As a pandemic sweeps the world, publishing limps into the new decade.
Whatever high hopes and ambitions we may have had for publishing in the new decade have been mostly turned upside down by a crisis so improbable it was, until a few months ago, the stuff of science fiction. But today fiction has become reality in the cruelest way possible.
The global publishing industry – from big corporate publishers right down to single authors, from printers to distributors and almost all stops in between – face an unprecedented threat to business and to life, and every aspect of the industry has had to adjust.
Not least the StreetLib-TNPS newsletters, which have been focussed on global opportunities that, given the new reality we face right now, are fewer and further between, at least in the short term.
That in turn led us to pause the newsletters briefly while we re-assessed the global publishing scene.
But as we put Easter behind us and summer looms, the pandemic has, for some countries, peaked, and there is light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
As this newsletter goes live some parts of the world are emerging from lockdown, and publishing is beginning to find its feet again.
Too soon to say how that will go, but it would be crazy to think the print book industry can just pick up where it left off.
However, as we begin the early stages of recovery in some parts of the world, even as others are hit hard and still others have yet to face the worst, there is a need for authors and publishers – and especially self-publishers – to keep abreast of developments and stay attuned to such opportunities as are still out there.
And among the biggest opportunities is the unprecedented interest in digital that the pandemic has brought about.
Because make no mistake global publishing does still have an exciting future ahead, however bleak things seem right now in some sectors of the industry
And fair to say the brightest element has been, is and will continue to be digital, which is at the heart of our newsletter programme.
With that in mind, we proceed with Publish Global #4, which, to remind everyone, is aimed at the self-publishing author, but will have lessons for publishers of all types.
And just to add you’ll see the industry-facing Publish MENA and Publish Africa newsletters return to life very shortly, and we hope to get our planned launch of Publish South Asia lined up for later this year.
Link to the full edition of Publish Global here.
