Grumpy Old Bookman
Coping with change
Publisher and author Michael Allen attempts to keep on top of the changes in the publishing industry in recent decades
I find myself continually being surprised by the ever-increasing pace of change in the book-publishing business. Nothing seems to stand still for a minute.
I was prompted to think these thoughts by a recent visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford. The principal media covered in the museum are photography, film, television, and the internet. And as I walked round the Museum’s section on television, I was reminded that the development of our current television facilities has all taken place within my lifetime. True, there was a black-andwhite BBC television service available when I was born (in 1939), but it was located in London and unknown elsewhere. Then, in the 1950s, the BBC service spread to the provinces, closely followed by commercial telly, BBC2, 625-line quality, colour, satellites, Sky, HD, et cetera. And all this we take for granted.