Publishing is part of the information industry. Furthermore, publishing is an industry that not only offers information but also offers access to it and evaluation of it. There is information in books, and information about books and the publishing activity. The printed book was not the first (neither the last) medium that provided information (before it, the manuscript book had this role) but it was the first mass medium that revolutionized knowledge dissemination and democratized access to information. It is also true that the publishing industry during the last three decades has been transformed due to a number of reasons, among which the role of information and communication technologies prevails (Phillips, 2014). In this chapter, the role of information as an agent of change in the publishing activity and the publishing chain is discussed.

Actually, information technologies have transformed the publishing industry through not only innovative tools but also through the systemization and standardization of existing practices and methods widening thus the borders of the book and of the publishing activity. Undeniably, there is abundance of information in publishing that requires

We have to consider that new information technologies have changed the publishing activity as a whole, regarding more specifically:

Thus, new information technologies set the framework and provide the tools for the emergence of new publishing and business models. In that context, the information seeking behaviour of all stakeholders has to be studied whereas there is concern about the use of big data. In that framework, information seeking and consumer behaviour as well as information needs and literacy are studied through surveys, statistics and researches. As expected, in a highly competitive industry the information’s role is augmenting as a tool for developing strategies.

In a world of abundance, discoverability as a value is strongly connected with access to information and evaluation of it. Readers discover titles according to the information they have, related with their information seeking behaviour and information literacy. ‘Every book is a new product. Readers discover their preferences and spread information, both positive and negative, via the “information cascade”’ (Greco, et al., 2013, p. 3). Social media related to the book industry provide access to information encouraging information sharing and communication; online communities of readers are based to a great extent on information sharing.

Regarding information in publishing, we have to set and consider the following questions. Information is offered, provided, exploited and studied:

The above have to be discussed from the stakeholders’ point of view:

Readers are seeking information, whereas publishers are seeking customers/readers. More specifically, we can recognize the following regarding readers: on the one hand, they are seeking for information per se, on the other hand, the information is a tool for discovering new titles of interest (that in turn, of course, may provide information).

Publishers not only provide information and knowledge but also access to information and curation. It is noteworthy that the role of the publisher goes deeper. ‘In a world of abundance, the publishers offer a vital service in selecting authors and developing their content to meet readers’ needs. They manage the author’s brands and focus readers on the books they have selected. That service is worth paying for when time is scarce. To attempt another definition: the publishing process may be described as managing the scarcity of good authors and content to drive profitability’ (Clark and Phillips, 2014, p. 21). Publishers, beyond information, have to provide content, and then to provide editions valuable both as content and as aesthetic objects. Thus, they have to introduce, offer options, propose, and even lead to the way of getting answers. As Chi (2014, p. 346) writes: ‘This makes our role as publishers even harder – it’s no longer enough to provide information, we need to help our users find the right information in the right context at the right time. Now, we need to provide answers, not just information’.

Obviously, information adds value to the publishing activity; that is the start point. It helps publishers to have direct and successful communication between stakeholders, to develop promotion and marketing methods, gain feedback from the readers, develop innovative and creative collaborations; information also encourages risk and innovation, provides the background for the development of policies and strategies.

Since Gutenberg publishers aspired to gather information by various ways that nowadays may seem simple or have been transformed into something that seems more complex. Nowadays, publishers take into consideration the information seeking behaviour and information literacy of their reading groups according to the kind of text. We may distinguish between existing and potential readers, the first characterized by book devotion, passion, desire for book discovering while the second ones have to be approached in different ways and probably through different media. Existing and systematic readers are frequent visitors of publishing and bookselling websites and users of social media such as book blogs, members of online reading communities and book clubs, whereas potential readers are not. Publishers come to know their audiences; but this is not enough. They have to satisfy and engage that audience through various ways including social media as well as other more traditional methods. Key point is reader engagement used from the publishers’ point of view.

