Zeros and ones – The race for survival just got serious….

A week is a long time in politics…..ha, try working in the publishing industry!!

This week saw some amazing moves in the race for survival as the industry teeters on the edge, staring down in to the abyss cleaved into the landscape by the digital revolution.

Some big things have happened and some little things have happened, all caused by the tiny stream of zeros and ones that have come to define our world.

The challenge for any publisher that wants to survive is to embrace the zeros and ones, in whatever form they mould themselves, and to stay true to the purpose of their craft – to ‘publish’: “to prepare [content] for public distribution”.

It is the skill of the publisher in the discovery, collection, collation, preparation and provision of valuable content that is the true possession the zeros and ones need.

It is a skill that is often (and perhaps now more than ever) overlooked and taken for granted by those who would like to pretend that all they need to prosper is a box full of zeros and ones, and it is that skill that is the reason our industry will survive anything a week like this one can throw at us.