Thoughts on the Decline of the Book as Physical Object
The vanishing physical book provides a set of discovery, marketing and publicity (and not a few existential) challenges to trade publishers. As the book transitions from physical object to a licensed file cohabitating with other forms of media on an electronic device, we need to unpack the sense of permanence and cultural heft inherent in the physical form and figure out what exactly makes a book a book. I do not come to wallow in nostalgia nor lament the rise of ebooks, but to participate in a discussion about how the publishing industry (which has seen many technological disruptions to its business model) moves forward. Because books matter.
About W.W. Norton
W. W. Norton & Company, the oldest and largest publishing house owned wholly by its employees, strives to carry out the imperative of its founder to “publish books not for a single season, but for the years” in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, college textbooks, cookbooks, art books and professional books.
Speakers
Peter Kay is the VP, Director of Digital Marketing and Strategy at W.W. Norton. At Norton, he works with both the College and Trade divisions to help lead the company’s digital transformation. Previously he was VP of Product Development at MTV Networks, where he built the global music platform mtvmusic.com, bringing semantic and machine listening technologies into the platform. Before that he was Director of Interactive Media at Random House, developing products for imprints such as Fodor’s, Living Language and RH Audio. A graduate of Haverford College where he majored in religion, Peter lives in New York City with his family and can be found on twitter at @pkay225.
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