Turner (2014, p. 395) writes that ‘in addition to innovation, re-examining the overall processes of the publishing cycle and introducing an integrated approach to using data to drive the business brings new insights in the overall operations and can help publishers gain an edge’. Obviously, information in publishing is a tool, a value, a requirement, part of the strategy, an aim, a privilege and a step forward. Access to information is an asset for both authors and readers. Publishers develop information services through their special departments so as to satisfy the information needs of the readers getting feedback from them. Data help publishers to develop strategies, to identify and exploit opportunities, to know deeper the market, to create policies and encourage collaborations. The connection between information and inspiration–creativity is undeniably a challenging theme for further research. Even what was used to be called ‘experience’ or ‘intuition’ or ‘taste’ of the publisher is systemized and measured.

Undeniably, new information environments are constantly changing the way people seek and use information in the publishing value chain. What we call engagement of the reader is to a great extent engagement with the information and the use of information technologies from different and often privileged points of view, as described in the previous chapter. As innovation, experiment and risk have been through the centuries among the main characteristics of the publishing industry, the use on new information technologies and the access to information are assets and strategies exploited by publishers. In that framework, new reading experiences lead to new information behaviour and vice versa. Obviously, information is an agent of change in the publishing activity bringing about changes in the publishing chain in which specific roles have been altered or upgraded, such as the reader’s, the literary agent’s, the librarian/information scientist’s and certainly the publisher’s, or introduced such as the audience development director.

Mechanisms were developed in the printed book so as to provide better access to information, to make the book readable and friendly, to help readers in their research, to create new reading and aesthetic experiences. In that context, page numbers and headings appeared in the first printed books so as to improve the reading experience, to reduce the time of searching and provide the reader with tools in order to better use the book and communicate with other readers exchanging often information. Thus, new aspects in educational process, scholarly communication and the building of communities of readers were developed. The printed page was transformed into a friendly, readable and adaptable form so as to satisfy the needs of the reader. So headings, number pages, subtitles, markers in the margin of the text, paragraph breaks, notes were used and established. ‘The printed page, with its system of sections and subsections, footnotes, marginal notes and paragraph divisions developed a standardized spatial display; different typefaces might denote hierarchies of information’ (Rhodes and Sawday, 2000, p. 7).

Furthermore, introductions and other paratext material as discussed in the second chapter, both of front matter (forewords, introductions, dedicatory letters, poems/epigrams,…) and of back matter (epilogues, indexes,…) constitute what we could also call information mechanisms of the edition aiming to help readers to better study, read, search and share content. Accordingly, indexes, errata, tables of contents, tables of illustrations, tables of abbreviations, epilogues, etc., further systemized the information behaviour and enhanced the reading habits. The text, apart from readable and desirable, had to be easy to use, easy to search, easy to find what the reader was seeking and easy – a step forward – to discover the unexpected.

In the title page of the old printed books, long titles served both as a kind of summary and of advertisement. Often accompanied by epigrams, these long titles exhibited verbally the value of the text, whereas the decoration–illustration of the title page demonstrated the aesthetic value of the edition. Beyond this, the visual message was strong enough through not only the decoration but also through the printer’s mark. We have also to consider that the title page’s typology was developed and defined in the framework of the art of the era expressing at the same time the social, cultural, religious, political conditions and reflecting the printing tradition (Smith, 2001; Baldacchini, 2004). The visual information of the page and of the edition was as strong as the verbal, even stronger in terms of subconscious reaction and memory, while we cannot overlook that it helped potential readers to develop their reading ability pushing thus forward literacy.

The art of the era was the starting point for illustration and decoration. As the printed book was a mass medium, the images, as discussed in the second chapter, were the means of visual information bringing about simultaneously a democratization of taste. The typographic and iconographic tradition of the text, previous editions, the reading audience, the book market and the opportunities of the printing shop/publishing house have to be recognized among the parameters that defined illustration and decoration. Furthermore, the artist–designer had often to collaborate with woodcutters and other artists (Szepe, 1997, p. 43). ‘Historically, artists have frequently employed the assistance of highly skilled craftsmen –specialist block-cutters, expert engravers or professional printers – to help with the technically-complex, time-consuming or labour-intensive stages of printmaking processes’ (Blocklehurst and Watson, 2015, pp. 13–15). The role of the publisher or of the editor in that process has to be further investigated. The publisher–printer used often woodcuts or engravings from his stock according to the kind of text and of audience; sometimes the illustration had no relationship with the text.

