Amazon Game Changing Move: Hires Publishing Vet Laurence Kirshbaum
The reaction in the publishing industry to Amazon’s announcement of the hiring of publishing vet Laurence Kirshbaum as Vice President and Publisher of Amazon Publishing’s New York office is rightfully widespread.
This is nothing short of a seismic shift in the publishing industry. And the waves from this one move may reach much further than at first anticipated (or feared, depending on your perspective).
Kirshbaum is most well-known as CEO of the former Time Warner Book Group. Since leaving that post in 2005, he has been head of his own agency, LJK Literary. Now he will be taking his consummate book publishing skills into the digital world with the clout of Amazon behind him.
What may be a major effect of this seismic shift?
Remember the struggle between Betamax and VHS?
Today book authors published traditionally and those who self-publish must deal with the confusing array of ebook publishers, including Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook. With the announcement of Kirshbaum’s new role at Amazon, I’m predicting that Kindle may ultimately crush all other ebook platforms. Surely those authors who use Amazon’s CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing will be positioned to take advantage of new opportunities.
The future of book publishing, which is already on a rollercoaster ride, is hard to predict. But you can probably bet money on Amazon grabbing ever increasing shares of the business.
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