FUTURIST Magazine Asks, What is the Future of Publishing?

BETHESDA MD—The Internet is forcing traditional print publishers to innovate or perish. The same might be true of the written word itself, according to THE FUTURIST magazine, on stands now.

The cover feature of the July-August issue, titled "The 21st-Century Writer," features interviews with tech-guru and publishing magnate Tim O'Reilly, best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff, Canadian Library Association former president Stephen Abram, and Frank Daniels, COO of Ingram’s digital group. The article and the interviews are available for free online at http://www.wfs.org/futurist.htm .

"For people who make their living selling words to readers—and indeed for readers themselves—these are times of upheaval. The information technology revolution has led to an explosion in textual content. More people are engaging in more conversations, sharing more opinions, learning more, and learning faster than anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago," says Patrick Tucker, the article's author. "We've entered an era where the acts of thinking, writing, and to a certain extent publishing are indistinguishable, and where charging money for editorial content is becoming an ever-trickier proposition. Book publishers, newspapers and magazines, writers, and readers are experiencing these same IT trends in very different ways."

Individuals can also pick up the July-August issue of THE FUTURIST for $4.95 at bookstores and newsstands, or write the World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814. Order online at www.wfs.org.

THE FUTURIST is a bimonthly magazine focused on innovation, creative thinking, and emerging social, economic, environmental, and technological trends.

Among the thinkers and experts who have contributed to THE FUTURIST are Gene Roddenberry, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, Richard Lamm, Alvin and Heidi Toffler, Buckminster Fuller, Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Vaclav Havel, Hazel Henderson, Margaret Mead, Robert McNamara, Betty Friedan, Nicholas Negroponte, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Lester R. Brown, Arthur C. Clarke, Douglas Rushkoff, Joel Garreau, William J. Mitchell, and U.S. Comptroller David M. Walker.

Editors: To request a review copy of THE FUTURIST magazine, contact Patrick Tucker, 301-656-8274 (ext. 116), or ptucker@wfs.org. More information about the World Future Society may be obtained from the Society’s Web site, www.wfs.org