Every company must focus its time and resources on specific areas in order to be effective. Publishing is no different. Each publishing house can chose to how intensely to focus on each specific area but every publishing house must have resources to adequately acquire appropriate titles, edit, design, market, produce, and distribute books. As the distinct reduction in editorial staff shows, publishers are already suffering in their areas of core competency in an effort to be competitive. To expect a publisher to invest in areas far outside their education and experience is unrealistic; however, changing technologies, culture, and economic pressures have happened before and publishing has thrived. Analyzing publishing’s historical strategies can give us insight into how they will adapt to digital publishing’s demands.
