percent during the same period, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of single digital music tracks have jumped more than 1,700 percent in just two years.

The article is more bent towards the literary fiction area of publishing but non-fiction issues come up. It’s an interesting read with views from all sides.

In my view, I don’t see the same massive shifts happening in the publishing industry as has happened with music over recent years. But there will be some shift in the non-fiction market, especially for titles that require more timely information to reach their audience. Many major publishers are already delving into digital publishing trying new ideas out.

For the information publisher this is all a good thing. We can sit back and essentially ride on the coattails of what the mainstream publishers are doing. Because at the end of the day, the more people who become comfortable buying and reading online the more of a market there is for us.

Take a look at the article and let me know your views.