Information had been even from the beginning of printing the backbone of printing enabling research, dissemination and complicated projects in comparison with the world of manuscript. ‘Vasari’s was the first systematic investigation, based on interviews, correspondence and field trips, of the procedures used and the objects produced by generations of European artists. The Lives also reflects the given opportunity offered by print to extend the scope of a given work from one edition to another’ (Eisenstein, 1983, p. 132). Eisenstein, apart from identifying how printing enhanced Vasari’s work, especially the second edition of 1568 also points out the importance of the portraits of the second edition. Gregory examines Vasari’s use of prints as a resource for information. She uses the term ‘visual reference’, (2012, p. 134) pointing out cases in which Vasari certainly or probably used prints as primary resources or as a supplement to his own memory.

The printed book also established and introduced ‘celebrities’. Authors and publishers, but also editors and artists gained fame though the printed book. The portrait of the author at the frontispiece or of the person described in the book offered fame and recognition. Even if they were already well known, the printed book helped them to establish and further spread their fame.

The Information Revolution goes beyond the printed book. The above-mentioned mechanisms are developed or even transformed nowadays due to the new materials and forms of the book. Information technologies provide the tools and opportunities for a page ‘widened’, more friendly to specific audiences that provides better and faster access to information; apart from links, the use of multimedia technologies and the convergence of media are constantly redefining the boundaries and the typology of the electronic page. In accordance to these technologies, storytelling and personalized publishing services are developed.

The book always had and still has its own systems of information storage and exhibition as well as of access to information. During Renaissance, these systems were ‘strong’ enough for a number of reasons; first, due to the experimental nature of the book in a time when its identity was developing; second, because the book was the best advertisement of itself that had to be autonomous in the provision of knowledge and information promoting itself as well. Additionally, the absence of reference works implied autonomous and often self-developed systems for finding and evaluating information. Things changed, of course, when Conrad Gesner, the father of bibliography, compiled and published his bibliography De biblioteca universalis¹; from then on other bibliographies were published as well as printed catalogues of libraries that facilitated the research and work of scholars and students. Gesner and bibliographers after him provided reference works for offering information resources to researchers, students, scholars and readers.

Moreover, during Renaissance, the publication and success of ‘mirrors’, ‘theatres’, ‘anatomies’, ‘compendia’ and other compilations, together with dictionaries and maps that served as reference works, set the information framework. Access to information was easier and faster than in the world of manuscript. As Rhodes and Sawday (2000, p. 9) comment ‘these collections became far more than mere repositories of knowledge. In the seemingly limitless world of production, distribution and retrieval spawned by print culture, a new model of the human mind itself began to emerge’.

Thus, during Renaissance the public sphere of books and of information emerged. This public sphere nowadays is often mentioned when talking about the Internet, the social media, the technology or globalization, the boundaries between public and private (Papacharissi, 2013).

The limitless, as it seems, world of information nowadays has much in common with what people of Renaissance or of the Industrial Revolution thought of themselves. People tend to think that solutions and answers are in the technology. It is true that digital opportunities provide access to material and information that was difficult to be reached so quickly some decades ago. But because ‘there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, that are dreamt of in your philosophy’,² not everything can be into the digital sphere. Information mechanisms as developed nowadays in the multiformed page may push forward the satisfaction of the information needs extending the boundaries of the book into new converged media and penetrating into new audiences.

Feedback from the readers is information. Publishers always got feedback from their readers and identified their audiences, existing and potential. ‘Complicity with unknown people can be created only on the basis of their repeated experiences of not being disappointed’, Calasso wrote for the reading audience (2015, p. 69). This can be, to an extent, obtained by the studying of information needs and information seeking behaviour; it is not though enough just not to be disappointed. The readers must be beyond satisfied; they have to be surprised, engaged, involved and inspired. The key word in what Calasso says is ‘repeated experiences’: communication with readers is based on this. Readers tend to repeat what they do every day, they visit the same webpages, buy from the same bookstores (electronic or brick and mortar), write to the same blogs, buy the works of the same author or of the same series, identify and buy the editions of the same publisher, visit the book club of which they are members. Probably data means to investigate these ‘repeated experiences’, to satisfy them and then go beyond this.

