The history of publishing is the history of the modern world. Therefore, publishing's future is also our future.
What do we want that future to look like?
You can't separate modernity from publishing, at least here in the West. The Protestant Reformation doesn't happen without the printing press. That means the Enlightenment doesn't either.
Before Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father, he was a publisher. His work spurred the American Revolution. The United States does not happen without publishing.
More recently, publishing tells the story of our modern economy. Prior to the 1970's, the US economy was regional in nature. Local relationships defined business. Place mattered.
The same was true for the book trade. West Coast distributors worked on the West Coast. The East Coast had their own networks.
This changed when Ingram created the first national logistics network for books. Then they used this network to distribute video cassettes and software.
The economy nationalized.
Two decades later, when Jeff Bezos started Amazon, he envisioned an "Everything Store." But he started with books.
The economy globalized.
Today the publishing industry is in trouble, its profits squeezed by big tech and conglomerates until there is nothing left for the creators.
And it's not just books. This is happening across the economy. Markets are growing but everyone you know seems worse off. Creators' work is cheapened and stolen in the name of progress.
It feels like we are on an inevitable march toward the commodification and enshittification of everything. But what if we stopped and chose a different path?
If the history of publishing is our history, then the future of publishing is our future. What do we want that future to look like?
Here's what I want:
I want the world's most creative and brilliant people to write books instead of making TikToks.
I want reading to be THE thing people do when they have a little extra time again.
I want intentional content consumption to replace algorithmic addiction.
I want to cut out middlemen so that consumers pay creators directly and everyone gets a fair share for their work.
Is it possible to change publishing? I think so. It will require fighting against every "best practice" we have in the industry. We need to dismantle those networks that have cheapened books and exploited creators.
We have to choose QUALITY over convenience until the system corrects.
If we can remake the publishing industry, maybe the rest of the economy - and society - can change too.
It's worth a shot. Our best shot.