Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing Paperback – 2 Sept. 2022

John B. Thompson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. I picked this up because I'd read his earlier book MERCHANTS OF CULTURE and found it really interesting. This book goes into a deep dive of the impact of technology, the rise of Amazon and the development of self-publishing. There is a lot of information here and it's probably of most interest to academics and those who work in publishing but as someone who has always been interested in writing and the publishing industry, I did not find it difficult to follow and learnt a great deal from it. On that basis I think it's well worth a look.

"Book Wars" is a comprehensive account of how publishing has been affected by the digital revolution, a revolution which encompasses much more than just the decline of print. The rise of ebooks is just one chapter in "Book Wars" and others treat of self-publishing, discoverability, how data is gathered on readers and their habits, audio books, google books, subscription models, crowdfunding, and much more. The scope of the book is Anglo-American trade publishing, so there is little on digital academic reference works, scholarly journals, or Open Access, for example.Thompson emphasizes that this book is just a snapshot of where things stood around 2013-19. Things can change again in the future and the landscape and people's perception of the landscape were very different ten or fifteen years ago. Some of the most interesting parts of the book come when Thompson reminds us about the predictions which didn't come true, the false starts, and the developments and innovations which didn't pan out. For example, when ebooks first came on the horizon it was envisaged that they would be mainly used by people on the move who would be reading the latest business books; instead romantic fiction is the most popular genre for ebooks.The one company which dominates the landscape and the book is Amazon. Time and again Thompson shows how integral they are to the publishing ecosystem and how they have changed the publishing landscape. The data they hold is vast and they know far more about people's reading habits than the publishers themselves. Detailed interviews with publishers and other players reveal just how much of a threat (and opportunity) they are.All in all this is a fascinating and readable book that gives an excellent account of the industry. Throughout Thompson shows how 'we can understand the impact of the digital revolution..only by immersing ourselves in the messiness of the social world and understanding how technologies are developed and deployed, how they are taken up or passed over, by individuals and organizations who are situated in certain contexts, guided by certain preferences, and pursuing certain ends'. It is this focus on the 'messiness of the social world' which makes "Book Wars" so enjoyable.If I had one criticism of the book it is that some of the writing could have been tighter. While the book was always readable, I felt that there was quite a lot of repetition within paragraphs and chapters and I often felt that I was reading the same sentence repeatedly with just slightly different phrasing or clause order.

This is a massive big tome of a book, I really enjoyed reading it more than I expected I would at the outset and it is obviously very, very well researched and evidenced.I liked the pace and style of delivery, although much more than this I found the content to be revelatory and interesting, it explains a lot of factors influencing the varying sales of print and ebook/digital books. There have been several events affecting the sales for over a decade or more which have not been that widely reported or understood, I think, maybe news broadcasting does not think the public would be interested, I dont know.The shifting landscape of publishing is illuminated through interviews (the mainstay of the book), tables of figures, charts, quotes (lots of quotes from the interviews the author carries out with key influencers and industry figures). The level of detail is great, very, very detailed indeed. There is the content you would readily anticipate, such as the how digital media applied to print books, the rise of amazon, other ebook pioneers but other factors such as costly court cases and "open war" like postures being assumed between traditional publishing and new digital rivals/competition. I really found this interesting as I am sure it is something mirrored anywhere that innovative, novel, new enterprise meets traditional enterprise.Those periodic paradgim shifts, accompanied usually by new technologies, such as digital medias and supporting devices, ie kindles, tablets, android phones, e-book readers, are the only things which prevent the economy and market shares looking more and more like a game of Monopoly with the winners and losers already apparent to everyone/players just going through the motions.A really good read, better than I expected and a keeper which will have a place on my book shelf for some time to come (unless I replace it with a digital copy that is). Recommended.

Easily the best book on the subject of publishing I've ever read. Well-researched, insightful, and nuanced, the book very convincingly argues that no process in an environment as complex as book production ever goes in simple predictable way.

Outstanding!!! This is the most serious research I’ve ever read: deep, historical, comprehensive, thoroughly detailed, including the latest technological developments in publishing and adjacent fields. Bravo, Mr. Thompson!

In fine condition and on time!

The author seems either not to be aware of or care about of the fundamental rules of making writing easy to read: use short paragraphs. The paragraphs in this book are way too long, many take an entire page and many others are a still-lengthy half a page. This immediately launched me into boredom land, and I gave up reading after a few minutes. A shame, because the topic is of great interest to me, given I am the author of 100 published books,

Thank god for the digital revolution . I returned this hard cover item and purchased the Kindle version, so I can choose type size and leading, and be able to read the book.