Nowadays there are tools for explaining, studying, measuring the information needs and behaviour of all stakeholders:

Information is the basis for decision making. For example, how authors select publishers? How do they get information about publishers and agents? How do they decide on the future of their finished work? Canty’s research (2012) based on a survey carried out in 2011 on the novelists who published their first novel in Britain enlightens the above. The upgraded role of the agent is demonstrated and it is noteworthy to mention the various ways through which the author discovered his/her agent (being approached, recommendation, through research, introduced, already new). Although these answers ranged to the same question regarding how the publisher of the first published novel was selected: ‘in over 60% of the cases the decision on which publisher to approach was made by the agent’ (Canty, 2012, p. 225). The research made by Canty highlights aspects of information from the author’s point of view that is often overlooked.

So, information and data in publishing mean to:

Thus, apart from data and statistics, publishing history is important. In that framework, publishing studies and research done, as discussed above, empower the understanding of current trends and lead to the development of strategies.

We have though to recognize that these books, created for tablets and mobiles, go beyond content since it is also their aesthetics that matter. The artistic identity of these new editions forms an experimental and challenging field in which traditional and innovative concepts will coexist in a converged and promising amalgam. Thus, content is not the only, as it is often appeared to be, and neither in some cases the most significant feature and aim. The artistic identity of the edition/book, as discussed in the second chapter, is important and exploits the use of new technologies, thus exceeding the borders of the book as known for centuries combining text, image, narration, text magnification, embedded multimedia, interactive opportunities, background music and animations. Thus, we should not talk for content but for editions of books.

McIlroy (2015) provides data for the upgraded use of mobiles and tablets arguing that ‘the challenge for book publishers is to align their content and business models with mobile’s vast opportunities’. He points out that book buyers are online, referring to ‘a surprising phenomenon: time spent on mobile does not appear to be taking away from PC use, and certainly not from TV watching. The time spent with mobile devices is incremental to other screen interactions’ (McIlroy, 2015).

Undeniably, the use of mobile phones for reading is among the current challenges for the publishing industry. ‘…the percentage of e-book buyers who read primarily on tablets was 41% in the first quarter of 2015, compared with 30% in 2012. But in a Nielsen survey of 2000 people this past December, about 54% of e-book buyers said they used smartphones to read their books at least some of the time. That’s up from 24% in 2012’ (Maloney, 2015). Judith Curr, publisher of Simon & Schuster’s imprint Atria Books, has said: ‘The future of digital reading is on the phone. It’s going to be on the phone and it’s going to be on paper’ (Abrams, 2015).

In that framework, we have to remind ourselves that the printed book, as statistics demonstrate, still not only coexists with other forms of publications but even thrives. Sales of printed books have augmented in the UK. According to the Publishers Association’s Statistics Yearbook 2015, ‘A. Sales of physical books from publishers increased for the first time in four years while digital sales fell for the first time since the PA started collecting figures, B. There was particularly strong growth in sales of physical non-fiction/reference books which saw sales increase by 9% to £759m, C. Academic journal publishing also continued strongly up by 5% to £1.1bn with digital revenues accounting for 95% of this, D. School books sales were up overall by 9% to £319m with growth in physical and digital both home and abroad, E. Audiobook downloads had another good year with 29% growth in 2015’ (Anderson, 2016).

According to data provided by the Pew Research Centre Internet & American Life Project (published in McIlroy, 2015), printed material prevails when the book is to be shared or used with children; when sharing books with others, the use of printed book reaches the 69%, whereas when reading with a child the percentage goes up to 81%. It is interesting though to note that reading in bed is shared almost equally between printed and electronic books. Electronic books prevail for reading while travelling (73%), or for having a selection of books to choose from (53%), or for being able to get a book quickly (83%). Obviously, the readers pass from one medium to the other converging them in everyday life according to their needs, expectations, kind of text, accessibility, price and purpose.

