Publishing in the Digital Era

Abstract

This study addresses the impact of digitalisation on the publishing industry and examines the challenges which publishing companies face with the introduction of digital practices. A literature review on the transformational process from traditional to digital publishing highlights various shifts and disruptions to the traditional model. This research aims to prove and evaluate these shifts by comparing and contrasting them with the information collected through interviews with publishing experts. In light of the fact that the dynamics of the current reality of global publishing have mainly been addressed from a quantitative point of view, a qualitative approach is opted for. The advantages of conducting a qualitative study allowed for semi-structured interviews to be conducted with managers of seven publishing companies in the UK, France and Italy. The results, although small in number, draw their conclusions from the discursive and exploratory nature of the interviews. The findings indicate that the digital revolution has altered the traditional publishing model. However, the study also indicates two important features of digitalisation: the lack of an adequate model for companies to follow and, the notion that organisations as well as consumers require time to adapt to innovations. Lastly, based on its findings, the research makes recommendations in regard to the external applicability of the results as well as addressing the implications for further studies on the topic of digital publishing.