Over the past thirty-plus years, several developments have changed the publishing industry forever. (The first two occurred in 1995.)
Amazon.com
Dan Balow wrote an excellent piece on this in 2015. It still is quite astounding when you think about it. In 30 years, this little online startup (founded in 1995) became the most dominant online retailer in the Western world. Bookselling will never be the same.
Google.com
While Google officially did not begin until 1998 (the year they incorporated), it was in 1995 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google as a research project while Ph.D. students at Stanford University. The way we do research as writers has never been the same.
Wikipedia
It wasn’t until 2001 that Wikipedia was created. Can you believe it was that recent? The idea of a computer encyclopedia had been around for a while. In 1993, Microsoft tried to create one with its Encarta project (on CD-ROM at first). Encarta was finally discontinued in 2009. The combination of forces obliterated the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica’s print edition. (The last print edition came out in 2010.) Quick access to “encyclopedic” information has never been so easy. {While Wikipedia is a reasonably good starting place for a snapshot, remember not to have it as your sole source of research! Harvard University agrees.}
Microsoft Word
No matter what you think about its strengths or weaknesses, Microsoft Word is THE go-to software for editors and publishers. If you use any other writing software (Pages, Scrivener, Google Docs, etc.), you will have to convert your file into a Word document when you turn in the manuscript so the publisher can begin the editing process. I began using it in 1992 with version 2.0 (I still have the floppy discs that I used to load it on my first home computer) and have used it nearly every day since (which only makes me feel old).
[Speaking of “old,” do you remember transitioning from the mechanical or electric typewriter to a computer? I still recall the awe of being able to change typos without correction tape or Wite-out. And the ability to have the computer set footnotes at the bottom of a page without having to measure the pages while I typed.]
The Kindle
In November 2007, Amazon released an ebook reader, the Kindle, that changed bookselling forever. The first version cost $399 but sold out in less than six hours. (Using an inflation calculator, $399 in 2007 is equivalent to $623 in 2026. Today, you can buy a new Kindle for under $100. Or just use the Kindle app on your phone or tablet.) Very quickly, pundits declared print books were dead. Richard Curtis, a legendary literary agent, recently wrote about why those pundits were wrong. (His December 2025 article is found on Jane Friedman’s blog.)
Ebooks and audiobooks have become alternative delivery mechanisms for books. All have their advocates. All will continue to support the creation and reading of books for years to come.
Print on Demand (POD)
The technology to print one book at a time has been around since the 70s, but it didn’t enter the publishing mainstream until the late 90s. If the nomenclature is unfamiliar, it simply allows printing one copy of a book at a time rather than long print runs of thousands. If you need 20 books, for example, they can be shipped within a few days. Whereas a print run of 2,000 would have to be scheduled 6-8 weeks in advance.
I remember making a presentation to the executive management team at Bethany House Publishers in the late 90s about adopting POD for the company. Since it was still a fledgling technology, the issue of vendor (bookstore) returns was unsettled. The logistics were more complex than we were ready to address. Today, many publishers have adopted some form of POD to help manage inventory.
Both POD and the availability of ebooks make self-publishing a financially viable alternative for those who do not want to warehouse thousands of books. It also made older (backlist) books more economical to keep available in print. As one early adopter of POD stated, “Sell the book. Print the book.”
Next up? AI
None of us knows where the advent and growth of AI will lead. But it is here to stay. For good or ill, the genie cannot be stuffed back in the bottle. Check back in ten years, and my AI assistant will answer your questions. (!!!)
Why this trip down memory lane? To illustrate how things can change. Thirty years may seem like a long time, but in the scheme of things, it was just yesterday. So while it is hard to wait or hard to see the industry change before your eyes, it only means that something new is over the horizon. Those with long experience in the industry have seen many trends come and go. What has not changed, and never will, is the need for great content–hopefully it will be yours that is the next project to touch thousands of readers.
