Peter Osnos – The Future of Books

The Century Foundation recently featured interesting commentary by Peter Osnos. In the piece, Osnos discusses how print and digital books can easily co-exist in the future because print books will not necessarily disappear as digital progresses. While there are often comparisons drawn between the book and music industries, Osnos explains that he believes the book industry will follow a similar path to that of the movie industry. In the movie industry, consumers are provided with a variety of movie viewing options including: DVD’s, downloads, rentals, movie theaters, etc. As the industry evolved, new delivery options were added while still allowing previous options to exist and remain viable revenue streams. The book industry could evolve in a similar way by allowing a variety of print and digital options with their own pricing structures to co-exist. Customers will appreciate the ability to consume books in multiple ways and to choose among the options just as they can when they want to watch a movie. The digital options will likely become more popular in the coming years but there will always be times when consumers just prefer a printed book.