Research has shown that 63% of American adults read at least one book in print in 2015 (the percentage has fallen from 69% in the previous year and 71% in 2011), 27% read an ebook (from 28% in 2014 and 17% in 2011) and 12% an audio book (14% in 2014 and 11% in 2011). It has also to be noted that in the USA half of newspapers readers rely on printed editions (Barthel, 2016).

Obviously, printed and digital/electronic books coexist in a hybrid environment, estimations for the death of the printed book having obviously failed. We read on all forms of the book, passing from one to the other, from paper to the screen of the computer or of the mobile, according to the time available, the circumstances, the kind of text, the availability, the access, the information literacy, the aim of the study, the need for sharing, as well as other educational, scientific, social, economic and cultural conditions related also to emotional and psychological factors that in turn define reading and consumer behaviour.

It seems that it will be a rather long period of coexistence of media: the printed book will probably exist in the years to come as a friendly, used, well-known, established object related to personal and social prestige. This can be attributed to strong practical, psychological, social, emotional, aesthetic and cultural assets of the printed book that define consumer behaviour and ideologies. But electronic-digital reading increases as well. We read on the screen, on various type of screens, we are used to and convenient with it.

In that framework, the use of mobiles and tablets for reading is upgraded day by day. For better understanding this, we have to consider the opportunities provided by mobiles/smartphones in accordance with the available time for reading and with other social, financial and cultural factors. Friendly, convenient, readable, economic, easily accessible and portable books have been desired and demanded for centuries. These ‘libelli/libri portatiles’ since the time of Aldus Manutius are a constant aim and value for readers and publishers as well as for other stakeholders who better promote, advertise, distribute and offer access to them. The small-sized books launched by Aldus Manutius in Renaissance Venice brought about a steady value and concept revolutionizing the publishing activity according to the technology and opportunities of each era. Nowadays, new forms of the book try to reach the same goals. Ebooks try to be friendly, even personalized, easy to use, easy to carry (of no weight), convenient, providing a variety of choices for reading, information sharing, access and enjoyment. They often remind of the printed page, which is the module; but ebooks will go beyond it by combining and converging media, multimedia, social media, art of the era, etc. The aesthetics of publishing, as discussed in the second chapter, have to be applied to the new forms of the book adapted for tablets and mobiles.

Usually lack of time is recognized among the main factors that prevent people from reading. Reading in a more ‘traditional’ concept implies and presupposes, according to the common sense (or stereotypes), specific management of time and place: a common picture is that of reading in an armchair or at an office where there is space and time for everything, for the book, the reader, the pencil, the bookmark, the library and also the other books around. The revolution brought about by the portable books introduced by Aldus Manutius meant that the reader could read at the time, place and in the way chosen. Nowadays, we all have a device on which we can read, anytime, everywhere from news to literary works with access to libraries and databases, with no extra weight and most significantly no extra care of bringing with us the book: it is already on the device that we have with us for communicating and be informed. Mobile phones and tablets provide the opportunity to get immediate access to information and to knowledge regarding our readings. Furthermore, we can have the books we want, need, like with us; from this point of view, the devices try to resemble to a potential personal ‘Alexandrina’ library available everywhere.

Taking into consideration the competition with other media and information resources even on the same device, we may recognize the features and the opportunities of the editions that the publishers can provide for mobiles and tablets regarding the book as both content and object so as to be readable, friendly, competitive and desirable.

More specifically, the illustration and decoration of the book by exploring the new opportunities (links, multimedia, gamification, photographs, music, interactive tools, etc.) may provide new aesthetic experiences, focused and personalized to specific groups of readers. The page always has to be readable and desirable, and certainly to be adapted to new needs and widened by the new opportunities. From covers and jackets of the printed book the publishing companies have to develop the threshold, the introductory visual parts of the book whether they are named ‘jackets’, ‘covers’, or not. Among the challenges to be exploited is also the combination, even convergence, of tested, well-known, recognizable aesthetics with the opportunities provided by technologies.

In that framework, publishers have to consider for their publishing policy the following:

Questions raised include, apart from the consumer and reading behaviour, the quality and nature of reading, the information literacy and information seeking behaviour of readers, the typology of the book, the boundaries of convergence; and certainly, much has to be surveyed and studied regarding the above.

Undeniably, mobiles offer to the publishers an emerging market of people who probably do not read systematically; services provided by mobiles introduce these groups of readers or of potential readers to the reading galaxy. Most adults own a smartphone, the size and clarity of which further encourages readers to read. That ‘read anywhere’ issue reminds of the reading ‘mania’ at the end of the 18th and during the 19th century when readers, especially the ‘new’ readers (women, workers) were reading constantly (Wittmann, 1999, pp. 337–369; Lyons, 1999, p. 371–410, Lyons, 2013). Nowadays, readers take advantage of the time available for discovering favourite readings that are on their mobiles. Like the pupils and students of late Medieval and Renaissance that were encouraged to create their personal anthologies of classic authors choosing text, modern readers can create their personal library stored in the devices portable everywhere. In that context, reading and aesthetic experiences change, even dramatically.

The role of the reader (and of the author) has been upgraded due mainly to new technologies; but changes have to be explained in a broader framework considering marketing issues, the demand for innovation, psychological and emotional factors, aesthetic needs.

The publishing chain-circle-circuit nowadays may be developed as in Scheme 4.1:

According to the above scheme, we can point out the following:

Going back in Renaissance, at the emergence of the editor and at the systematization of his activity, we may observe that his role was underlined even from the beginnings of the printed book. The name of the editor appeared often in the title page and in paratext material – usually in introductions, prologues, even letters and poems – so as to reassure the reader for the quality of the text and of the edition in general. Famous scholars worked as editors who had to improve text, compare manuscripts and prepare the text for publication, take care of the paratext material, arrange the notes, proofread, collaborate with other stakeholders, in cases translate: ‘A comparable strategy was to include a letter or poem written in the name of the long-dead author, but probably composed by an editor, extolling the printer’s concern about the correctness of the edition’ (Richardson, 1994, p. 4). Mostly in classic texts, but as well as in the vernacular, the role of the editor was often exhibited and his name at the title page of the edition further promoted and advertised the edition. ‘During the first century of printing, an investment in editing came to be seen as one of the keys to success both by ambitious printers and publishers and by authors’ (Richardson, 1994, p. 7). Editorial work made the text better and marketable, which also promoted the edition. Publishers, in their turn, demonstrated and exploited the work of the editors: ‘they did not want to seem to be employing editors simply in order to increase their profits. They preferred to claim that their concern for accuracy arose from an altruistic desire to benefit their public, with no expense being spared in this honourable cause…But no press could survive on idealism alone’ (Richardson, 1994, p. 6).

More specifically, regarding the academic publishing chain, the role of the reader has always been more than active as he/she has multiple roles, as he/she may be

Thus, the reader is among those who decide, recommend, share risks, create, intervene and participate; that protagonist role is further enforced by the information technologies. It is in that environment though in which publishers seem often to push forward academics to editing, proofreading, reviewing, collecting, communicating and supervising certain aspects of the publishing activity usually at no economic cost.

Information transforms the publishing chain-circle-circuit from a twofold point of view: convergence (1) upgrades existing departments of the publishing house such as the marketing department, (2) adds new stakeholders, such as game designers, multimedia artists, information scientists, etc. Gamification and the use of multimedia in publishing are more than promising since they imply reader engagement and interaction between stakeholders transforming at the same time the book itself. By widening the borders of the book and of the publishing activity gamification offers a new tool. Publishing companies have begun to buy game companies³ or to collaborate with them. Book-related games combine text (traditional narrative) and games and provide to the reader, apart from interaction and engagement, the opportunity to decide on the plot. That privilege of choice means participation and empathy, and brings the publishing activity a step forward.

Undeniably, the impact of information brings about changes and reconsiderations in the roles of all stakeholders while at the same time the traditional ones are combined. For example, the diachronic role of the publisher who offers selection, judgment, taste is maintained in that new framework.

In conclusion, the added value of the publishing chain is – to a certain extent – due to information which on the one hand brings about changes and on the other creates challenges and opportunities for all stakeholders; especially for publishers, authors and readers. In a world of information abundance, the publisher takes new roles along with the traditional ones which are now further widened.